Septicflesh were welcomed like heroes, a thing that made me feel very special, as a Greek in a foreign country. They started their set with ”The Vampire From Nazareth” from their latest critically acclaimed album ”The Great Mass” and from the first moment, someone can hear that they can really reproduce live this very demanding material. Fotis on drums sounded like a shotgun and all the band was in perfect shape in overall. They presented tracks from their new album and the previous one, ”Communion”, six in total with ”We, The Gods” following, ”Pyramid God” proving to be a great live classic already, ”A Great Mass Of Death” being maybe the highlight of their performance, ”Anubis” shaking all the people inside the hall and ”Five Pointed Star” was the suprise which I personally didn’t wait. A glorious performance that unfortunately lasted a little more than half an hour. Such tours bring experience and Septicflesh show that they have caught the opportunity to take advantage of their momentum. Way to go brothers! You deserve it!

As I Lay Dying was the main reason to attend the show, as I have no expectations to see them in my country. In ten songs and totally forty minutes, they made me consider my trip was not in vain, and once ”Within Destruction” started, my spine suffered throughout the whole set. It’s a miracle I remember what they played, as I barely could control my emotions. ”The Sound Of Truth” makes me realize this is happening indeed and ”Upside Down Kingdom” is the perfect preparation for ”Through Struggle”, where the whole hall (sic) goes up and down and on the title track of ”An Ocean Between Us”, an enormous bunch of energy is unleashed to make people smash on the walls. ”Condemned” follows and the beat never stops, ”Nothing Left” explodes the whole place, ”Confined” is another great suprise of the night and ”94 Hours” makes me rush in front of the stage by kicking, punching, jumping, screaming… whatever you can imagine anyway. An amazing performance by the Americans, which I personally consider the most improved metal band of the last five years and with Tim Lambesis on vocals showing that a frontman can seem extra terrestial even without running that much. Do you know many people that sing and headbang together? Orgasm!

Amon Amarth have come to be headliners in such events because they have worked very hard in their career. Their new album ”Surtur Rising” is a very good album and its songs sound even better live. ”War Of The Gods” shows from the first second that the band is maybe in its best shape the last ten years, ”Runes To My Memory” early proves it’s going to be a loooooong night full of headbanging and two new ones follow, ”Destroyer Of The Universe” and ”Live Without Regrets”. It is then ”The Pursuit Of Vikings” which makes the place turn upside down. A wise choice to play it early, the fans are out of control and Johan Hegg enjoys it with a big smile, which lasted until the end. ”For Victory Or Death”, ”Varyags Of Miklagaard” and ”Slaves Of Fear” prove that the newer songs take over the setlist, but ”Ride For Vengeance” from the first godly album ”Once Sent From The Golden Hall” puts things in order. Such a fury unleashed!

Another new one, ”A Beast Am I” (Johan, you are, indeed) is played and two more tracks from ”Twilight Of The Thunder God” follow, ”Embrace Of The Endless Ocean” and ”Free Will Sacrifice”, before ”Asator” causes us once more to bang heads and spines until the end. ”Death In Fire” is the establishment of Amon Amarth’s furious and professional performance, the red lights on the background look like we’re diving into the fires of hell and as soon as the encore includes ”Twilight Of The Thunder God” and ”Guardians Of Asgaard”, there can be no doubt that the Swedish band enjoys the absolute recognition of every single being inside this hall. It was the first time for them to play in Bulgaria and it surely won’t be the last with such a crowd. I really wonder how much capacity and in which price would this package come to Greece but since this is a report to point out the best of things, let me just not be mean to some people. Bulgaria enjoys more and more gigs, despite the fact that the country is a very poor one. This doesn’t prevent the fans from attending the shows (also U.D.O. were playing and Iced Earth were following some days later). I think I’ll have to do this trip again very soon. In any case, you’ll be informed. Odin, guide our necks, our backs, our spines and sweat!

