Lykaionas ‎"The Diabolical Manifesto" Cassette

The endless creative mastermind Porphyrion (Cult of Eibon, Kawir, Nergal, ex-Funeral Chant, ex-Mortuus Sum, ex-Acherontas, ex-Dawn of Division, ex-Nihasa) alongside Melanaegis (Kawir, Erebos Dominion....) created "The Diabolical Manifesto", a deep dark journey into the glorious time of early 90´s ancient hellenic Black Metal. Without any shadow of doubt, Greece has been one of the most representative places for the return of what Black Metal was one, in all it´s glory

The second album of Hellenic Black Metal LYKAIONAS is coming on Hammer Of Damnation. Α deep dark journey into the glorious time of early 90´s ancient hellenic Black Metal. Without any shadow of doubt, Greece has been one of the most representative places for the return of what Black Metal was one, in all it´s glory

Lykaionas returned in 2018 for their 2nd full length album. Back in 2016 they released their first full length after a couple of minor releases. Luciferian Fullmoon Necromancy was one of the best black metal albums of 2016, ironically only Kawir released a better black metal album that year. Ironic because the members of Lykaionas all played in Kawir at the same time. I suspect that they were less involved in songwriting in Kawir as that is mainly Therthonax’s band. Still though to release 2 albums as good as those 2 in 1 year is pretty incredible. However as of this writing only the vocalist still performs in Kawir.
On The Diabolical Manifesto Lykaionas pick it right back up where they left it with their debut. Fast paced reasonably melodic black metal that melodically is typically Hellenic but with more of a Swedish feel to it. They accomplish this Swedish feel not only because they tremolo pick the riffs more but parts that are more strummed also recall some classic albums from Sweden. The use of synths is very typically Hellenic, almost always there in the background these together with this riff at the end of the 4th track most directly channel the old Greek sound. This band does have their own identity beyond mixing Sweden and Greece but you know in black metal you can describe pretty much everything by just comparing it with what already exists.
The band delivers are pretty stunning performance once again. The production is slick but still has a lot of power. It is a bit less muddy than the debut and a bit more dynamic overall. In my opinion could still gain a bit from going a step further in terms of dynamic range but this sounds more than fine already. In terms of direct music quality I do consider this a slight step down. The ideas are still excellent and very well executed but I am not quite as enraptured as I was by their debut.
There you have it, another excellent album from the Greek black metal scene. This scene just does not seem like it is going to run out of steam anytime soon.

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