Album Review: Lord Agheros – Koinè (My Kingdom Music)

With Koinè, a Greek term that indicates the language used in the Hellenistic age, when Greek essence joined East culture thanks to Alexander the Great, Gerassimos Evangelou, the only mind behind Lord Agheros project, returns to his own musical and cultural past with a more extreme sound. Koinè will be released on February 18th, 2022 via My Kingdom Music.

Call it avant-garde black metal or call it atmospheric black metal, what Lord Agheros delivers throughout Koinè is a heart-wrenching blend of beauty and brutality. The former coming from the deep melodies, symphonic detail, and bombastic edge. Whereas the latter comes from the scathing black metal heaviness that rears its ugly head fully on The Walls of Nowhere. Following a lengthy melody driven epic in the form of The Prophecy.

Lord Agheros’ style of black metal is one rooted in old school savagery and built on a foundation of bodies. However, it’s just part of this album’s make-up and often combined with much grander sounds.

A thrilling example of how Lord Agheros combines black metal with symphonic lavishness and dark melody is Hold the Line. Whereas Sow is an example of just how intense things can get. The instrumentation on this track is particularly vicious.

The avant-garde nature of this record is ever present as we get something quite grand with Same Blood. Before Sleep Among the Stars showcases melodic and cinematically tinged wonder. A track that is so beautiful as it builds upwards with enriching orchestration. It’s as far removed from black metal as you can get but it is so spectacular it becomes the best track on the album.

The acoustic guitar twang that leads…Of May keeps things on the mellower side but does build dark intensity. The tempo doesn’t shift but the riffs get more abrasive and the vocals really begin to howl. Before Litany of The Hermit wraps up this unique listen with a two-minute combination of melodramatic melody and whispered vocals.

Call it what you want but something we can all agree on is that Koinè is pretty special.

Lord Agheros – Koinè Full Track Listing:

1. The Prophecy
2. The Walls of Nowhere
3. Hold the Line
4. Sow
5. Same Blood
6. Sleep Among the Stars
7. …Of May
8. Litany of The Hermit

Links

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