YOTH IRIA‘s trajectory has been on a steep ascent since crafty 2021 debut As The Flame Withers and 2024’s hypnotic Blazing Inferno, but there has audibly been a concerted determination to develop and expand in sinister new directions. “The creative workflow was similar to Blazing Inferno, yet we deliberately pushed ourselves to bring new elements into our music. We kept the immediacy of Blazing Inferno, the psychedelia of As The Flame Withers, and all the characteristics people expect from Hellenic black metal, while adding fresh sounds and atmospheres never before heard from YOTH IRIA.”
The daemonic avatar YOTH IRIA was first explicitly summoned on Rotting Christ’s legendary debut Thy Mighty Contract in 1993. Bassist/lyricist Jim Mutilator formed that band as Black Church in 1984, before also becoming a founder member of cult Athenian BM heroes Varathron for their first five years. Renewing the otherworldly atmospheres and occult ravishment for a new era, YOTH IRIA functions almost as the third panel in an apocalyptic triptych of Hellenic black metal excellence.
With its windswept intro, rock-steady snap, jubilant solo and duelling harmonies, album opener “Dare To Rebel” is a useful pointer to the more accessible, classic heavy metal influences of Gone With The Devil. The elegant sound and smooth, sinuous arrangements mark a distinct hike in quality at every level, each song ready to roll as an engaging addition to the live set. Predominantly stately tempos ensure the dark riffs, memorable melodies, and flamboyant leads have space to breathe their fire, so that the blastbeats, when they come – as during the mid-section of haunting highlight and lead single “The Blind Eye Of Antichrist” – devastate even more utterly. Flecks of Mediterranean folk and gothic cadences further expand the band’s sonic palate, while there are countless melodies so atavistically simple and primally satisfying they could be a thousand years old.
The band further comments on “The Blind Eye Of Antichrist,” “True change begins when we refine our character, discipline, and inner power. A transformed person creates a transformed reality. Personal evolution becomes a universal shift – a new order of existence. The world changes when the self is reborn.”
Watch YOTH IRIA‘s video for “The Blind Eye Of Antichrist” HERE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=970qK44Zwfc
