One of Greece’s most prominent underground bands, Agnes Vein, has found itself at yet another crossroad amidst one of the most endearing times in recent history. The blackened doom trio have only recently approached the release of their third LP, “Deathcall .” Following their well-received sophomore album, 2013’s “Souls,” and their 2016 slipt with Greek sludge Sadhus, “Deathcall” is a collection of songs written and recorded in the fall of 2017.

While the album is slightly different from what Agnes Vein offered, this difference helps the band stand out from the crowd; yes, it’s doom, but with a blackened element lurking in the background. As stated by the band, “Deathcall” is driven by a sentiment of grinding and stern forbearance.

The six-songs album works pretty well, especially when you reach ‘They Who Neared The Portals’. The song is Agnes Vein at their most majestic. We know the band has drawn inspiration from the 1934 short story “The Death of Malygris” by author Clark Ashton Smith, a member of the Weird Tales Triumvirate alongside H.P.Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard.

“Deathcall” is, if you will, a perfect combination of consecutive rhythm alternations, commanding vocal lines, mournful riffs, epic atmosphere, thick bass lines, primordial feelings, and unpredictable rhythm sections. The influences of Primordial, Ved Buens Ende, Pentagram, Celtic Frost, or Bathory allow the band to set for the great scene with their elegiac compositions while bursting with black metal intensity and providing texture and friction.

The album closer to ‘The Golgotha Entanglement’ gently enters the post-metal territory with intricate instrumental wanderings, urging the listener to get lost in Agnes Vein’s musical digressions. In addition, I’d say ‘The Golgotha Entanglement’ and ‘Sovereign Star’ are the songs that will make you embrace Deathcall with open arms.

With six songs stretching over 47 minutes, “Deathcall” is an album of Nietzschean proportions. It finds Agnes Vein staring into the void, only to find the void staring back. Those who are into doom metal down-tuned will find a spiritual home when listening to “Deathcall,” we’re sure that Agnes Vein has set a new standard in the realms of doom metal for many years to come.

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