Descensus ad Inferos

Erevos is a well known band in Greece and I have listened to their previous demos, which I liked. Recently, they have released their debut album, “Descensus Ad Inferos”, which I found for a very good price in a cd store. I had good expectations from them, but this work is beyond good!

The album begins with the song “Adou Katavasis” and you can hear a menacing introduction that is coming from the keyboards and after that, the guitars enter the game. The sound of the album is amazing, which is produced by Dan Swano and that explains a lot. “Adou Katavasis” is a fantastic song combining incredibly good black, death, and thrash metal with a great atmosphere without losing power.

The second track is a black metal attack named “The Omnipotence Of The Judges” where the keys are combined excellently with the guitars. What I have noticed is that every song is well written and well played, but what really makes the difference is the keyboards, giving a chance to Erevos to be unique. Next, “Kires” is a black ‘n’ roll song that's very catchy. “Those Who Decide About Fate” and “Kerveros” are two songs that combine death metal with black metal. Many bands have tried this and many bands have failed, but not Erevos. They show us that they know what they are doing, creating a very aggressive atmosphere that seldom someone meets in a melodic band. The previous two songs inspire a great vocal performance by Growler, who alternates his style from death to black tints.

“Under The Wings Of Thanatos”, “Erinyes”, and “Possessed By The Moon” include riffs that can easily stick on your mind. “Grotesque Blasphemy (Slaughter pt.1)” is a non-related song to the others with a concert character that's ready to smash some heads! The album closes with an avant-garde song named “Adou Anavasis” where only keys and contra-bass are used, creating a really creepy atmosphere.

In conclusion, “Descensus Ad Inferos” is an album with a great musical variety, combining black, death, thrash, and avant-garde elements. What more can someone ask?

From the get-go of this release, it is evident that Erevos is taking the time and knowledge to please its listeners both with the beautiful arpeggios of the keys as well as the reverberating guitars and vocals, fluctuating as it does through the opening track. As in the demo, Adou Katavasis, it appeases to the absolute beauty of combining strings, keys, and guitars to paint an absolutely unassailable image for the listener. This album promises big things for fans of the band.

The overall feel of this album is angry, disgusted hatred in an upheaval of appeasement for their native greek mythos, something I wish black metal bands would do more of. They immediately set themselves apart from others in the symbolic way they construct their music, almost a practice of ritual itself upon the discordant guitars and guttural reverberations of the vocalist, whether he is taking a black metal or melodic death metal approach to the delivery of the content found within the lyrics. Thrashy and hateful as the previous release, this full-length debut proves to be auditory candy for the listener.

From the construction of the guitars all the way to the overall reverb of the vocals and driving drumlines, I feel an unhallowed kind of message behind the overall construction of the album, something often overdone in the black metal genre but rarely done right. Usually you get these assholes screaming in caves about satan coming to take them away, something that is amusing at a first glance but rarely ever deserves a second. Erevos on the other hand know how to handle the unholy hatred and bane for all things good and "pure" that they channel into the sound they create. In Erinyes and Possessed by the Moon, it is quite abruptly apparent, with a very nice breakdown in Possessed where they scream "Fuck the cross". In Erinyes, they're carrying over the feeling from Possessed with a bone-crushing kind of anger that draws the listener in. And they top it off with Kerveros, which combines that ear-mutilating frustration found in the previous track and applies it with the smooth intervals of keys and synth in between the drums and overall riffing of the guitars and vocals.

Another thing I truly appreciated was the arrangement ov the guitars in several instances in an almost Dodsferd-esque type ov black n' roll feel. Thrashy, productive, and audibly pleasing, it makes this listener smile and actually take the moments when the music goes on its ambient drives to reflect on where their influences have brought them. In truth I expect great things for this band, especially with such a powerful debut release leading their fanbase to an utterly desolate place built upon the imagery of Greek gods and the thanatos that lies within us all.

In summation, this is a release that deserves some interest and scrutiny, be it whether you enjoy the music or would rather pick it apart to find parts that you liked in contrast to the parts you hated. I eagerly await further rituals by this band!

