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.

Varathron: Walpurgisnacht (1995)

Just two years after releasing His Majesty at the Swamp, Varathron released their follow-up album, but it sounds like much more time has passed.  That is how different the band sounds on this release.  It is not as if they have made a complete change, the band is still very obviously Varathron, but they have evolved.

The first sign of this is the return of some blazing speed with the much more traditional black metal-sounding "Tleilaxu (The Unborn Child)".  There are still elements of the Hellenic sound here, but this is much more Swedish or Norwegian in tone with a bulldozing riff and shrieked vocals.  Varathron appears to have returned on the second track, with a sound much more in line with their prior album, including the guitar tone that is so synonymous with this scene.  But then things get a little weird.

"The Dark Hills" is essentially a gothic metal track, sounding more like something Moonspell would record, complete with intense, whispered vocals in the beginning and vampiric chanting.  "Mestigoth" is a microcosm of the album as a whole, going from intense black metal, to slower gothic-sounding music and back again.  The album then cycles back around to the much more like their sound on the prior album.

Obviously there is nothing wrong with a band expanding their musical horizons.  I do not want it to sound like I do not enjoy this album.  It is significantly different than the band's legendary debut, but that does not make it bad at all.  Quite the opposite.  Varathron continues to show why they have been so influential on this burgeoning scene (at the time).