Stories From The Aegean Part III

Hello again guys! We are still with the great bands of the Greek Metal Scene! Here we are! another great 8 bands! and stay tuned for more bands from Greece but we need somehow a short break!

But, I want to thank all people who read the previous parts :) they reached more than 300 views :)

Spyros Hondroyiannis 

Before going into the list, we need some warming up first, so please welcome skilled, and talented Greek organizer Spyros Hondroyiannis, Room of Doom Festival founder and the producer of Room 302 Radio Show.

Actually, it is not the first time that we interview Hondroyiannis on our blog,so he was so easygoing, warm and friendly. First of, I asked Hondroyiannis about the idea of establishing a Festival for Doom Metal in Greece. He expressed, "The Room Of Doom hit me as an idea after I realized that the best and my most favorite Doom/Death Greek bands released amazing albums or were very active in 2018 (On Thorns I Lay and Ocean Of Grief ) gave us 2 of the best albums of the year.  

Then, Decemberance did the same but in the end of 2017 and Shattered Hope were also very active then. 

The original idea was to have these 4 Greek bands in an one-time-event, but Shattered Hope could not make it due to many issues they were facing back then - I am a huge On Thorns I Lay fan since 1996 and I felt the need for them to lead my first ever festivalt I was about to create.

Then Yiannis from Decemberance (a great guy to work with, let me tell you), gave me the idea of having Marche Funebre in the line-up, since I was looking for a non-Greek band to complete the Fest." 

He added, "All 3 Greek bands of the first The Room Of Doom Fest were interviewed by me in 2018 at my Room302 Radioshow. I shared the idea with them during the interviews and they were all very positive!

I kept in contact with them all the months since I announced them about the Fest, so it was easy to communicate and arrange everything - and they are really great guys to work with!"

Next, we moved to Room of Doom Fest I experience and the festival's second edition preparations. Hondroyiannis described, "It is great that the bands from the first edition loved it as much as I did and it honors me - and thank you for showing such a great deal of support to the bands and the Fest!

The preparations for The Room Of Doom Fest II had actually started since May 2018, so it was easy for me to have all deals done by the end of the month that the first edition took place.

It's really amazing to work with the guys at Temple Athens (thank you, Jim Kotsis!) so this cooperation makes it even more fun for me to give my soul to it. I am already preparing for the third edition in 2020, that's how much I love working for this Fest."

Last week, Room of Doom announced that the impressive Russian Gothic/Doom Metal band Inner Missing will participate at the fest, so we asked him about his relation with Inner Missing members.
Hondroyiannis said, "Ahh, Inner Missing this amazing band I am a huge fan of -Sigmund is an exceptional musician, artist and person and IM is a tragically underrated band that the whole universe should know about!

We are in touch for more than 3 years now and I had made a tribute show at Room302 Radioshow back in 2016, so more and more Greek audience could hear and realize what a great band they are.

He continued, "Me and Sigmund were talking about their participation in The Room Of Doom Fest and already in November 2018 we agreed that the time is right for them to visit us here in Athens for the second edition of the Fest. I am really excited and happy for this and can't wait to meet Sigmund in person!"

Also, the legendary Greek Doom Metal band Selefice is going to participate in the event! so we asked Hondroyiannis to tell us more about the band's participation. He explained, "Selefice is a legendary Death band for us old Greeks! 

They were around back in the early 90s, when the magic of great albums of a great scene was born. Septic Flesh, Nightfall, Horrified, Phlebotomy (before they become On Thorns I Lay), Rotting Christ, Selefice - man, 1992-1995 were AMAZING years and the 90s so glorious for the scene!

It was a huge honor when the band contacted me for participation in the Fest and you can't imagine how moved and touched I was, not only for their part in the line-up but seeing that they are actually active again and ready to offer more in the scene with new releases and live performances!"

Finally, he told us his opinion in the Greek Metal scene in 2018 and his favorite 2018 releases. He mentioned, "Greek Metal scene was, is and will always be a great music power. There are so many bands in so many different genres that are unique and they should be know and adored world-wide.
Universe217, Need, Mother Of Millions, what can I say, tens of bands that take our breath away with every new release and performance!

