Kawir: Πάτερ Ήλιε Μήτερ Σελάνα (2016)

Nope.  No clue what that means.  Not even sure what language it is in, though due to the band being from Greece, I can probably guess.  Readers who have been following me for awhile know how much I love Rotting Christ.  But even I can admit that since Theogonia, the band has been in a precipitous decline.  Luckily, there are a few other bands that play the kind of Hellenic black metal that Rotting Christ had perfected.  Kawir is one of those bands.  Another one will be covered shortly.

This is my third album by Kawir, and it is actually not their most recent release, which is one that I picked up some time last year.  I always thoroughly enjoy their music, but it has only been recently that I have realized just how much.  Part of that is likely due to fading quality of Rotting Christ material.

Kawir in the past has distinguished themselves from their peers by using Greek instrumentation and lilting Greek folk melodies in conjunction with typical Pagan black metal riffs.  But where once these elements were kept separate and often sounded like entirely different bands, Kawir has now figured out how to put the elements together, using rampaging riffs on top of the Greek folk elements.  Thus they have really come into their own on this release.  They built on this for the follow-up album.

The Hellenic black metal scene has been one of my favorites since I heard Rotting Christ for the first time and realized there were other bands like them.  This release shows Kawir reaching their full potential.  It is a very strong album with a number of memorable songs.  If the next album by Rotting Christ disappoints once more, at least I can look forward to more by Kawir.