Up From the Chthonic Depths: A Brief History of Greek

Black Metal
POSTED BY BENJAMIN WELTON ON FEBRUARY 24, 2016 AT 5:00 PM

Black metal will probably be forever associated with Norway. A cold, Viking-haunted land on
Europes northern fringe, Norway could be called mysterious. That would make sense given its
most famous export, and yet Norway is also a relatively prosperous and safe country. Similarly,
despite the rabid anti-Christian stance of Norwegian black metal, their home country is not
known for being overly faithful.

Greece is quite the opposite. While the rest of Europe and North America were busy with free
love, drugs, and rock and roll, Greece was under the control of a military junta that openly
disliked anything groovy. Following the juntas fall in 1974, while people in mainland Greece
celebrated, the predominately Greek island of Cyprus was invaded and occupied by the Turkish
military. Still, Greece enjoyed a rather limited run of economic prosperity throughout the
remainder of the 1970s. Unfortunately, this prosperity died quickly in the 1980s, and today
Greece is best known on the international stage as a defaulter state starving for even a tiny
morsel of solvency. As with most countries undergoing financial ruin, riots and street violence
are not unknown in todays Greece.
All of this history helps to give Greek black metal a noticeable edge. Also, unlike their
Scandinavian compatriots, Greek black metal has never enjoyed much exposure. As a result,
Greek black metal acts are predominately denizens of the true underground.

One Greek black metal act stands above the rest, however. Thanks to their explosive name,
Athenss Rotting Christ are usually the first band mentioned whenever Greek black metal is
discussed. Formed originally as Black Church in 1985, the band stumbled on their eye-catching
name in 1987. Since then, Rotting Christ have released eleven full-length studio albums with a
twelfth on the way. Like a lot of other bands, Rotting Christ have gone from an overly Satanic
band leaning on goats and pentagrams for shock value to a band interested in the pagan
iconography and tales of their ancestral homeland. Although it's obvious that the monkslaying, longboat-riding Vikings of old tend to be more popular in the black metal scene (this is
due to both the widespread popularity of Nordic black metal and the ethnic composition of the
genres fan base), Rotting Christ have found some success with songs devoted to ancient
mythologies of the Mediterranean world. On 2007s Theogonia, the band even recorded a
metal version of the Enuma Elish," or the Babylonian creation myth. Hows that for range?
Sadly, like Rodney Dangerfield, Rotting Christ and the entire Greek black metal scene continue
to get no respect. Despite their chops, Rotting Christ have been prisoners to their name.
Harried out of venues for years, Rotting Christ were banned in Verona, Italy in 2009. Then, in
a tragic display of the current wimpification that is metastasizing like a cancer throughout the

metal community, the nominally iconoclastic Dave Mustainerefused to go on the same stage as
Rotting Christ because he found their name offensive. So much for that metal brotherhood
and all.
Even if all publicity is good publicity, the rest of the Greek black metal scene hasnt benefitted
that much from Rotting Christs notoriety. Great bands like Varathron, whove been in the
trenches since 1989, and Necromantia tend to go unnoticed whenever black metal Best Of
lists are created. For what its worth, Necromantias Scarlet Evil Witching Black is a classic,
while Varathrons Walpurgisnacht is equally brutal.

Other overlooked Greek black metal acts from the old school include Thou Art Lord, Fiendish
Nymph, Nergal, Disharmony, and Darkest Oath. Each one of these acts, although diverse in
their own way, have helped to create a Greek, or rather Hellenic sound. Although nowhere near
as identifiable as the more famous necrosound of the Norwegian black metal scene of the
early 1990s, the Hellenic sound usually includes the following items: terrible production
(whats black metal without shitty recording equipment?), the use of traditional Greek
instruments such as the bouzouki and the lyre, a sort of Romantic interest in classic music, an
unwillingness to leave behind traditional heavy metal and thrash elements, and a lyrical focus
on Greeces pagan past. Again, outright blasphemy is common, too. In Orthodox Greece, being
anti-Christian actually makes a statement.
Aesthetically, old school Greek black metal bands also embraced sleaze and cheese like their
Italian neighbors. While Norwegian and Swedish bands were representing their music with
grainy black and white pictures of corpsepainted dudes hanging out in wintry forests, Greek
black bands sold the product with cartoonish images that are closer to the elaborate paintings
of late 80s/early 90s death metal than anything else. Sex, especially sex that is encapsulated

by images of bared breasts, is also present, thus making Greek black metal imagery more redblooded than the cold and asexual graphics of bands like Burzum and Darkthrone.

Nowadays, Greek metal acts have joined the rest of the scene in decorating their albums with
the usual soup of hoary words overlooking some sort of spooky scene set in black and white or
black and another muted color. Sonically, Greek black metal has thankfully remained ferocious
and unreconstructed. One wont find too many dark ballads on Greek black metal records, even
though the production values have gone way up. The leading lights of modern Greek black
metal include Ravencult, Empire of the Moon (who love tits), Hell Poemer, and Macabre
Omen. Although many of these bands have roots in the early to mid 1990s, they, along with
Rotting Christ, have done the most to keep the scene vibrant in the 2010s. Hopefully, Greek
black metal will continue to chart an independent course. Furthermore, lets all wish that Greek
black metal remains dark and malevolent, for, as much as some may hate to admit it, the most
interesting black metal today is far from dark and is being made in American hipster enclaves.
Maybe Greece can once again save the Western world.