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(Note: This is my eleventh entry in my series on Middle Eastern black metal. Previous posts have centered on Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Oman, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt.)
Although Cyprus is dominated by Greek culture, the island’s position in the Mediterranean Sea directly south of Turkey and west of Syria place it firmly in the Middle East. However, geography hasn’t stopped the indigenous black metal from being heavily influenced by the Hellenic BM bands, most notably ROTTING CHRIST, who developed their sound at the same time that the first wave of Norwegians were developing theirs. Here are some notable bands from the island republic.
Atrocious is the solo project of Atrocious, the man, who was a member of a now-defunct Cypriot black metal band called DYSTOPIA. Where Dystopia were a somewhat mediocre melodic black/death metal band (listen for yourself here), Atrocious slows down the tempos and adds keyboards to create black funeral doom music, or as he puts it, “Slab of Raw, Decent Sounding Black Metal.” By far, his best available track is “The Emperor,” which recalls XASTHUR with its dark mood, layered sounds and ominous tempo. You can hear it, along with two other tracks, on his MySpace page
Arkhon formed in 2002 and only lasted a few years, but they recorded some pretty decent black metal with death metal influences. Their music is very technical, but also extremely atmospheric, combining deep, guttural death metal vocals with screeching black metal vocals in the way that HATE FOREST combined similar vocals. The songs are melodic without losing their edge, blending a balance between memorable riffs and aural onslaught. Five songs from their two demos can be accessed on their Soundclick page, the highlights being “At the Rotting Gates of Heaven” and “Vanity Pt. 1.”
Dictator (pictured above) was actually an early member of Arkhon before setting out on his own to create what he describes as “Suicidal Black Funereal Doom Metal.” Slow and agonizing, Dictator evokes the misery of Xasthur and the unpredictable, disturbing evil of ABRUPTUM in his grinding, steam-roller dirges. Honestly, these recordings are so well planned and executed, that I’m expecting Dictator to make quite a name for himself in the black metal underground. An excerpt from his most recent album, Dysangelist, and a track from an early demo can be heard on his MySpace page. It may not be much, but it certainly leaves an impression.
