Review Summary: Don't fear the Greeks and their gifts
If “Kydoimos” were to become a picture it would be the black and white capture of the battle warcry, as Kawir with the 9th album dive into the thick darkness of their music, to suffocate every crack of light.
From the first beat of “Teiresias”, the listener is confronted with the ancient Greek barrage of the veterans’ black/pagan metal, who built compositions that perfectly combine the uncontrolled, chaotic speeds of hellish drums with the stressful, nightmarish riffs that keep the melody captive, to release it in small doses, like poison.
The feeling that prevails during the album is like being out of breath for 52 minutes and looking for a way to escape from the maelstrom of battle. The more you try to escape, the more you sink into your instinctive reactions, as revealed in the hypnotic and simultaneously mesmerizing “Centauromachy” where you have now surrendered to the moods of the Kawir without realizing it. So far, the sound of “Kydoimos” unfolds with such a special use of Greek language and lyrics, carrying all the Greek black metal heritage within it, as it once again opens the Pandora’s box that Bathory brought us.
From “Hecatonchires” onwards however, Kawir step into the void, to face their destiny, following their own path in the dark. The continuity is simply stunning, especially in “Achilles and Hector” and “Hector’s Funeral”, where the ideal balance of lyricism and power, epic and roughness is achieved. The story that has moved the world for centuries takes on flesh and blood through the cinematic vision of Kawir, who once again paint the great heroes of antiquity against a black and white background. And if the climax of the epic is now behind us, the darkness settles for good with the album’s grand closing of the masterful self-titled 7-minute “Kydoimos” and the closing poem “War is the Father of All”, with its timeless theme.
We would be committing a blasphemy if we did not give a special mention to Agisilaos’ thunderous drumming, which literally mobilizes the entire sonic edifice of Kawir, unleashing all the dynamics of the very well-crafted compositions, which easily stay in the listener’s mind. The vocals of Porphyrion and Therthonax alternate from demonic to epic screams to give the variety and theatrics befitting Kawir’s sonic canvas. “Kydoimos” should be experienced as a wholesome opus, from the first raindrops of the album, to the chirping of the bird that marks the end.
The Greek black metal scene continues to be full of surprises and gifts, it is an inexhaustible source of inspiration and creation that every year is activated in every direction. “Kydoimos” is the Kawir’s turn to draw from it, to pour into battle and win it. We now have an ancient Greek metal epic on our hands, probably Kawir’s best album and one of the best of the scene.
