If there is one thing that has changed about me since first being summoned to the Goat Review ranks, it is an ever deepening fascination with Greek black metal. It should therefore surprise nobody that my first act at the end of our summer break was to claim Medieval Demon. I didn’t look up their history, or how many releases they’d had before the excellently named All Powers of Darkness, or any of that. I just saw those three words and got geeked for Greek. It hasn’t let me down yet.
Medieval Demon are an interesting example of the Greek scene in that they don’t have the heavy metal lean I associate with it. Rather, All Powers of Darkness sounds like a continuation of early Norwegian symphonic black metal. There’s a reminder of Dimmu Borgir here, a touch of Arcturus there, and there’s Emperor influences here, there, and everywhere. The guitar melody that kicks in towards the end of “Archaic Sacrificial Rites” genuinely gives me an urge to start singing along to “I Am The Black Wizards”. The medieval-esque keyboards that close out “Archaic Sacrificial Rites” point to the difference between Medieval Demon and those touchstones though. There’s a horror movie atmosphere to All Powers of Darkness that makes it more playful. At times it becomes too dramatic — the song “Abaddon” is a good example — but for the most part it compliments Medieval Demon‘s chosen sound nicely. The same can be said for the occasional heavy metal flourish we get, as in the guitar work on “Primordial Souls of Tartarus” and “Fullmoon Over the Temple of Belial”. It fits into Medieval Demon‘s creepy evil vibe, and it also helps them sound a bit more like their own thing. Indeed, my one real critique is that I don’t get enough of the interplay of those heavy metal guitars with the icy black metal soundscapes.
Not that I particularly object to All Powers of Darkness the way it is. It’s a well executed, very listenable piece of second wave homage that takes the sound to a logical conclusion in terms of dramatic entertainment. It’s not groundbreaking or breathtaking, but I’ve stayed with it longer than I’ve stayed with most releases this year. So if you like your black metal to be full of tremolo, synths, and spooky atmosphere that hails the powers of darkness, check out Medieval Demon. They won’t let you down.
