Thou Art Lord: The Regal Pulse of Lucifer (2013)

To date, this is the last full-length album released by Thou Art Lord.  And thus it is also the last post in my series here on the band.  One thing I have learned from going over the major releases from Thou Art Lord is that no successive albums sound the same.  And that continues to be the case with this last release.

For the most part this release is similar to the last album and their first album.  That is to say that is a thrashier version of Hellenic black metal.  Particularly on the first couple of songs, "Nine Steps to Hell" and "Πολιτεία δαιμόνων".  The latter track is a full-throttle, pounding tour de force.  The typical Hellenic black metal riffing style is ever-present as always.  I do have to mention the use of the Game of Thrones theme in "Fire and Blood".  At first I was not quite sure I was really hearing it and listened over again.  Sure enough, the band is actually using the opening credits theme to Game of Thrones.

There are some stark differences between this album and the previous one though.  First of all, the keyboard flourishes return on this release, so it is not nearly as stripped-down and organic.  Secondly, the band utilizes some spoken word sections and samples to help tell a greater story, almost certainly about the power of Satan.  But rather than being distracting, these elements serve to accentuate the songs, causing them to stand out more than some of the band's previous releases.  And what results is quite possibly the band's strongest release.

This is probably Thou Art Lord's best album.  The band is no longer a Rotting Christ clone and have forged their own path.  It is a shame that the band has not released anything since this album.  I guess maybe they saved their best for last.

Thou Art Lord: Orgia Daemonicum (2005)

Now featuring only Sakis Tolis of Rotting Christ and Magus from Necromantia, Thou Art Lord's sound has become similarly sparse and streamlined.  Sure there are a few session musicians, mostly the drums and a couple of guys providing additional vocals, though only one of them is reasonably well-known (Linos from Ravencult).  So once again, this is a significantly different release than that which came before.

The sound this time around is much more of a return to the band's demo and debut album.  It is more of a simple combination of Hellenic black metal blackened thrash metal.  A lot of the flourishes from keyboards and gothic elements have been abandoned in favor of the more aggressive approach.  As a result, this album sounds much more like the early 1990's sound of Rotting Christ.  In addition, Tolis and Magus have taken on more of the vocal duties, so there are songs on this release that are indistinguishable from Rotting Christ.

It seems that with each release Thou Art Lord have altered their sound in some fundamental way thus far.  This one is much more of a return to the sound they have when they started and is all the better for it.  While I enjoyed their previous album, I do think this is their best since their debut.  

Thou Art Lord: DV8 (2002)

It was six years between releases for Thou Art Lord.  I do not believe they broke up or anything, but at some point the band was less of a priority for the members.  I will admit to being a little skeptical about how this release would sound given the ridiculous title.  The fear that they had gone in a gothic/industrial/nu-metal direction was high.  But I still dove in.

This one is weird.  I think that is the best way to explain it.  The band once again goes in a number of directions.  Opening track "A Chaldean Hex" sounds very much like modern-day Behemoth, which is sort of weird because not even Behemoth sounded like modern-day Behemoth in 2002.  There are of course other songs that carry on the Hellenic sound and could have fit in well on any Rotting Christ album.  The best examples are "Crowning the Winged Skull" and "Desire, Lust and Incubus".

There are some truly weird moments as well.  The clean vocal section of "Baphomet's Meteor" sounds Marilyn Manson-esque.  "Society of the Dilletanti" has an almost groove metal stomping rhythm to the riffs.  The vocals too run the gamut between blackened shrieking to an almost death metal roar at times.  Set of Septicflesh is contributing lead vocals on this release, which explains a lot of the dynamics.  He has always been a highly gifted extreme metal singer and he is at the top of his game here.  It is not at all surprising that three members of the band contribute vocals, and yes, it is really obvious when Sakis Tolis is singing.

At this point, Thou Art Lord has truly become a super-group.  Now featuring the familiar members of Rotting Christ and Necromantia, they have added the vocal talents from Septicflesh and a widely-traveled drummer who has been in basically every Greek extreme metal band.  What results is an extremely varied, yet highly entertaining album.  I still do not think they have surpassed their debut, but this is definitely better than the last one.