2018 was a great year with great Greek albums that I really enjoyed and loved: On Thorns I Lay with "Aegean Sorrow" gave us one of the best albums of the year world-wide, Ocean Of Grief did the same with "Nightfall's Lament", but there were also many more releases that left us speechless - Varathron, Message In A Cloud, they did a great job and man, so many more are coming also this year!"

Selefice

 

Selefice is one of the oldest Greek Metal bands, and it is one of the earliest Doom Metal projects in Greece. 2018 witnessed the comeback of the legendary Selefice. They are working on new stuff, and getting ready for rock the stage of many events in 2019 including the Greek the Room of Doom. 

Manos Michaelides (Selefice Bassist) answered our questions. 

First of, we asked Michaelides about how Selefice is preparing for its return. He expressed, "The band was born in 1990. After the "Demo 1991" and the "Where Is the Heaven" Full-length (1993) the band split up. 

The original line up guitar players remained active in other bands, they even played together, but they never had the chance to actually reactivate Selefice, although they wanted to. 

This happened not until late 2017 when the line up was completed with Necromancy members on bass and drums. The recent re-issues of both demo and album and the general acclaimed positive reviews were an additional boost."

We moved next to how Selefice sees the Greek Metal scene nowadays. He described, "The Greek metal scene nowadays is generally better than before! There are surprisingly many new bands coming out every year and there are excellent players covering a wide range of metal styles. What I miss in today's scene is in some aspects the lack of originality and also that despite the internet and mobile connection, people got more distant."

Then, I was curious to ask how the old generations of Metalheads see the younger ones, I know, it is somehow a strange question! Michaelides answered, "The only strange in this question is that it makes me feel somehow old (laughs). 

To answer, in the 90's there weren't so many shows. So metalheads were hungry for a metal show. Today you have to attract the audience. This is not always easy. I always take pride to play in front of younger people or even better to share the stage with them knowing we share thoughts and feelings. Metal unites!"

It was somehow important to know whether Selefice keeps its good relations with the bands who were formed at the same period or not. Michaelides explained, "Sure! We have a very close relation with Acid Death. Savvas Betinis is the producer of our new MLP entitled "I Met a God". 

He instantly believed in our work and we are lucky enough and thankful to have his guiding light while recording! We are also friends with Piranha. Rotting Christ also are some of the coolest guys you will ever meet! As said before, metal unites us all!"

Concerning the hardships that Selefice faces after the comeback, he expressed, "We are not in a hurry, so there are actually minimal hardships. 

We enjoy 100% what we do. We are taking things step by step as if we were a new band, which we actually are! We are lucky enough to have people who believe in us, offer us the opportunity to play live shows, people that attend our shows and pay a ticket for that."

He continued, "All of these things are very important for us because they help us record new Selefice music. We take the opportunity to thank everyone for this!"

So, Selefice will participate at the upcoming Room of Doom Festival that's why we liked to ask him about his opinion about the event. He explained, "I was lucky enough to witness the first edition of Room of Doom. It is an excellent and honest festival and I can assure you that it is worth it to attend it. Spyros is really doing a very good job that is driven only from his passion and love for this sound! So, it is actually an honor for us to be a part of the second edition of Room of Doom. 

Then, he expressed his opinion about the current Greek Doom Metal bands, "I am mostly after death/doom metal. There are excellent bands in this genre here like Decemberance, Shattered Hope, On Thorns I Lay and Ocean of Grief, to name just a few." 

Finally, we asked him about his favorite Greek Metal releases. He mentioned, "That's a very hard question, but if I have to narrow it to one, the top would be shared to: Necromantia/Varathron - The Black Arts/The Everlasting Sins split LP and Rotting Christ - Passage to Arcturo MLP.

Thank you again for your support and chance to present Selefice."

Kawir

Founded in 1993, Kawir is one of the oldest and earliest Black Metal bands in Greece. The band is always listed on top Greek Black Metal band lists. 2018 was busy for Kawir as the band participated at various massive Metal festivals across Europe.

Therthonax (Kawir Guitarist) answered our questions.

