mourner
To call this a step up would be an understatement. Instrumentation and songwriting is now so sophisticated that it's impossible to think what's next for Medieval Demon. And that doesn't mean that they betrayed their origin in the least. This is 100% Medieval Demon. Check this out!
Favorite track: Black Coven.
H.L.
MEDIEVAL DEMON definitely follow their own path of obscure and spooky black metal. Far away from genre standards they use for example organs and even saxophones in rare passages. Instead of clumsy catchiness, they rely on idiosyncratic songwriting. Sometimes raging, sometimes exploring the dark zone in a stomping manner. Check "Black Coven" as an epic example for this cool and multi-faceted performance.
Favorite track: Black Coven.
Gilberto Nicola
I have an high idea the album of the year is the one you are listening right now (otherwise you wouldn't be here reading this comment).
HELLS HEADBANGERS is proud to present MEDIEVAL DEMON's highly anticipated fourth album, Black Coven, on CD and vinyl LP formats.
By now, MEDIEVAL DEMON should require little introduction. Formed in that fateful year of 1993, MEDIEVAL DEMON remained one of the cultest entities of the immortal Greek black metal scene, releasing a handful of demos during the mid '90s and then their lost-classic debut album, Demonolatria, in 1998. Not long after, the band receded into the shadows, in vampiric slumber, until awakening from the crypt in 2018 with the majestic comeback album, Medieval Necromancy, through longtime fans HELLS HEADBANGERS, followed two years later by the equally acclaimed Arcadian Witchcraft.
Continuing that enviable momentum compared to most "old" bands who tiredly rehash long-faded glories, MEDIEVAL DEMON light another new full-length torch with Black Coven. Just as its esteemed predecessors sounded like those glorious '90s never ended, so, too, does Black Coven burn with an authentically eldritch fire by those who truly LIVED IT. Much as canonical Hellenic black metal always prized heavy metal classicism at the heart of black METAL, MEDIEVAL DEMON once again synthesize such with equally-classic horror and high drama, making Black Coven arguably their most widescreen record yet. The production, in kind, gives robust crunch to that heavy metalized songwriting, along with highlighting the band's always-captivating synth work. Indeed, the album sounds EXACTLY as it should for something titled Black Coven: the ancient spirits are legion, and unbound!
As founding drummer/keyboardist/composer Lord Apollyon explains, "For the composition of Black Coven, there were used methods and practices of the ancient Greek theory of music, which were also used to the Middle Ages - in the name of Satan. Composition in black metal presupposes to live in real time the process that includes all the elements involved in this kind of black art. We moved into an isolated village inside the forest, a place where ancient Greek sorcery and death magic was born. Ritualism and ancient black metal are parts of our eternally black souls."
Specifically, opening track "Where Witches Dwell and Labyrinths Confuse" was written as tribute to the deceased Andrea Meyer of Norway's cult Aghast. Likewise, the unabashed use of saxophone was in tribute to founding Greek forebears Necromantia, who entered the crypt of time eternal last year. And of course, the influence of Italian gods Goblin is never far away from MEDIEVAL DEMON, even if that influence is more spiritual rather than literal. Any way you cut it (and try not getting mesmerized by the choirs here!), Black Coven is cinematic black art at its very finest. Last word, then, to Lord Apollyon: DEATH TO THOSE WHO BETRAY THE SECRET CULT!"
Late 90's BM worship, but it's also a lil more than that. This album takes the best elements from the scene it's inspired by and mostly avoids the worst of it; the song-writing is well-written, it's performed with passion and fun, and the production is raw but isn't lo-fi. (i.e. it doesn't obfuscate and/or suckass).
Tl;dr It's safe but high quality BM. Recommended. Rabbit
An outstanding Extreme doom death album, in the best tradition. The funerary atmosphere reminds of Evoken ('Centuries of ooze" bears striking similarities, for my delight). It is overall sharp, dark, hypnotic and unrelenting. One of those rare convincing new bands that hold proud the legacy of the biggest names. Bertrand Marchal
A Pagan black metal masterpiece.
Folk and black metal elements fuse into one extremely catchy and awe inspiring album. This band does not disappoint from all the high praise sent it's way. Abyssius Murkraken
What an impressive piece of black metal. This one-man hurricane is pure art. Sgah‘gahsowáh creates an haunting atmosphere. He puts so much soul in his music. Sælzer Bub