Griffon – ὸ θεὀς ὸ βασιλεὐς (o Theos, o Basileus)

Griffon, for those of you who missed the last time I had the honour of grabbing one of their releases (which, admittedly, I am assuming is most of you), is a French Black Metal band that has been around for the last eight years or so. In that time they have, over the course of now two Full-length albums, an EP and a Split, made a name for themselves as legend-weavers, pagan historians as well as religious critics – And while the latter of these is by no means rare among Black Metal bands, the partial medieval approach to their lyrics spliced atop one powerfully energetic Black Metal riff after another is something I usually only expect to find in bands such as Darkenhöld and early-era Satyricon (the former of which they have actually made a Split album with – But I digress).

By the numbers, ὸ θεὀς ὸ βασιλεὐς is a fairly good modern Black Metal release, with all that entails. It contains a grand total of eight tracks, adding up to forty minutes of playtime in total. What makes it rise above the rank-and-file releases however, is the sheer amount of dedication and effort the five members of Griffon pour into every single track. The pace is set from the very first chord played on ”Damaskos” and it relentlessly pounds away until the fade-out delivered at the end of ”Apotheosis”.

As the default example to draw out and link in order to truly showcase what this album is capable of, below you can find the only officially released track from the record, entitled ”L’ost Capétien” – A four minute slice of what awaits to any would-be buyers of this record. One thing is for sure: I am keeping mine in my car for the foreseeable future – The first thirty-something spins did not satisfy my thirst as well as I had hoped.

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