Perhaps it is my own advancing age, but it pleases me more than I can say when two stalwarts many would consider past their prime follow up their very well-received first release (2020’s Under His Sway EP) with a debut of this quality. Mythology, divination, magick and, of course, Lucifer: all the themes necessary to craft a (ahem) spellbinding narrative, binding individual slabs of unapologetic metal together into a celebration of darkness and occluded knowledge. This content-driven, intellectual approach meshes neatly with the extensive history Yoth Iria bring to the table (a pedigree of Hellenic black metal legends lines this duo’s curriculum vitae – from Rotting Christ to Varathron to Necromantia and beyond) and proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that experience trumps enthusiasm when...
