Castles Conquered and Reclaimed

Two thousand twenty is being undoubtedly a brilliant year for the Greek metal scene, particularly in the black field, with excellent albums coming one after another. Sometimes these new works are opuses from veteran bands and other times they represent the first work of novel bands. In any case, quality and a good taste for melodies are always present, regardless of the degree of heaviness or rawness that each project delivers. Speaking about new projects, the Greek solo project Mystras has recently released its debut album. This project was founded only one year ago by Ayloss, a talented musician behind other interesting projects like Divine Element and especially Spectral Lore, a great atmospheric black metal band which I firmly recommend. Taking into account the previous projects, it is pretty clear that Ayloss has a huge number of ideas to develop in different directions. Mystras may have inherited some influences from other projects like the aforementioned Spectral Lore, its folkish melodies, or aggressiveness but focused on a totally new and different direction.

‘Castles Conquered and Reclaimed’ is the Mystras debut album and it supposes a tremendously personal and particular fusion of pure black metal aggression with a strong medieval vibe. The interesting aspects of this impressive debut are not only found in the music, but also in its conceptual side. In fact, the lyrics are based on the medieval times but this time they take from the oblivion of common folk instead of the traditionally arrogant and powerful kings and nobles. The album consistes of nine different tracks, being divided into the black metal ones and some folk interludes which bring to us the medieval traditional music and therefore, reinforcing the medieval atmosphere included. Although this is a solo project, Ayloss was helped by other talented musicians to provide an undoubtedly beautiful representation of Ars Nova repertoire. I sincerely think that this was a wise choice as the musician shows that he wants to achieve the best possible result for the album. Even though these tracks are really nice and enjoyable, I would focus on the metal tracks to make a final and fair evaluation of this debut. ‘Castles Conquered and Reclaimed’ has a truly raw production, which may alienate fans of metal who prefer a cleaner production, but it will rejoice those who consider that black metal achieves a greater result when the production is filthy because it creates a more unique and stronger atmosphere. Nevertheless, this raw production never surpasses a limit where guitars could be unintelligible. Fortunately, composition-wise this album has certain strong points that can still be enjoyed, through the crude sound. Five are the compositions inside the realms of black metal. All of them are highly enjoyable and with a truly epic atmosphere. The songs are usually fast, though sometimes they slow the pace in order to add some variety. The guitars are powerful presenting a distorted sound, though some great melodies are introduced, making the songs more interesting. Vocals are also a strong point here, with the expected high-pitched screams, accompanied in several songs by epic choirs, so impressively solemn that reinforce the sense of epicity and majesty. In the background, we find some key arrangements which play ai important role in increasing the stateliness of these compositions. The album opening track is a nice example of this mix of influences and resources. The guitars are rude but also melodic, showing a remarkably interesting sound, that even being brutal in its execution has a great room for melody and atmosphere. Subsequent tracks like "The Murder of Wat Tyler" and "Storm the Walls of Mystras" raise the bar of majesty with a long duration, and where melodic influences, a strong epic atmosphere and relentless fury are wisely fused. The medieval vibe is obviously present in all the tracks, though I must highlight songs like "The Zealots of Thessaloniki" and the aforementioned "The Murder of Wat Tyler" as fine examples of this influence. The previously mentioned folk and ambient songs serve as a bridge between the stormy track and reinforce this sense of a mystical journey through medieval realms.

‘Castles Conquered and Reclaimed’ is indeed an impressive debut that any fan of black metal should check out and enjoy. Fury, melody and atmosphere are the quintessential elements of the black metal genre and this album contains a great dose of all of them.

Originally written for "www.thepitofthedamned.blogspot.com."

Mystras is a solo atmospheric black metal project of Greece's Nihilus Ayloss who is probably better known as Spectral Lore, the cosmic black metal project. Ayloss has initiated the Mystras persona as an outlet for a thematically different project, swapping the awe-inspiring majesty of the cosmos for medieval folk and tales of the medieval common man's fight for freedom from serfdom and the corruption of those who would set themselves above them. Mystras itself is the name of a fortified town in Laconia, Greece near the ancient city of Sparta that was the focus of a seemingly unending struggle between the Byzantine Empire and the Franks after the Fourth Crusade.

The albums fifty minutes are spread over five tracks of blistering atmospheric black metal interspersed with short interludes of medieval folk-based instrumental music. Under his Spectral Lore monicker I find that Ayloss becomes a little bit rambling with some jazzy noodling that I never really enjoy, but here with Mystras he is far more focussed. His black metal is reminiscent of Panopticon or Winterfylleth, with sweeping atmospherics crafted to inspire and stimulate the mind of the listener. The medieval interludes are nice, gentle moments that add a kind of context to the lyrical content of the longer tracks and have been produced with the help of a number of guest musicians from bands like Lüüp and Art of Simplicity. The medieval musical themes are used only sparingly within the main tracks, thus avoiding the kitsch of folk metal accusations - this is most definitely, first and foremost, a black metal album.

My particular favourite and the album's longest track, weighing in at over twelve minutes, is The Murder of Wat Tyler, a devastating indictment, both musically and lyrically, of the deception of the Crown against one of the leaders of England's Peasant's Revolt in late fourteenth century England, a period of history I am particularly interested in and it's nice to hear a metal band relating the tale. Castles Conquered and Reclaimed is indeed one of a rare breed in what is seen as the conservative world of metal that, in a similar way to Panopticon's Kentucky, addresses the struggles of the class of society that most often produces it's adherents.

For me this is Ayloss' best album to date. Although I do enjoy quite a bit of Spectral Lore's work, I prefer the focus and rawer, more aggressive sound he has achieved with this new project, achieved whilst still painting a sweeping and inspiring sonic canvas.