Review CHAOSBAPHOMET “Promethean Black Flame” (by Bart Tomaszewski)

Chaosbaphomet “Promethean Black Flame”
Deathrune Records

I could write even a book about Athens, its history, monuments, ancient culture, religion… But I afraid that it’s not right place for that and not all who read these words would be interested in this. So let’s talk about music instead. YEAH! In Athens there were always many good bands. To be honest most of Greek acts come just from capitol of this country. There’s nothing strange in that and doesn’t mean that people from other cities of Greece are less creative or something. There just life more than 30% of country’s population, so…

CHAOSBAPHOMET comes also from Athens and was formed 15 years ago by two guys who still play in the band. Those are Impetos 666 (voc) and Ravenlord Vampyri Draconium (voc, guit, bass and keyb.).  So as we can suppose they use drum-machine. Well, I’m almost sure of that. So there’ll be anything about this instrument here. I think that it’s programing in quite fine way – not so complicated, but in this sub-genre of music it’s rather plus.

Anyway, guys play of course (we can gather it even from pseudonyms) Black Metal. And for everybody who’s interested at least a little in this music will identify without doubts from which country band comes. And it’ll take maybe a half song. We have all the time middle tempos here. Riffs aren’t complicated, but melodic enough – at least from time to time and in typical Greek style. Keyboards are using mostly on beginnings of songs and it takes not all of them, anyway. Well, to tell you truth it happens quite rarely and play of this instrument is delicate or even subtle. So there’s any scheme in that. To be honest there’s any schema at all. For example first song even if is dark and emanate by some evil climate is very calm: only classic guitar, a little tambourine (or something like that) from time to time and clean, semi-whispering vocal which declaims some blasphemous stanzas. It’s done very clearly, but… Otherwise vocal is all the time something between growling in the vein of Greek style Black Metal – easy to understand, but brutal, dark… in the same time.

Well, for fans of mentioned above music this band will be surely something what they must or at least should have in their private discography. That’s truth that it’s not always pure and clean Black Metal (I can hear here influences of other sub-genres of Metal – mostly rather subtle), but music is really very interesting! I listen to it almost whole the time since two days and it’s still fresh for me!

(c) Bart Tomaszewski (SEPULCROS PROD)