Aggelos “Redneck” Katsouras.

Let’s have a look at the album per se. One could say that it is a mass of orchestral elements combined with melodic death metal tunes and great “walls” of symphonic harmony that comprise every song of the album. ‘Communion’ featured the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and this one also heads out having symphonic tune ups that provide extra “darkish” atmosphere to the pre-existing hellish sounds the band produces. The guys know what to do and how to do it. A great septic mass of putrescent, rotting sounds that makes you have the album on repeat all the time..

Definitely Septic keep their identity, their pompous septic-like riffs are apparent and yet every time compile refreshing sounds, or give a bit more spice to their work, and keep us, the “deathsters”, updated and on track. “The Great Mass” reminds us a lot structure-wise of “Communion”, though, the guys go a bit further, energizing us for once more with their blistering monstrous riffs combining mature sound and even more atmosphere to each track. A mass of pure death that is evident and guitarists Christos Antoniou and Sotiris Vayenas unleash surprisingly melodic, groovy and dark riffs that blow us away. It is difficult not to point out the amazingly engaged vocals of the cleans- Vayenas- and the raspy, deep growls of the lead vocalist Spiros “Seth” Antoniou, I am not sure whether these not combined together in such harmony that the result would be so tremendous. They are technical, distinctive and precise in their work and it is difficult for them not to create “great” musical sensations. Ultimately, it is the symphonic atmosphere that makes ‘The Great Mass’ such a jewel. The title track holds an excellent balance of crushing melodies and symphonic backdrop that shows the trademark of of Septic Flesh and the trademark of the album.. On the other hand, one could say, that Septic Flesh seem to have been more focused on their symphonic output more than worrying about creating overly complex death metal riffs and solos, that is not the case since the band always keep their unique style and sound but also like to experiment and emphasize in its pompous character.

The opening of “The Vampire From Nazareth” has a great female soprano vocal feature (the vocalist in this one is actually part of a side project of Septic Flesh band members) moving on “The vampire from Nazareth” seems like it has borrowed a few riffs from “We The Gods”, but if one notices more clearly and as the track progresses the sound develops to a much heavier and darker symphonic piece, constricted with thundering drums, choirs, and just a raging symphony that keeps one suspended in a hellish with fear and terror atmosphere. “The Great Mass Of Death” is almost at a ‘Persepolis’ level of epic proportions. Moreover, “The Undead Keep Dreaming” is impressive with the switch from blast beats to symphony-focused breaks in the action. Also, “Rising” features an excellent melodic driven guitar with an almost adventurous feel to it. Last but not least, “Pyramid God”, can be defined as the best track on the album due to its catchy rhythms and fantastic drum interlude.

‘A Great Mass Of Death and Orchestral Terror” characterizes the 8th in order full-length release of Septic Flesh’s work. It is another great album from Septic flesh, and I would highly recommend it to all fans of symphonic death metal to check it out. The compositions are memorable and unforgettable, the tunes are magical and intricately detailed to perfection and the end result is hellish incredible.
All hail, Septic Flesh!

Standout tracks: ” Pyramid God “, ” The Great Mass Of Death”, “Oceans of Grey”, ” Therianthropy”.

Greek extreme metallers SEPTICFLESH have finished recording the follow-up to 2008’s “Communion” for an early 2011 release. After a long period of intense work in Athens, Prague and Sweden, the evolution of the band’s symphonic death sound has been achieved with the help of the Filmharmonic Orchestra of Prague and well-known producer and PAIN/HYPOCRISY mainman Peter Tägtgren (AMON AMARTH, MARDUK, THERION, CHILDREN OF BODOM, CELTIC FROST, IMMORTAL).

130 musicians were involved in the recording process. Besides the traditional classic orchestra instruments, this time SEPTICFLESH incorporated harpsichord, some bizarre ethnic instruments and a boy soprano to their sound, pursuing a more “horror soundtrack” approach. Of course, the guitars will still shred you to death!