The debut album of the Greek band ‘Erevos’ is out and it continues in the style where the previous single ‘Adou Katavasi’ had left off. Music that pays somehow tribute to the rich history of their countries black metal scene, while a fresh identity tries to develop itself as well. Compared with the aforementioned release, the songs on the latest output lack the rawness, balancing issues and the slightly bloodless production, which added a certain charm to the 2009 one but are of a kind that are rather perceived as disturbing when it comes to a ‘debut’. Oh yes, not every band is aware of this issue and I could name some, whose works indicate a certain rush or uncertainty when it comes to the music on their first ‘opum magum’.

Anyway, ‘Descensus Ad Inferos’ presents to the listener a mixture of rather modern black metal with some slight keyboard elements and a considerable amount of heaviness. The whole approach is not too cheesy and the guitars take the cake on this output, as the focus is clearly on them; no ‘Dimmu Borgir’ clone here. In terms of the tempo, the band meanders between midtempo (general) and faster (really good done actually) segments, while slower ones appear on a rather smaller, materialize maybe even on a negligible scale.

Interestingly enough, the tracks are surprisingly short. Just take a look at the Metal Archives entry of this release and you will notice that the lengths are between 5:47 (max) and 3:15 (min) with an average of 4:04; ignoring the outro for a moment. It puzzles in some respect. Why does a band limit their art on such a degree? Why are there no longer and more complex compositions? There is always the issue that such lack seems to limit the way the ideas – riffs, arrangements, atmospheres – appear limited and reduced; well, at least this is the suspicion one might have regarding the song-writing. It is hard to say whether the music could have been better with some longer compositions, because ‘Erevos’ presents the music in such a way that they seem to know what they are doing and composed the album in such a way as to prevent fillers in the first place.

‘Black metal’ was used as a genre descriptor for ‘Descensus Ad Inferos’, but to narrow the whole performance down to it would ignore a variety of aspects that can be found on this recording. Thrash as well as melodic death metal (the old one that is) appear in one way or another over the course of the album, and they help ‘Erevos’ to break out a too narrow approach. Already in the opener, this co-existence can be discovered in the riffs and dynamics, but this is merely a foreshadowing of the things to come. To present a vague example: it is somehow like ‘Varathron’ met (early; post Stormblåst) ‘Dimmur Borgir’ and (early) ‘In Flames’ and they joined forces for some kind of project. At times the music is symphonic, then aggressive and straightforward, only to return to … something else… sort of. The Greek band sticks to this particular mixture over the whole course of ‘Descensus Ad Inferos’ and the music is therefore constantly ‘heavy’ – in certain limits of course – but tends to shift in intensity. Nevertheless, you get the feeling that they have found their style, because the consistency on this recording is pretty high. The exception might be ‘Grotesque Blasphemy (Slaughter Pt. 1)’, due to a shift in focus towards something more in vein of Dark Funeral and therefore with a higher degree of aggressiveness.

Alright, and now for some criticism. I do not like the production … or to be more precise, I do not like every aspect of it. For instance, The Omnipotence of the Judges, has some short distinct keyboard element, whose part is simply too dominant. Actually, the same can generally be said of the drums or maybe I just would like to see them a bit more in the background and merged with the rest; could be an issue of personal preferences. The other main aspect has been mentioned above already and it is therefore idly to discuss it again.

Nevertheless, the performance is really good and a well crafted mixture of different influences had been achieved. A nice mixture with keyboards like on ‘Possessed by the Moon (of the Underworld)’ or rather straightforward stuff as can be found throughout the entire recording; variety helps the band to keep the interest high and monotony afar. Symphonic meets aggressiveness with a good sense of dense melodies; such is the kind of art offered on ‘Descensus Ad Inferos’. The best aspect of this album might be that it does not want to sound too modern and too mainstream. Erevos give the impression of trying to place themselves between the seats and to avoid too many of the clichés with which similar bands might be (or actually are labelled). Together with their 2009 single, a certain mark has been set from where a progression can be made and a sound further elaborated. References have been mentioned above … Darkthrone and trve black metal fanatics might have difficulties enjoying the debut of the Greek band, but those with a rather open mindset should definitely try this CD.

At the end of the review, I want to get a bit nit-picky:
The middle part of ‘Under the Wings of Thanatos’ reminds a lot on The Bringer of the Sixth Sun by Covenant (now The Kovenant), which appeared on their Nexus Polaris recording. Listen to the track and look for the part with the word ‘empire’.

Note:
The releases come professional printed (CD and booklet)

Based on a review originally written for ‘A dead spot of light (Number 14)’:
http://www.archive.org/details/ADeadSpotOfLight...Number14