I’ve been aware of this band since the days of old (that’s the late nineties hehe). Before the internet, file transfers and streaming services, I had to make some choices regarding which band got my attention, and VARATHRON weren’t exactly that much active during the latter part of the nineties, so it took a long time before I decided to start looking into their cosmos.For the past circa ten years, I’ve taken some time to engage with the band’s discography, their status as trailblazers of Hellenic black metal has seen an important recovery after some slower periods in their thirty year plus career. their last couple of albums have been stellar in my opinion.“His Majesty At The Swamp” is the band’s debut. Released in ’93, the same year as “Thy Mighty Contract” and “Crossing The Fiery Path”, and a year before “Mystic Places Of Dawn”, all pillars of the “Greek” sound.Compared to the Norwegian black metal paradigm at the time, this album had a much more melodic approach to the riffs, almost pure heavy metal in some spots, but it also had a haunting aura of mystique through the use keyboards. The vocals of Stefan Necroabyssious lean more on the side of death metal, while his lyrics have a deeply esoteric angle to them.This is a reissue by THE DEVIL’S ELIXIRS RECORDS, nothing extra added, but it’s a nice looking digibook.
There are few styles in metal so uniquely tethered to a particular place and time as that produced by a handful of Greek Black Metal bands in the early 1990s. Without question, the unholy trinity of this scene was composed of Rotting Christ, Necromantia, and Varathron. These three bands produced the most significant recordings in the canon of Greek Black Metal, and, to many fans and followers of the scene, Varathron’s 1993 debut LP, “His Majesty at the Swamp” represents the apex of the sound and spirit of Hellas’ contribution to the Black Metal genre. All of the representative traits of the style find their expression on this album – sonorous and melancholic guitars, the rich, occult atmosphere, ecstatic vocals, imbued with sinister intent, funereal keyboard flourishes, the bleak dampness of the production, the conjuration of a sense of abject solitude, and the somber pace of the tracks – aligned in perfect resonance with the pulse of Greek Black Metal. Having gone in and out of print several times through the years on various formats and in varying degrees of quality, band leader and original member, Necroabyssious, decided to issue a definitive version of “His Majesty at the Swamp” on his own label, Order of the Blood Dog. This version retains the mix and mastering that appeared on the original pressing of the album, but which was altered on some subsequent pressings, features all of the original artwork, and includes the lyrics as well as the original thanks list and credits
Two bands were responsible for a new style in Black metal: Rotting Christ and Varathron. Both bands released their debut albums in 1993, and both were the first to fully utilize this style with these full-lengths, "Thy Mighty Contract" and "His Majesty at the Swamp." Rotting Christ had more luck and were signed to a larger label and got a lot more fame for their first works, so the foundation credit for Hellenic Black Metal is often solely given to Rotting Christ's debut. So "His Majesty at the Swamp" had to be rediscovered years later and today, the album finally gets at least SOME attention and is acknowledged as the second part of the Hellenic BM foundation.
But enough with the history lessons, onward to the album itself.
The album opens with the title track, which is merely an introduction to the albums sound and mood, and you might find yourself skipping over it after two or three listens. The first real song is "Son of the Moon (Act II)" and it welcomes you with a typical Greek BM riff ("typical" is great for Hellenic BM) and raspy growls. The track is "catchy" as hell (in the Black Metal sense) and you'll find yourself nodding your head and feet to it. The track represents the album well, it's generally mid-paced, quite melodic and has this special occult feeling, Rotting Christ and Varathron both shared in their early albums. The only drawback on the song is the length. it clocks in at more than seven and a half minutes and a few riffs are just a bit too similar, and there's not much variation in terms of speed. Not a major fault though, since all the riffs are top-notch quality.
"Unholy Funeral", "Lustful Father", "Nightly Kingdoms" and "The River of My Souls" are all in the same vein, mostly mid-paced, only interrupted by a few faster, tremolo-picked riffs, but more varied and not as long as "Son of the Moon".
The speedy stuff starts with "Flowers of My Youth" which has very fast tremolo- picked riffs and fast, menacing vocal work. Stephan's vocals are quite unique, sometimes it sounds like he's talking with a raspy voice, or growling the verses in a very decipherable way. The (very well written) lyrics can be understood well.
Then my personal favourite track comes: "The Tressrising Of Nyarlathothep (Act I)"
The intro riff is probably my favourite riff on the whole album, and the song itself has a very epic feeling at times, the riffs have a very melancholic and moving feeling to them. Great varied vocal work to be found here. The song is very long, almost as long as "Son of the Moon" but has more parts to keep the listener interested. "The Grim Palace" is another epic track with some great keyboard/orchestra support and probably the fastest riffs on here.
"His Majesty at the Swamp" can basically be divided into two parts. The first 25 minutes consist of the slow and brooding tracks with the most typical mid-paced Hellenic BM riffing and the fast, epic 20 minutes, with great orchestra, acoustic and keyboard work.
The album flows very well and when you start, you' probably listen to it until it's very end. Recommended for all fans of Hellenic Metal. "His Majesty at the Swamp" might not be as strong as "Thy Mighty Contract", but it's definitely as historically important as Rotting Christ's debut opus.
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