The release of the forthcoming 10-song album is expected for the first quarter of 2011. In the meantime, a brand new song will be available worldwide as an exclusive digital download single from December 17.

SEPTICFLESH previously stated about the direction of the new material, “The musical result can be described as a great mass of emotional death. One of the dominant elements of the album is the use of the characteristic guitar melodies of the band in a more intense and dramatic way. In combination with the orchestral parts that will surpass everything else that the band has done in the past, the sound resembles to a funeral concerto. Actually, it appears that the whole atmosphere of the album is one step closer to the depths of Hades… Also, as actually SEPTICFLESH is in the wider sense an artistic dark experiment, the nightmarish visual world of Seth Siro Anton that is part of this experiment is going to be expanded towards extremity in order to ‘dress’ fittingly the soundscapes and the new mysterious lyrical thematology.”

Necroterror Records, the Cyprus-based underground record label and distributor which specializes in high-quality black metal releases mainly in the vinyl format, released the 12″ LP/box version of SEPTICFLESH’s latest album, “Communion”. Limited to 350 copies, this vinyl release features all-new alternative cover artwork and layout to the CD version, created by Seth Siro Anton. A special edition gold vinyl boxed set is also available containing several unique extras.

For more information, go to this location.

SEPTICFLESH’s “comeback” album, “Communion”, was released in March 2008 via Season of Mist.

Source: www.blabbermouth.net

What a night. It wasn’t just a gig, six bands make it a mini festival. Kind of tiresome to attend a fest in a club, but I think it was worth it in the end. The sad fact is that I got there a bit late, so I missed Celestial Immunity’s performance. Moreover, I only managed to listen to just two songs from Ritual of Odds. Having missed most of their show too, I can’t really say much about them. Anyway, let’s continue.

Show Your Face was up next and I have to say they impressed me from the very beginning, and particularly their vocalist, having a wide range of brutal growls and screams. Playing something like Gothenburg mixed with Sepultura, they made sure the people wouldn’t stop banging their heads. Sepultura I said? They covered “Roots Bloody Roots”, creating panic in the audience.

While I’m not a big fan of their style, Lucky Funeral kick ass. Musically, they move around the stoner spectrum obviously influenced by Down. Good overall performance by these guys, but once again, the credit must go to the band’s frontman. That guy, wow, he’s got it in him. A really funny highlight: in the middle of the show he takes his clothes off, leaving only his boxers on and showing his ass to the audience. I bet you don’t see things like this on every show.

At this time I was getting a bit tired and anxious for Nightrage, the main reason for me going there in the first place. Cheers from the audience while they came on stage and started mayhem. It was simply awesome. The band showed a lot of energy, playing songs covering their whole discography. “Being Nothing”, “Scathing”, “Hero” are some of them while lot of the songs were coming out from their latest release “Wearing A Martyr’s Crown” with the semi-titled song that recently made a video of, to be the highlight of the show. Guess what. I’m going to talk about the vocalist again. He isn’t just good in signing, but he’s funny too, making the entire show very enjoyable. Another thing worth mentioning was the presence of former Nighrage guitarist Gus G in the audience, leading to something that left us all surprised in a good way: Nightrage covered part of a Firewind song, dedicated to him. They finished with the song “Tremor”, receiving tons of applaud.

Finally, there was the last act of the night, Septic Flesh. Background scenery, dim lights and here they come. Seth speaks a few words and the opening track “Unbeliever” starts the show. They continued with a few more old songs and then switched to the highly acclaimed “Communion” songs,  with only “Red Code Cult” and “Sumerian Daemon” breaking the continuity of Communion. The whole playlist was well received by the audience, creating a constant pandemonium in the pit. Septic Flesh capped the performance with a very professional show and lots of energy. However, I was kind of annoyed by the choice of songs played. It’s not that I don’t like them, but it had been more than a year since I last saw them live, yet the playlist was exactly the same. OK, last time they were promoting their latest album, but now I had been expecting to see more of their old stuff, not just three or four songs.

