Kawir
| Kawir | |
|---|---|
 Kawir at the Cernunnos Pagan Festival 2008 in Paris |
|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Pagan metal |
| founding | 1993 |
| Current occupation | |
| Thertonax | |
| Zagreus | |
| Nosfistis | |
| Vriareos | |
| former members | |
singing |
Necroabyssus (1993-1994) |
singing |
Diavelgenus (1994) |
singing |
Porphyrion (2005-2007) |
singing |
Erichthonios |
singing |
Orfni |
Kawir is a Greek band from Athens and Attica and is one of the older bands on the Greek black metal scene as well as one of the oldest in Pagan Metal . Vaso Prasa from metalzone.gr describes it as "historical".
Band history
Kawir was founded in 1993 by band leader Thertonax alias Mentor after he left Zemial ; previously he had also played in Nocturnal Death. In 1993 the band released the tape Promo '93 with the song Sinn (The Blazing Queen) . In 1994 a split EP was released with the Japanese band Sigh , on which the song can also be found. The first single Euremides recorded was Mentor with Necroabysious from Varathron on vocals, Eskarth from Agatus and Zemial on guitar and Magus Wampyr Daoloth from Necromantia as producer and sound engineer. Due to casting problems, due to which Kawir could not go on tour with Cradle of Filth and Sigh, among others , the first appearances were not made until 1996. The EP To Cavirs recorded the band without Necroabysious and Eskarth, instead Archemoros took over the vocals, Nick (now Vriareos) the drums and Hephaistion the keyboard. Without the members of other bands, Kawir found a more independent style, the characteristics of which are evident here. The EP was re-released in 1997 as an album with four other tracks.
With the album Epoptia, the band deviated greatly from their old style: Diavelgenus took over the vocals instead of Necroabysious, the style became faster and more polished. In addition to constant casting problems, the band was burdened by rumors that they were involved in the right-wing extremist Chrysi Avgi party . After the album, Therthonax was inactive for several years and did not write music, but Kawir was never officially disbanded. In 2002 a split single with Nocternity was released , in 2003 one with the band Zemial, with whom Kawir also performed live in Athens. Therthonax only sees the year 2007 as the actual return of Kawir. With the album Arai , in which the longtime keyboardist and ex-drummer Erichthonios took over the vocals, the band returned more strongly to a Greek sound.
At the end of 2006, Therthonax got new members again, with whom he gave concerts for the first time in years and wrote a new album. After the band was busy with two tours in 2007 (one of them with Zemial in Europe), they signed a contract for an album with the new label Those Opposed Records from France and shortly afterwards recorded the album Ophiolatreia ; after the publication, Porphyrion got out and joined Acherontas ; he was replaced by Zagreus. In addition, Therthonax implemented his acoustic project Kabeiros, which had been planned since 1993 and with which he appeared for the first time in December 2007. All members of the band are also members of the Ύπατο Συμβούλιο των Ελλήνων Εθνικών (YSEE; Gr .: 'Supreme Council of the Ethnic Hellenes'), the only organization that is allowed to hold ceremonies in open spaces and archaeological places.
In 2008 Therthonax announced a split LP / CD with the also historical Greek band Nergal , which will be released on the Finnish label No Sign of Life.
Style and subject
Musically, Kawir can be ascribed to the Greek Black Metal style with the keyboard typical of this genre , but has the ability to combine non -metal instruments with a, in contrast, raw e-guitar sound and texts in ancient Greek (which in Greek Scene is unusual) has its own style. Through epic tendencies, the use of non-metal instruments such as flutes and acoustic guitars as well as texts about pagan cultures, the band approaches pagan metal ; the song Hymn to Zeus is recorded completely without metal instrumentation and is based exclusively on percussion , flutes and acoustic guitars, Hymn to Seline on percussion, flutes and female vocals. Kawir's texts deal mainly with the pagan pre-Christian world and especially with Greek mythology . Therthonax regards the ancient Greek language used as a more musical language and the incorporation of elements from one's own country as a characteristic of paganism. What the band created was very special and he couldn't hire foreign musicians for it; For example, he could not have a German sing ancient Greek texts for his band, and vice versa, he could not work in a band in another country in English.
Sinn (The Blazing Queen), for example, deals with the Sumerian moon deity Nanna , also known as Sin. The song begins with acoustic guitar playing, the calm atmosphere of which ends abruptly with Necroabysious' vocals. The acoustic guitar parts are retained through the song and should give the song ancient, pagan echoes.
The Adored Cry of Olympus from the Eumenides single is a slow song with atmospheric keyboards and Necroabysious' typical growls . The Eumenides also contained there, however, is held faster and with high screams . Infinite Chaos from the album Epoptia is kept at a fast pace that it has not achieved on previous releases, with parts in medium tempo for a change. With Cosmic Verve the band starts with their typical style with a slow start and a bombastic keyboard, but the tempo is increasing. Korivantes offers with blast beats , keyboards, slower passages and extreme screaming vocals a wide spectrum black-metal-typical stylistic device.
The album Ophiolatreia is less of a studio album for Therthonax, it has more of a live atmosphere and less studio sound; it reminded him of the old Greek sound in a more modern version. Partly it could be because some riffs were created before 2000. Ophiolatreia means serpent worship, which Therthonax explains as essentially the worship of the primitive, which is older than dodecatheism, ie the worship of the twelve main gods of the Greek pantheon . The worship of snakes has essentially to do with the orphic cosmic egg and thus with cosmogony .
Discography
- Studio albums
- 1997: To Cavirs (Nyx Records)
- 1999: Epoptia (Storm Productions)
- 2005: Arai (Solistitium Records)
- 2008: Ophiolatreia (Those Opposed Records)
- 2016: Father Sun Mother Moon ( Iron Bonehead Productions )
- Singles, EPs
- 1994: Sigh / Kawir (split with Sigh )
- 1994: Euremides (single)
- 1996: To Cavirs (EP)
- 2002: Kawir / Nocternity (split with Nocternity )
- 2003: Daimon (split with Zemial )
- 2010: To Uranus (EP, Those Opposed Records)
- Sampler contributions
- 1997: Sadist on Bathory Tribute - Hellas Salutes the Vikings
- Others
- 2006: Dei Kabeiroi (Best of / Compilation, Kyrck Productions)
- 2010: Athenian Echoes Over Paris (DVD, Those Opposed Records)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Johannes: Kawir - Ophiolatreia. metal.de, February 26, 2008, accessed on January 29, 2010 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Vaso Prasa: Kawir - Therthonax. (No longer available online.) Metalzone.gr, February 22, 2008, archived from the original on March 21, 2012 ; accessed on May 24, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Hellenic Metal. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 4, 2010 ; accessed on January 25, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c d Hellenic Metal. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 3, 2010 ; accessed on January 25, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Hellenic Metal. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 3, 2010 ; accessed on January 25, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