Therthonax started with us with describing the Greek Metal scene. He expressed, "Well the the extreme scene in Greece started from the end of 80s so after so many years I Can say that we have a lot good bands and one of the best scenes worldwide. I believe, The Greek Metal scene  is very strong.", Then he talked Kawir activity in 2018.  

He described, "ell yes we were busy,about the live shows only good memories we have from both festivals.All were very good organised and we enjoyed a lot."

Regarding Kawir's 2019 plans, Therthonax expressed, "We want to book few shows for 2019 and also to record a new album."

Finally, he revealed to us his favorite Greek Metal releases. He mentioned, "My top 3 albums from Greece are Rotting Christ Thy Mighty Contract", Necromantia "Scarlet Evil Witching Black" and Varathron "His Majesty at the Swamp".

Karma Violens

Karma Violens is one of the influential Extreme Metal bands in Greece since 2002. The band participated with great names through its career as Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy and others. This year, the band released a successful full length album entitled “Serpent God”. Also, the band participated in a prestigious Black Sabath tribute, and participated in a show with the iconic Batushka and The Slayer Killing beside the band’s performances in some local shows with Aetherian, Foray Between Ocean and Fall from Order.

Stefanos answered our questions 

Stefanos was so pleased because he is talking to the Middle Eastern Metalheads. He expressed, "Its something great for us to talk about Karma Violens for the Middle Eastern fans of Metal. It’s the first time for us and we hope a lot of people will have the chance to check out our music. Music connects people from all around the world. We strongly believe that music has no boundaries, age, color, gender etc."

In 2018, Karma Violes released new album called "Serpent God" so we asked him what the band means with "Serpent God", he explained, "For us Serpent God combines our beliefs that the idea of modern society poisons the minds of people nowadays. The way of the religion works together with the modern way of life makes false gods and wrong. Its in our hands to criticize and try to make a better future."

Also, Karma Violens is one of the main bands that performed with Aetherian, Foray Between Ocean, and Fall of Order. Regarding this Stefanos said, "Well this idea came from the guys from FBO. The guys are putting together a metal festival for the second time in two years. They called us and we were very positive about it from the begging. Its going to be a great night."

We moved next to the band's participation at Black Sabbath tribute night so we asked him about their experience at the event, he expressed, "It was a great night. The event was a tribute to the mighty Black Sabbath and we did five covers. Songs like Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Children of the Grave etc, were some of the songs we performed. 

There was also a movie screening of the documentary “The End”. Despite this, it was fun to play with the audience seated cause of the movie, but it was fun. Black Sabbath are the fathers of Heavy Metal. 

Everyone that respects himself as rock- metal fan must have at least five records of them. We grew up with their music, so that makes them as one of the top influences in our music, along with other great bands."

Then we asked them about their experience with the legendary Batushka, and The Slayer Killing backstage, Stefanos said, "It was great. The guys from Batushka very professional and cool people. Slayer killing are a quite new band from Athens although the members are from old and historic bands like Nightfall. It was cool to make friendship with them and meet each other for the first time."

We asked Stefanos about his opinion about the Greek Metal scene, he expressed, "Greek metal scene is very powerful especially the stoner rock scene. Greece has great bands and very skillful musicians. Many bands tour around Europe and it’s great to see historic bands like Rotting Christ and Septic Flesh to continue and grow day by day bigger and famous."

Regarding Karma Violens plans in 2019, He said, "We have some gigs planned for 2019 and hopefully we will begin to write new material for the new record. Let’s hope we won’t take it too long this time."

Finally, we asked him about his favorite Greek Metal releases, he mentioned, "I don’t have a favorite album from Greek artists. I love equally Rotting Christ’s Triarchy of the lost lovers and Septic Flesh’s Orphidian Wheel, but also I love an album from a band called “The Bliss” and “The Dive”."

W.E.B

W.E.B is one of the popular Greek Metal bands. The band produces an outstanding musical fusion of Death, Black, Dark and Gothic music. Since 2002, the band gained many success around the world. 2018 was one of the busiest years for the band: participated in Rockwave Festival headlined by the legendary Iron Maiden, and toured with Batushka, Moonspell and Cradle of Filth And, the band was confirmed as one of Metal Days participants. 

