Varathron: His Majesty at the Swamp (1993)

Here we arrive at Varathron's first full-length album, one I have heard a lot about and kept meaning to check out.  This album is legendary, both within the band's discography and the scene at large.  It is also legendary in black metal circles.  Decibel Magazine elected it to its Hall of Fame, and it is absolutely worthy.

The name of the album conjures up intriguing imagery, captured by the album cover.  The sound fits well with that imagery because it is a murky and swampy sounding release that brightness occasionally shines through.

Varathron has dialed back the thrash influences on this album in favor of a more mid-paced stomp.  The riffing style has stayed the same, punctuated by wandering lead guitar melodies.  The band never really sits still on anything too long, crafting an epic and ever-changing sound that never gets old and always retains interest.  The vocals return to a more decayed whisper as if from a creature rising from the swampy depths itself.  I am not sure why the band returned to this style, but it works well for this release.

This has long been considered an absolutely essential release for the Hellenic black metal scene.  And after years of hearing that, I finally checked it out and realized how true it is.  This album is incredible and it has earned its place at the top of the Hellenic black metal scene.

One and Done? Pt. 15: Transgressor

I could easily echo most of the same statements that I made in the first paragraph of the Nuctemeron post two days ago.  Transgressor is a very obscure death metal band from Japan whose only full-length release came in 1992.  What I picked up is not the original release of the album, rather it is a reissue from Hexed Cemetary from 2015. 

Japan, for whatever reason, is not a country that produces a lot of death metal.  There is quite a bit of black metal (Abigail), including some avant-garde stuff (Sigh), a lot of thrash metal (Sabbat, King's-Evil), even doom metal (Coffins).  And then there is the traditional metal (Loudness) and the visual kei/traditional metal weirdness that could only come from Japan (X-Japan).  But not much death metal, at least not much traditional death metal, there are slam bands.  So it was kind of interesting to find such a strong death metal release from a band who apparently just did not keep going.

Transgressor's sound is murky and weird.  There are a lot of well-crafted, progressive structures and a very strong doom metal influence.  The band does a terrific job of creating an eerie, creepy atmosphere through the use of dissonant chords, seemingly out-of-tune guitars and slowly creeping riffs, but then suddenly lurches into a fast-paced death metal riff.  Think a doomier combination of Death and Autopsy. 

There are some damn impressive songs here and this should have been a cult death metal classic.  It really is that damn good.  Unfortunately it is an album largely forgotten to time. And a big part of that reason is the fact that Transgressor only released the one.