KATAVASIA: “VIRGIN BLOOD”

 

In early February we introduced you (here) to a new Greek “supergroup” named Katavasia, through KevinP’s interview with the band’s guitarist Astrous (Aenaon) and the world premiere of a song from the band’s debut album, Sacrilegious Testament. Today, Katavasia have unveiled another new song from the album, entitled “Virgin Blood”, and we’re sharing that one with you, too.

For those who missed that earlier post, the band’s line-up also includes vocalist Necroabyssious (Varathron), guitarist/bassist Achilleas C (Varathron/Aenaon), drummer Foivos  (Agnes Vein), and keyboardist Haris (Hail Spirit Noir/Transcending Bizarre?). In addition, the album includes guest appearances by Sakis of Rotting Christ, and Sotiris Vayenas of Septicflesh — who provides a guitar solo on “Virgin Blood”.

 

 

The pulse of “Virgin Blood” is a rocking beat, with jabbing riffs and a darting lead-guitar melody that gets stuck in the head quickly. But the air around the song shimmers mystically during the keyboard-layered segments that alternate with those jagged riffs and eventually combine with them. Sotiris Vayenas’ solo is  thing of beauty — while Necroabyssious‘ vocals provide a contrasting harshness to a song that’s as often dark and entrancing as it is rocking.

Katavasia say that their purpose in coming together was to capture the sound and spirit of early Greek black metal, but to my ears this fascinating and captivating song isn’t summed up so easily with a “black metal” label. Whatever you choose to call it, it’s really good.

Sacrilegious Testament will be released on vinyl, CD, and cassette tape, as well as digitally, by Floga Records on March 15. Information about how to pre-order on all of those formats can be found at the Bandcamp link below. The cover art is a painting named “In-finitum” by Italian artist Agostino Arrivabene, whose work we’ve featured more than once at our site’s Facebook page.

In addition to “Virgin Blood” and the song we premiered (“Visions of the Misty Night”), one other previously released song (“Cosmic Nightmare“) is also available for listening on Bandcamp, so we’re including a stream of that track for your listening pleasure as well. “Cosmic Nightmare” is electrifying — with raking riffs, blazing blast-beats, and flesh-eating vocals, more in the vein of early Greek black metal, but with fantastic keyboard work and a cool bass line that give the mood of the song added dimensions.

If you’re not already excited for the release of Sacrilegious Testament, you should be. This is already sounding like one of 2015’s highlights.

https://katavasia.bandcamp.com/releases
https://www.facebook.com/katavasiaofficial