“We are very happy to be part of MetalDays 2019! We love playing festivals actually. Our stronger weapon is the stage after all and events like this, are perfect for us.” Sakis Darkface (W.E.B vocalist/Guitarist) told the Metal Sister.

We asked Darkface about W.E.B feelings while sharing the stage with the legendary Iron Maiden and played at one of the biggest Rock/Metal Festivals in Greece. “It was definitely the busiest year we have had so far even though we want to be many times busier than that. 

Sharing the stage with the biggest metal band of all time was a great honor for us. Also it was one of our best performances ever and we gained a lot of new fans. Backstage… believe it or not was very very quiet yet luxurious.”

Regarding WEB’s tour experience with Batushka, Darkface expressed “Very interesting actually. We got to see what Batushka is all about, how they manage to work it out and in the end all the things that make them a unique special act in the metal scene. Very easy going guys and perfect professionals.”

W.E.B also have a different style on the stage so we asked Darkface about their stage costumes, “Honestly, this is more of an impulse that came to our minds. 

We wanted to present ourselves as personas that do not belong to this realm and create some sort of ‘distance’ if you will, with the audience yet we keep a constant communication while on stage. 

It makes us more theatrical and this is a very important element of our music.”

Regarding their relationship with the Middle East, Darkface commented, “We actually do not have any feedback at all from the Middle East apart that first time W.E.B. ever got to tour was with Orphaned Land.”

Finally, Darkface told us his favorite Greek Metal Release, “Personally I would choose “The Great Mass” by Septicflesh. This album was groundbraking in so many levels!”

Vermingod

Vermingod is one of the most successful Death Metal acts in Greece since 2007. The band shared the stage with major iconic names around the world, and set successful cooperations with great musicians through their releases. Vermingod’s activity in 2018 was mainly focused on live performances. Also, Vermingod will share the stage with the legendary Rotting Christ on the occasion of Rotting Christ’s new album launch.

Aris Andrikopoulos (Vermingod Vocalist) answered our questions.

We started with Vermingod’s future performance with Rotting Christ, and how they got this chance, “A local promoter will host their release-live show in Patras, so he contacted us to support the band. We are thankful and really honored to play alongside the legendary Rotting Christ.”

Then we moved to the band’s performance with Aetherian and Foray Between Ocean and how is the relationship between each other. 

“We were friends with the guys and we decided to do some live shows together, which were quite successful. Our relationship is excellent, and we are really happy to have met such great lads from both bands,” 

Regarding his opinion about the Greek Metal Scene, he explained, “The Greek metal scene is no different than the metal scene of any other European country. 

The number of bands emerging from Greece is high –given the country’s size–, and, as with everything in life, some bands “struggle” to put their music out and make their name known to as many people as possible, while others manage to stand out relatively easier due to various circumstances. 

Surely, there is no governmental support for young musicians here as in Scandinavia but that is not as much an inhibitory factor as is the lack of inspiration. Fortunately, inspiration is to be found in plenty especially in the underground. 

Greece is quite strong when it comes to extreme music, so I believe that bands who are in it seriously are on the right track.”

He also revealed to us Vermingod’s 2019 plans, “The main plan is to complete the composition and start the recordings for our third album, on which we are working as we speak. It is a difficult and time-consuming task, so it will probably take up the whole year.”

Finally, he told us his favorite Greek Metal album, “We would probably choose Graves of the Archangels (2008) from Dead Congregation.”

Foray Between Ocean

Foray Between Ocean is a popular Death Metal band in Greece. 2018 was a great year for the band. They participated in Rockwave Festival, beside some events in Greece. In addition, Foray Between Ocean is getting ready for releasing their album.

Ellias Bouzeas (Foray Between Ocean Bassist) 

We started with Foray Between Ocean’s new album. Bouzeas said, “Our new album is going to be available worldwide by “Miasma Records” and we are very excited, we,ve putted a lot of effort and love for this album and we believe it’s going to be a killer one!”

Next, we moved to Foray Between Ocean’s performance at Rockwave Festival, he expressed, “The greatest experience for us so far, it was beyond our expectations and we are going to remember this festival forever.

 Opening for bands like Judas Priest, Accept, Sabaton and many more it was a dream that came true and it was AWESOME!”

