ὉΠΛΊΤΗΣ – Π​Α​Ρ​Α​Μ​Α​Ι​Ν​Ο​Μ​Έ​Ν​Η

(Andy Synn reviews the recently-released new album from mysterious one-man army Ὁπλίτης)

It is, quite frankly, somewhat astonishing how productive Liu Zhenyang, aka Ὁπλίτης, has been since the release of their debut EP in the closing days of 2021.

What’s even more astonishing is that, despite its prolific nature, the quality of their output has never wavered over the course of the subsequent three albums (some might say they’ve only gotten better, in fact).

Each time a new record rears its head part of me expects to be disappointed – surely they can’t maintain this consistent a level of quality, at this rapid a pace, forever – and each time I’m happy to be proven wrong.

And now, barely a year on from the release of their very first full-length, Ὁπλίτης may have already locked down a place on my End of The Year list with their fourth album, Π​α​ρ​α​μ​α​ι​ν​ο​μ​έ​ν​η.

Right from the start Π​α​ρ​α​μ​α​ι​ν​ο​μ​έ​ν​η lets you know that it’s going to be a little different to its predecessors.

Whereas songs such as “Δημήτηρ”, “Οὐλομένη”, and “Αἷμα” pretty much immediately burst out of the gates in a scathing squall of dissonantly twisted riffage and blisteringly blackened belligerence, Π​α​ρ​α​μ​α​ι​ν​ο​μ​έ​ν​η opens with the scene-setting strains of “Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεὰ παραμαινομένη ἐμοῦ…”, whose morose melodic notes and soporific rhythms will likely throw some listeners for a loop and have them questioning what they’re hearing.

Of course, this is all a titanic mislead, as after about 45 seconds the song explodes into life with some of the most ferocious and punishing music that the band have ever recorded – a word of warning, resist the temptation to turn up your speakers during the intro, as you’ll probably regret it after both your ears are blown across the room – but it’s still an early indication that the fourth Ὁπλίτης album is set to be their most unorthodox and unconventional yet.

Another obvious sign of this – especially if you glance at the track-listing – is the massively increased length of the six tracks which make up the album (three of which crack the ten-minute mark) when compared with the significantly shorter and more succinct songs which populated their previous records (where the average run-time, with a few notable exceptions, tended to sit somewhere in the 2-4 range).

But it won’t be until you’ve given the album a full spin that you’ll be able to truly understand just how much further Ὁπλίτης have pushed things on Π​α​ρ​α​μ​α​ι​ν​ο​μ​έ​ν​η, adding even more mind-bending technicality, Grindcore-level intensity, and gloom-laden groove (plus some sinuously strange saxophone) to their existing amalgam of Black Metal, Death Metal, Chaotic Hardcore, and more.

Whereas the band’s previous records have drawn comparisons to the likes of Serpent Column, Suffering Hour, and Converge (the former especially), Π​α​ρ​α​μ​α​ι​ν​ο​μ​έ​ν​η‘s increasingly complex combination of outlandish extremity, off-kilter unpredictability, and eagerness to smash through genre-boundaries situates the latest evolution of Ὁπλίτης somewhere between the visceral violence of Anaal Nathrakh and the avant-garde experimentalism of Sigh.

This is, of course, no small thing, as the dynamic duo of Dave Hunt and Mick Kenney have been annihilating eardrums for over 20 years now, while Mirai Kawashima and co. have been going above and beyond the norm for over three decades, so to place Ὁπλίτης among their ranks this early in their career is a huge endorsement of both their abilities and ambition.

But there’s no doubt, not in my mind at least, that tracks like the Blackened Tech-Grind of “Παραδειγματιζομένη μουσική” – whose gloomy mid-section, demonstrating an increasing willingness to explore some moodier and more sombre sonic textures – and the utterly ferocious, stylistically voracious “Συμμαινόμεναι Διονύσῳ Ἐλευθέριῳ” (whose heteroclite second-half really pushes the band’s sound towards the more abnormal end of the Extreme Metal spectrum) showcase exactly the sort of weirdness and wildness which practically guarantees that Π​α​ρ​α​μ​α​ι​ν​ο​μ​έ​ν​η will go down as one of the best, and most blisteringly bizarre, releases of the year.