Bythos– Chthonic Gates Unveiled
Bythos is a well-known band amongst the black metal militia. Finland has a unique underground black metal scene and when members of the bands like HORNA, BEHEXEN, SARGEIST (and many more) announced a new band (although Terratur Possessions not promoted much), it was pretty big news. When the unholy trio of Hoath Torog, Kassara and Infection released The Womb of Zero in 2020, It didn’t came as a surprise though. We were almost certain that it’d be hellishly good, and it came out even better. Black metal elite were ready to compare the record with their main bands, but Bythos stand tall and introduced a new blasphemous entity. Surely it has some influences, references from the aformentioned bands and some of the legendary vanguards of black metal (especially Swedish ones), however Bythos found a fresh way of feeding off the hatred and turning it to a cathartic experience, whilst praising their “chained king”.
And for taking another step towards the depths of hell, comes the Chthonic Gates Unveiled. It seems like a natural step to shape the character of Bythos, which is mainly consists of hooky guitar leads of bands like WATAIN and DISSECTION, mid-tempo, occult atmosphere and subtle melodicism. All of them are preserved here, yet M.S. sounds more aggressive than yearning, and music is aggressive besides being transcendental. I think they intentionally limited the tempo and rabidness in order to keep Bythos seperated from their original bands on the debut, and now the time is right for rabid songs like Wolves of Hades and Hidden Heart of Darkness, which are probably the most vicious songs of the album. They are definitely more aggressive and I’m sure these songs will be welcomed by many fans of their initial bands. I enjoyed those -almost ballady- (I’m sure this is an oxymoron for black metal but…) songs like Destroyer of Illusions or Hymn of Luficer, but I believe they’re more mature and well balanced than their previous effort.
Divine Endless Night (Part I) provides an icy, cavernous intro. M.S. gives a dark speech and marks the beginning of this irreversible journey. It is more about atmosphere and setting the tone and serves right. Thoughtless Light starts as if its a traditional Bythos song with intricate drum/cymbal work, melodic hooks, transmitting darkness through mid-tempo but the interesting part is the piano at the end. Yes, we have guest keyboards (two, actually) and although I have no idea if it was A. Simonen (…AND OCEANS) or sg.7 (Horna), incorporating ethereal pianos into an already melodic black metal is reminding me the good old 90s. Impeccable song.
The first single Wolves of Hades and Hidden Heart of Darkness are more aggressive and chaotic tunes. Finnish black metal musicians know how to create dense, furious songs and its interesting to see how Bythos implements solos or clean guitars or chanting vocals into these otherwise hellish rebukes. Both songs are great and the former has some BEHEMOTH style chants/prayers at the end as well: “Adore Satanas. Come Patris!”
Broken Twines of Eden is more of a hit or miss song due to M.S.’s vocals. The lead guitar is undeniably catchy and melancholic but its all about vocals and I’m not really sure about the clean parts. Still, love the lyrics about being free from the threads of Eden and embracing primordial nature.
Each song provides something different and stands out (the bass or shrieking vocals of Daimon of Nullification, Hellenic motifs of Gates of Apostasy (Part II) and etc.) and Chthonic Gates Unveiled is a really good record showcasing the highest peaks of Finnish black metal. However, these minor embellishments are not enough to give specific characters to songs and due to straight, fixed composition choices, its hard to seperate one song from another on repeated listens. There are not much to criticize besides the lack of a locomotive song or minor production issues, so I’m digging deep here.
2024 has been tremendous so far in terms of black metal (and metal in general), so there will a serious competition but I won’t be surprised to see Chtonic Gates Unveiled on some AOTY lists. I read that the album recorded on 2022, so I hope we won’t have to wait for another four years to listen more Bythos.
85/100
P.S.: This review is made possible by one of our PATREON supporters, so cheers for Özden.
