Luciferian Fullmoon Necromancy

It is quite a long time since I listened to Lykaionas’ music, maybe it is since their first split album and I now found them completely changed. When I listened their music back in 2009, they were an one man band from Greece with such a style of sound that it didn’t made me want to follow their steps in the future. But the album that I received some time ago, changed the opinion that I had formed for this band. So, now Lykaionas consists of three members, they exist since 2009 and they have released a split album, a demo, an EP and a full length album. I refer to the full length album which was released in April of 2016, it is called Luciferian Fullmoon Necromancy and it contains seven compositions of overall duration of fifty three minutes. Here the band presents some big changes to its sound. The listener will come across Scandinavian Black Metal sound which preserves the raw and harsh approach of the past but the group has introduced more technical compositions and style of playing as also they have added more variety to the style that they present here.

So, here you will find fast, raw, harsh, dark and very interesting Black Metal. The riffs are mainly fast, while there are quite a few parts of medium speed which show their influences of Bathory, old school Thrash and a few references to the classic Heavy Metal sound. In the fast parts that they are the most in the album, they clearly show us their influences by the classic Scandinavian sound. They are violent, chaotic and threatening, while in all this violent scenery that they set, a feeling of melancholy comes out. The tracks are quite long but they don’t feel long to the listener nor are they tedious. This is happening because the band has quite much variety concerning their sound but at the same time they have achieved to construct their ideas correctly presenting a very interesting result.

The instruments are all of them played in a very high level regarding the technic but also both regarding the level of passion and feeling. The guitars are those which rule into the compositions and with their accurate style of playing and their full of passion and intensity performance, they deliver all those things that the compositions have to offer to the listener in a very vivid and straightforward way. The bass fills the sound beautifully but its lines are not distinguishable. The drums are very fast and furious, with very beautiful turnings and interesting lines, while their technic and their accuracy is impressive. The vocals are harsh, possessed Black Metal vocals that you will find very familiar, like you have herd them somewhere before. However, that fact is not cancel their value. The production is clean and it puts out a heavy and bass sound which fits perfectly to the style of the compositions. The mixture is flawless, it highlights every instrument, it allows the listener to understand the lines in every part and at the same time it maintains a very solid character. The lyrics are contained into the cd and they are written in English. They refer to Demons and to Satanism, to death but also they have some more philosophical searches as the perpetual recycling of life and even of the universe.

Lykaionas has been a great surprise for me. Their sound through the years has acquired its personality and its improvement is impressing. By having their first full length effort already released, it seems that the band will have a bright future and for sure I will follow them closely from now on. So, regarding Luciferian Fullmoon Necromancy, those of you who are not already convinced, listen to the album and I am sure that you will buy it immediately. Very good job.