When Black Metal resurfaced in the early days of the 90's (after being considered dead due the absence of Black Metal reports on magazines back in the second half of the 80's), four Schools were responsible for the rebirth of the genre: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Greece. On this last one, the fury and intensity of the genre was adorned with morbid melodies, thus creating the Hellenic Black Metal paradigm. And ZARATUS follows such model, as can be heard on "In the Days of Whore", their first album.

Bill El is known for his works on SOULSKINNER and THOU ART LORD, and Stefan Necroabyssious is worldwide known for being the vocalist of the legendary VARATHRON. These guys are unleashing a form of music that bears the DNA of Greek Black Metal from the 90's, but always with a personal insight. The aggressiveness is tempered with sad and melancholic melodies (due the keyboards parts), so be prepared to drown alive into Tartarus' pits alive by their great and hypnotic musical work. Bill took care of the recordings and mixing, and the mastering was done by the hands of Achilleas Kalantzis. The main idea is to recover some of early Greek Black Metal features to build the right ambiences for the songs, but it was done in a wise way. The sonority is rough and crude, but in a way that the listeners will understand their musical expressions.

But when the music starts to be played, is impossible for a Black metal fan to resist. It's truly amazing, because "Ceremonies Before Light's Existence" (a morbid song adorned with evil Gregorian chants and with a slow and intense rhythmic work), the Greek Black Metal essence shown on "Darkness and Decay" and on "In the Days of Whore", and the seductive dark ambiences of "Chaos and Blood" and "Zoroastrian Priests" are the best one for a first ride into Hades' domains. On the second listen, you'll be addicted.

For a first album, "In the Days of Whore" is really a great surprise. And let's hope that it will be not just be the first album of ZARATUS.