Babalon's Bands III- Temples to Typhon (Thy Darkened Shade)
It is a bizarre and difficult time in which we find ourselves. Wherein free speech is under attack by people who desire human rights, sex is more liberal than ever and yet less commonplace, the freedom to own guns is seen as more important than the freedom to not get shot and worst of all, people like me have more efficient ways than ever to spam you with our opinions...not that I would... LISTEN TO THY DARKENED SHADE YOU BASTARD. Me? I would never do such a thing. A thing such as telling you to LISTEN TO THY DARKENED SHADE.
My shitty jokes aside, Thy Darkened Shade is a wildly imaginative black metal duo from Athens. What do I mean by wildly imaginative? Well, they have been squeezing about a world and a half of sophistication, memorable guitars and "this on paper doesn't work but they made it work" into an LP every half a decade or so. Much like Varg Vikernes being granted temporary leave in 2003 and going on the run, Thy Darkened Shade make their releases count.
Their debut, released a short, breezy thirteen years after their formation, is "Eternvs Mos, Nex Ritvs." It is a sharp, fast and unyielding record. It is also by far and wide the thrashiest of their three albums. While "Eternvs..." is by no means "punky," it also doesn't have that rumbling weight that their later releases have. It flirts more closely with Nifelheim and Gospel of the Horns than it does Morbid Angel or Blasphemy. However I am loathe to call it black thrash, in the same I am loathe to put a / or a "blackened" anywhere when talking about Thy Darkened Shade. Because it really isn't. The soul of this perverse genre is stretched in every which direction but it feels like black metal.
Even in their later records, the band goes from Chuck Schuldiner and Jon Nodtveïdt style complexities to borderline Slayer and Harmony Corruption era Napalm Death moments in what feels like a snap. 2014's Liber Lvcifer I: Khem Sedjet is an absolute masterclass in not letting tags bother you. Choruses straight out of Enslaved, leads like a somewhat less melodic Nodtveïdt, and grueling Pete Sandoval era Morbid Angel drums, sounds like a mess on paper - in practice the band pulls it off admirably.
It would be another nine short years before the band would continue that particular liber but in the interregnum the band released a bunch of splits. Depending on your tastes you might be more or less excited about the other bands. I'm not going to delve into all of them but my personal favorite is "SAATET- TA APEP" with Chaos Invocation. On top of having what is one of Karmazid's best and most yellow artworks, both bands bring their A-game and compliment each other well. In a world where Nile exists and metal bands have been digging through Egypt like I dig through graveyards for romantic partners, it is hard to stand out. But both Thy Darkened Shade and Chaos Invocation do it, firstly by bringing across a wildly different interpretation to most of what’s out there and second by bringing across wildly different interpretations to each other. They’re both black metal songs but Thy Darkened Shade focuses on the grandeur and elaborate nature of Egyptian mythology, while Chaos Invocation is more detail oriented and emotional.
That brings us to 2023 AD. A mysterious place where dreams come to die. However not all of them because nearly a decade after the first volume, Thy Darkened Shade opened this year swinging with "Liber Lvcifer II: Mahapralaya." I don't want to spoil the surprise, but Liber Lvcifer II took the 9 years of anticipation and expectations and delivered. The death metal edge is more pronounced in this one, the vocals are more varied and better preformed than ever, and the bass is so good that it makes me wish other black metal bands would put in half this effort into their bass arsenal. As for specifics, sorry Charlie, you’re going to have to go check it out yourself. It’s well worth the time investment.
Unsolicited Recommendations 5
(Insert a charming opening paragraph with some vague and bland best wishes, followed up with some joke here. Then say the division today is into an album and a series of books. )
Batzorig Vaanchig’s The Great Chinggis Khan
As anyone who know me can attest, I have had a strong and long standing fascination with Mongolian culture. I have a tattoo of "khan" in Mongolian Bichig (Тод Бициг) script an my hand, and I've occasionally used both Mongol terms and Bichig script in my own art. But let's take a step back, do you know that meme with the Mongolian musician playing the horse head fiddle (морин хуур) on a mountainside? Wearing a traditional, green Mongolian robe ( дззл)?
That man is Batzorig Vaanchig. With the rise of popularity and interest in Mongolian Folk and traditional music, Batzorig Vaanchig cannot and will not go unmentioned. He is, beyond the meme, perhaps the greatest and most famous modern musician in the genre.
If you roll on back to the prehistoric year known to scholars as 2015, before The Hu exploded in popularity (much love to them too,) there were a select few places you could go for full albums of real Mongolian steppe music. In the west, the list for many years basically began and ended in Steppenwolf. But joke references to Hard Rock aside, the list basically began and was headed by Khusgutun and Batzorig Vaanchig.
While the two Khusugtun albums (a self titled debut and Jengar) are my personal favorites in the genre, I believe the accessibility of his new solo record makes for an ideal starting point. Honestly you can't go wrong with any of the three, but if you're new, start here. Savor it, because his voice is one of a kind.
Stephen Fry's Mythos, Heroes and Troy
Being a huge Greek Mythology fan and philhellene myself, I like to dig into every aspect of the old books. There isn't a great many of them, and while they're almost infinitely re-readable, there's a point where you start humming along. But many people tell me they can't pick up an unabridged copy of Theogony, the Iliad, or the Odyssey without getting lost. Between references, customs in Ancient Greece and blurry lines between what is history and what is myth, it can get massively overwhelming.
I broke my head against the wall until I got it. However if you'd rather not be a nerd and spend your days hitting on ladies and making money rather than pondering the ineffable will of Zeus, Stephen Fry has you covered. From cultural significances to fun tidbits and references, Stephen Fry retells and explains the stories in a charming and compelling way.
Id like to stress that it is not and is not intended to be a substitute to reading the originals. Whether we're talking about the Iliad, the Argonautica or Theogony, there's a great deal that is conveyed beyond the storyline. However, Stephen Fry is an excellent Vergil to your Dante as you make your way through.
Unsolicited Recommendations Part 2
In today’s Unsolicited Recommendations, we start off with the funniest reviews you’ve ever read, heard and seen. Then we swing by Athens to pick up Spyros Giasafakis on our way to the nearest temple to Dionysus.
1. Zero Punctuation
It's hard to overstate how monumental Zero Punctuation was and is in my life. Yahtzee basically wrote the playbook on what it is I find funny with these 4-5 minute long video game reviews (even if you're not a huge gamer, only a very vague knowledge is necessary to enjoy ZP.)
But once you delve deep, there's a world of complexity to the jokes and references that will guide you to good books, movies and hell even interesting historical events to look up. So much so that a whole decade and some after Ive begun watching ZP, I regularly rewatch old episodes of games I still haven't played, unconvinced? Very well, behold!
https://youtu.be/zHnYFP73MKE
2. Daemonia Nymphe- Κραταια Αστεροπη (Krataia Asteropi)
What would happen if you dragged Einar Selvik from Wardruna, Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry from Dead Can Dance and Psarantonis (from Crete? No but he's a solo artist) into a studio? Well you'd probably get a very angry group of musicians but say you managed that and you got them to record, what would you get? Something much like Daemonia Nymphe
Opinions may vary in regards to what the ideal starting point with the band may be, my take would be Krataia Asteropi. The band's personality and explorations into Greek mysticism goes hand in hand with a memorable but not overly simplified approach. It's definitely a time investment but a rewarding one.
(For those coming from a Metal place, Sakis Tolis of the black metal institution Rotting Christ recently covered track 4, "Nocturnal Hecate." You can find this excellent cover on the last track of his debut solo album, Among the Fires of Hell.)
