Label: Self released

Date: March 21st, 2022

Ah, Greece! The Sun, the seas, olives, history, myths, ancient gods, democracy, philosophy… Black metal… And Metakosmia, of course. An important distinction needs to be made between the last two mentioned. As for the previous, Metakosmia, as well as the whole Greek black metal scene, is highly influenced by them.

But there remains a vast space between the traditional sound emanating from Greece and Metakosmia. The duo is clearly Greek. Most of all, they take from early Rotting Christ, Varathron, but perhaps most of all Acherontas and their more recent outings. However, it would be a mistake to think of Metakosmia as a black metal band. Not even a symphonic black metal band, though the keyboards play a huge role on “Aperantos Kosmos”.

There’s a lot of ambience going on within these seventy minutes of music. Sounds reminiscent of the celestial ambient projects. Outer space is portrayed on the record with the aura that prevails in each track. Along with the more aggressive, death or black metal parts contrasting them, they make Metakosmia extremely versatile. Quite literally heading from one extreme into another. Of course, there’s more to it and the two guys who crafted “Aperantos Kosmos” meant it as a tale. A concept record. Now, I’m not familiar enough with the philosophy and the thought processes of old Greek thinkers, the scientific accomplishments and natural processes as viewed by the ancient ones, but there’s an explanation offered in the promo pack.

Without diving too deeply into the knowledge of old used on “Aperantos Kosmos”, let me just sum it up by saying that Metakosmia is looking at a bigger picture of existence. A much bigger one, where we are but a speck of dust far in the eyesight of gods. Even smaller than that. Such is the enormity of what this act tried to convey. A task not easy to achieve using only a handful of instruments.

Yet, “Aperantos Kosmos” sounds massive. Not from the production point of view, but from the creative one. It’s hard to imagine it without actually hearing it, but it’s true. By combining many differing musical styles, the band swerves through a myriad of emotional states, forms of thought and mind patterns. From the mere enormity of the outside of any individual and the despair it can induce, to a state of inner peace with the insignificance of choices we make with all the liberties it opens up. The music is, at times, grandiose and bombastic, while at others it dives down into a serene meditative state. With all the shades in between covered by diverse segments within the album, as well as individual tracks.

Much like the space itself, “Aperantos Kosmos” has a flow, an order of things, a higher purpose, be it concentrated around an ataraxic state of ruling deities, or a natural reign of coincidental episodes. To the eye (ear) of the observer (listener) it seems a symphony of movement. Up until a rogue element causes disturbance, natural disaster on a much wider scale than global. A supernova, black hole or a killer comet that strikes to disturb the seemingly peaceful process. Such is the music of Metakosmia. Soothing until its violent. Quiet and serene before it hits a crescendo. But with a subtext, so as not to induce a heart attack to its listener. It flows, has a natural progression from piece to piece and guides your attention to the upcoming shift.

What’s more, though concentrated on crafting the described aura around the record, Metakosmia managed more than a few genius dives into the musical imagination that could leave you breathless. For example, the progressive excursion in “Disorder” which serves as much more than simple show of instrumental capabilities by individual musicians. It is a journey in itself, disorderly as it may sound at moments.

Metakosmia will use whatever tools it needs to take you where they want to. Be it black or death metal, occasional incursion into doom metal, industrial (on a lesser level), ambient, progressive, symphonic… Again, like the cosmos itself, Metakosmia’s creation is limitless, borderless, genreless… It is thought provoking and it is a damn shame that “Aperantos Kosmos” is probably the only material we’ll get to hear from the band.