Thou Art Lord: Apollyon (1996)

With Thou Art Lord's second full-length album the band shook off most of the similarities to related band Rotting Christ.  Thou Art Lord branched off into several different directions all at once, crafting a unique but somewhat inconsistent album. 

There are a lot of things going on in this album and overall it is far more streamlined.  Early tracks possess something of a Swedish death metal sound, in particular the heavier more brutal bands like Unleashed.  There are also still several tracks that have that familiar Hellenic black metal sound, like "Excremental Magic".  Those tracks still possess the riffing style familiar to Hellenic black metal, just sped up somewhat and aggressive where they were traditionally done in a more atmospheric style.  Then there is the mostly instrumental, "He, Whom the Gods Hath Feared", which seems extremely out of place given its soft, gothic nature that would fit in better on a mid period Tiamat album than a Thou Art Lord release.  Still other songs have gone in a decidedly blackened thrash metal direction, sounding much more like Aura Noir than the Hellenic sound the band exhibited before. 

This album suffers from a lack of identity.  It is clear that the band was trying to move away from being Rotting Christ Jr., but somewhere in that effort, the band lost the sound that made them so damn good in the first place.  I am happy to see the band trying to forge their own identity, but in so doing they sort of lost their identity.  I guess that is a vicious cycle.

Thou Art Lord: Eosforos (1994)

Here we have Thou Art Lord's first full-length album, and by and large the band did not mess with the formula from the first demo.  This release still sounds very close to the Rotting Christ sound of the time period, which again makes sense given the heavy involvement of Sakis Tolis.  In addition, the opening track from the demo "The Era of Satan Rising" also appearing here to close out the album.

Despite all of that, this release does show Thou Art Lord ever so slightly starting to differentiate their sound from Rotting Christ.  There is a bit more of a death metal-esque chugging to some of the riffs.  The vocals too are a little more gruff as well, though there are certainly moments where Tolis provides backing vocals that it comes back to that sound.  Otherwise the same elements that make the early Rotting Christ albums are present here: atmospheric and eerie riffs, spooky keyboards, and gruff vocals. 

Thou Art Lord's first full-length album is an extension of their incredible demo, with even better production and more songs.  The best song from the demo is also still present.  This is an extremely strong example of Hellenic black metal, up there with the best of Rotting Christ and Varathron.

Thou Art Lord: The Cult of the Horned One (1993)

As might be guessed from the name of the album, this is no Christian band like those on the compilation from Sunday's subject.  This is a return to the Hellenic black metal scene that I was talking about with the series on Varathron last week.  And since this is another box set, readers will likely grow sick of reading about Thou Art Lord for the next week.

This is my first experience listening to Thou Art Lord, well with this box set anyway.  I had heard a lot about them, particularly in my forays into the Hellenic black metal scene, but had just not gotten around to checking them out.  Well here was my chance.

My first thought upon listening to this release was "Holy crap these guys sound like Rotting Christ".  The point of reference for this release was Rotting Christ's 1993 album Thy Mighty Contract and their 1994 album Non-Serviam.  Now those are two particular favorite albums of mine from the band so I was fully on board.  Thou Art Lord has the same kind of atmospheric riffing that is at once uncompromising in its aggressiveness and eerily melodic.  Filled to the brim with tremolo riffs and incendiary leads, the release would be almost perfect if it was just a bit longer.  Alas there are only three songs on this demo.  Such a shame.

I was curious though about just why this sounds SO MUCH like Rotting Christ, so I did some research on the band and facepalmed when I saw that Thou Art Lord was started as a side project between Necromantia's George Zacharopoulos under the pseudonym "Morbid" and, of course, Sakis Tolis from Rotting Christ under the pseudonym "Necromayhem".  So that's it.

This demo is terrific.  Plus, it has the added benefit, for those curious to hear why I rave so much about Rotting Christ but concerned for their everlasting soul enough to steer clear of a band with that name, of having a vaguely Christian-sounding name.  So there you go.