Greek Black Metal Duo LIKNO Releases Single ‘Birth’

Greek Black Metal band LIKNO recently released their self-titled debut full-length album. You can now listen to the single ‘Birth’ (featuring special guest T.-Pan-Rep. on kaval, a chromatic end-blown broken-end flute) on the band’s official YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/9GLtnGjX0VQ, and on Bandcamp: https://likno.bandcamp.com/track/birth.

Band comments on the single: “Birth” is the fourth track in our debut album “Likno”. It is undoubtedly the song on which we devoted the most amount of time during the making of the whole album. Besides its length (7:32) the hard part consists of the fact that it has many rhythmic and musical changes, so putting all the different elements harmonically together was a really hard but also a challenging thing at the same time. Initially the lyrics, at the start of the song, put their puzzle piece in the story of “Likno” giving beautiful and rich imagery. In the first shift of music, the lyrics take the listener through northern and majestic landscapes, fierce nature and brutal aura. What we wanted through this track, was to create a dark and cold atmosphere but also to give a feeling of power and strength that emanates from the contact and the coexistence with nature and all its majestic elements: something that is also depicted intensely in the lyrics. In the middle of the song, a big surprise comes for the listener, as the song changes its style and brings an air of optimism and euphoria. The hub point is the addition of kaval, playing a characteristic and catchy folk melody until the end of the song. Kaval is a chromatic end-blown oblique flute traditionally played throughout the Balkans (in Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Southern Serbia, Northern Greece, and elsewhere) and Anatolia (including Turkey, Kurdistan and Armenia). The kaval is primarily associated with mountain shepherds. Initially, we tried to play this melody on clarinet but then we thought that a more special and exotic instrument would give a unique tone to the whole song. In addition, the sound of traditional wind instruments like kaval, nei, duduk, etc. always fascinated us. Our close friend T.-Pan-Rep. Is a very good player and immediately we thought about him. He completely improvised his part by playing the melody with the first audition. The result left us stunned the track ended in an ideal way. As a band, we consider that the reference and the pinpointing of aspects of our culture and ancestry are really important, since through our music, we aim to pay homage to our musical and cultural roots that defined us and inspired us through the years.

For more info:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61561544237336
https://www.instagram.com/liknoband/