The first demo by Greece's Varathron is a little uninspired, alot necro, but definitely NOT that exciting. Competently executed metal that has a strong black metal atmosphere, but structurally remains in the old-school death/thrash realm. Nothing that is being done here has not been done before by Bathory, Slayer, Celtic Frost, and some others. Despite this, "The Great Seal of Gaal" off of this demo is a very obvious predecessor to some of the slower-paced necro black metal of today. Whatever...it's a decent demo.
For a band lauded as "cult" and "underground", Varathron's sound on their early demos sure is unexciting. The style is only marginally interesting as far as early "black metal" goes. The whole thing is pretty much blatant old-school thrash with a darker, blacker feel to it. Yet it doesn't come off as very original or ground-breaking. Slayer's Show No Mercy, Sodom's Persecution Mania, Bathory's The Return...releases such as these feel far more 'black metal' than this demo by Greece's Varathron. They do manage to eke out a good black metal ATMOSPHERE, but the metal itself needs to be a little more solid before I will go around ranting and raving about this.