Finally, a note to the promoters and technicians: the sound was terrible, especially on guitars. If you want to hold a gig of this caliber, you must have appropriate sound support. That however didn’t hold back any of the bands and they did their best to please us. Sorry if you weren’t there, but this gig was very good overall, showing that the Greek metal scene has quality bands and lots to offer.

Thanasis Gatziouras.

Good Evening.

This is the first live since your recent reunion. Which are the first impressions?

Really the impressions were very good. It was a festival which was hard to be accomplished, the discomfort of the hosts was big and I really believe that the next time it will be even better. The initial attempt was unique and these kinds of motions take up the extreme musical scene in Greece. We generally are satisfied.

Initially according to what we knew the band was to be reunited only for one live, the one of Metal Healing. Later on you announced the fact that it is a normal reunion which will be followed from a new album.

Basically we started for this live as you knew. But thereafter since we were rehearsing there were new tracks which are very good and at this moment we are in the course of a new album which will be recorded Semptember by Octomber. The recordings will begin around the 18th of September and will last for about a month In Sweden with Fredman. I really believe that we have in our hands a very good material. In a few words, this concert reunited us again.

How will the new album be? Will it be something classic Septic Flesh or are you going to experiment?

Basically it will be an extreme album which will have many orchestral parts.

The album’s title?

We’re not sure until now but there are some thoughts for “Communion” or “Annubis”. The certain is that it will have many orchestral parts, my brother will go to Czechoslovakia to record all the orchestrations.

Will the new album also have female vocals?

There will be some, yes.

Has a tour been scheduled after the finishing of the album?

There will certainly be a tour. This time we have signed to Season Of Mist so logically from February either with Mayhem or Rotting Christ namely bands of the extreme black metal space, we certainly will have some tour. Perhaps with other names also but we don’t know it yet. The certain thing is the European tour will be after February.

Now a question that I figure you’d expect. Which was the exact reason that the band broke out?

The reason was that we released an album that really satisfied us a lot, Sumerian Daemons, and afterwards we all wanted to rest. Music is art; it’s not something that should be done for just a motive, that’s very important. So we came back since we saw that we wanted to do it again.

In the past so did you as well as other bands such as Rotting Christ, Nightfall etc. elevated the Greek scene a lot to the Europian space. Which do you think is the reason that this all remained stagnant? Do you believe that the circumstances were more prosperous than now?

The circumstances are the same for all. Greece is not a rock country… it’s about Greek traditional music, we all know that. If you go to Sweden you will see what I mean, they all have a rock attitude in all stuff. Generally in Greece there are a lot of good new bands but perhaps it’s the fault of Greek’s idiosyncrasy which doesn’t let him to evolve and also the fact that the Greek bands haven’t yet realized that to conquer something you have to tire. This is very important. The tours for instance are very tiresome, it’s not just “I do a tour”.

Let’s leave a little from Septic Flesh. You’ve been an arwork creator for many important names of the space such as Paradise Lost, Rotting Christ, Nightrage etc. How did you feel having the responsibility for something like that?

Basically let me tell you that Paradise Lost is my favourite band so I’m proud that I did the artwork on their new album. It was a unique moment and I truly felt awesome.

Weren’t you tensed by the responsibility of doing a cover for a band so huge?

Look stress is always there but I know the band well and that worked positively. I’ve also done enough covers for foreign bands. I recently finished the artwork for the new Soilwork album as well as Exodus.

Back to the band. Are you going to record a live cd or maybe write a dvd?

The new album. Nothing more, this is of the essence and that’s the only thing we’re thinking of right now.

Thanks a lot and we wish every success to the continuation of the band.

Be well.

Interview by: Rena Koutsou
Translated by: Thanos Koulouris