Rating: 7.5

Country: Greece

Release Date: 2008

Record Label: Those Opposed Records

Track list:
1.   Moirae   05:28   
2.   Rhea (Meter Theon)   06:35   
3.   Poseidon   09:31   
4.   Nemesis   06:15   
5.   Ares (the God of War)   04:58   
6.   To Pallas   06:23   
7.   Hephaistos   06:54   
8.   Ophiolatreia   06:44   
9.   Aeiozoon Pyr   03:18   

Total playing time   56:12

Band Website: Kawir

Kawir - Ophiolatreia

Thertonax - guitars, vocals
Porphyrion - vocals and "invocations"
Etheras - keys
Nosfistis - bass
Vriareos - drums

Despite their apparent nationalism and spiritual convictions, Kawir exercise extremely tasteful pagan black metal. Tasteful in contrast to what, you may wonder? Well, allow me to illustrate my contempt for so many "pagan" bands with a short dialogue:

Acoustic guitar: HAY
Listener: Uh, hello.
Acoustic guitar: HAY GUYS WHAT'S GOIN ON IN THIS SONG
Listener: Not much, suddenly.
Acoustic guitar: MIND IF I STAY A FEW MINUTES?
Listener: Well-
Acoustic guitar: COOL LET ME INVITE MY FRIENDS FIDDLE AND BAGPIPE OVER REAL QUICK.


... Granted, that kind of thing can be more enjoyable than a root canal if done right, but that's not the variety of cheese this band happens to traffic. Varathron and Necromantia are the first comparisons that will invariably spring to mind upon hearing Kawir, but I'd venture to say they come closer to the likes of Kampfar in their careful balance of largely mid-paced black metal and folk grandiosity than most of their Hellenic compatriots. However, as torchbearers of a relatively isolated Greek scene, the shades of Norwegian sound that Kawir have allowed to seep into their metal seem refreshingly incidental.

Although folk-inspired at face value, the keyboards have pretty much the same wistfully sweeping, jaunty phrasing as any other black metal band that claims its culture's folk music as an influence. If some director decided to stick these songs in a pirate movie, no one in the theater would shout "hey, this isn't pirate music! It's obviously structured around indigenous Hellenic folk! >:(" and proceed to storm out. But that's not necessarily a bad thing; all the trumpeting Wagnerian bombast merely serves to highlight the triumphant nature of the metal it counterpoints. Speaking of which, there is a refreshing attention to the riff; Ophiolatreia is a surprisingly uptempo and thrashy affair for a black metal album, with tremolo picking principally being used as dramatic punctuation for -- again -- tasteful call/response schematics.

The album ends on a surprisingly mature note; my favorite song here, "Aeiozoon Pyr," features a brilliant fugue with mounting layers of leads and strings soulfully stirring al niente. Very nice. I'm sure the ten minute goliath of a song "Poseidon" is destined to the fan favorite of the album, and although it is competent enough to justify its quixotic scope, it doesn't even come close to the David that is the final track in terms of compositional richness. In the future I'd like to see Kawir work more within the context of fairly compact songs to ensure that ideas are not spread too thin in the pursuit of some staggering zenith of "epicness."

The vocals are whipping rasps that pick up a Vargish nastiness at times, which provides a pleasantly jarring contrast to the music's comfortable linearity. The semitonal chanting and throat singing however, although mercifully rare, I'm not too keen on. They scarcely possess any range, and it sounds like the singing's about an octave lower than what the vocalist is comfortable with. Obviously good singing is never able to evoke that old world barbarism with which black metal bands are obsessed, which is where Hammerheart-era Bathory succeeded and new Borknagar fails -- but still, you may wanna stick to screaming, guys.

The production's a bit dry and compressed; not obtrusively so, but considering that and Kawir's melodic whimsy, just enough to keep the band rooted in a rather esoteric niche that may prove to dodge the appeal of some of the blacker black metallers and ultra-polished yohoho beerfolkmetal nerds alike. Their loss.

Both an elegant expression of Athenian pride and solid piece of black metal, Ophiolatreia ultimately succeeds in the ostensible ease with which it conveys the sense of Herculean might that eludes so many bands of this nature.

March 24th, 2008