Foray Between Ocean is one of the participants of annual Metal events performed by Aetherian, Karma Violens, and Fall of Order. We asked him about their experience through those events.

“This is Hell, is a local festival we’ve started last year through out Greece. It was a huge success, with sold out venues all over the Greece. This year our guestsare Karma Violens. Aetherian and Fall of order, three bands which are representing at the highest level the extreme Greek metal scene and we can’t wait to hit the stage with all of them!!” Bouzeas commented. 

Then, we asked him about the Greek Metalheads.

“Greek Metalheads are supportive to the level of a European audience, but also very demanding, which is a very good thing, because this, is getting the bar raised and we can get more creative to deliver much more better music to them!” He explained.

Next, we asked him about their relation with the Middle Eastern fans, and what he wants to tell them. 

“Actually Middle  eastern bands through out the years have made a big step globally, not only to us. Bands such Orphaned Land, Crescent etc are actually pretty influential to our music and have delivered great albums. 

As for the audience we’ve heard the stories from our good friends “Dimlight” that everyone is thirsty and crazy for this music. We can’t wait to see you guys there one day and bang our heads together!” He said.

Then, he finalized his talk with us with mentioning big favorite Greek Metal releases and his favorite Greek Metal bands.

He revealed, “Lot’s of them, it will be a shame not to mention Dimlight, “Kingdom of Horrors” is a great album, Karma Violens, Aetherian Vermingod, Fall of order and the great ambassadors of our scene, Septic Flesh and Rotting Christ.”

Fall of Order

It is one of the rising Greek Metal bands who managed to achieve good success in a short time. In 2018, Fall of Order participated in many live performances, one of them was with Thy Art is Murder and it also released its first EP "Ascension".

Kostas Nikolaidis (Fall of order Guitarist) answered our questions 

We started with Nikolaidis with how was 2018 with the band. He described, "It was a very productive year for us.We had the opportunity to share the stage with many great bands,to release our music and to create a great video clip for the song “The conquest” that was released a few days ago,you can check it out!"

Then, we asked him about Fall of Order's experience with Thy Art is Murder, Nikolaidis expressed, "We got the call from the organizer of the event and of course our answer was positive.We thought that it was a great opportunity for us to show our energy to a bigger audience.

The guys from Thy Art Is Murder were very down to-earth people and professionals.We had the chance to have a few words with them and it was very meaningful and to the point."

Talking about Fall of Order's EP "Ascension", he described, "Ascension” consists of five songs
that refer to matters like “religion, war, inner self, society” from our own perspective.

Our goal was to write music that we like to listen and express ourselves.When we had the total number of the songs we approached every song to detail. It took us a little less than a year to have
this result."

And regarding their relation with Foray Between Ocean, Karma Violens, and Aetherian, Nikolaidis explained, "We have friendly relationships with each other,i think it’s a great thing to share the stage with your friends and bands from your city.We try to be as united as possible."

Finally, he revealed to us his favorite Greek Metal releases, "I can only speak for myself,because each of us has a different taste and i will say that right now I listen a lot to “Promulgation of the fall” by Dead congregation."

So guys, that was our third part of our series or articles about the Greek Metal Scene (Stories from the Aegean..Metal Stories from Greece) 

Stay tuned for the upcoming part!

Note: to send your biography, media releases, new or to join our series, please send us via knight.dark10@yahoo.com or send a message via our page. 

Written by: Rana Atef (The Metal Sister, Egypt’s Metal Reviewer, Metal Roos, JoScene, Jorzine, and Rock Era Magazine) (Egypt)

Cover Photo designed by: Lina Ardila (Independent Artist, Graphic Designer, and Tattoo Artist ) (Colombia)

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Egypt’s Metal Reviewer and The Metal Sister are two sister blog project established by Rana Atef a.k.a (DaRk~~KniGhT) in April 2018. She is aiming to provide the Middle East with professional and constructive Metal reviews. In addition, building a bridge with Middle Eastetn Metalheads and Western bands. 

Plus, the blog is trying to build a unique Metal news exchange service between the blog and other western blogs, webzines, magazines and pages.

Also, the project is widely open for all bands from the whole world.