METALLIAN - Necromantia

Crossing The Fiery Path – 1993 – Osmose
Scarlet Evil Witching Black – 1995 – Osmose
IV: Malice – 2000 – Black Lotus
The Sound Of Lucifer Storming Heaven – 2007 – Dockyard1
To The Depths We Descend... – 2021 – The Circle Music

Members

Vocals

NAOS, Thou Art Lord, Diabolos Rising, Varathron, Raism, Zemial, Danse Macabre, Principality Of Hell>>MORBID MAGUS VAMPYR DAOLOTH [GEORGE ZACHAROPOULOS]>>NAOS, Thou Art Lord, Diabolos Rising, Varathron, Raism, Zemial, Danse Macabre, Principality Of Hell, The Magus

Guitar

Blood Covered>>Divad [David]>>Blood Covered – Yiannis ”The Worshipper Of Pan” Papayiannis – Valet Parn, Chaostar, Lucifer’s Child>>GEORGE EMMANUEL>>Lucifer’s Child

Bass

Terra Tenebrae, Soulskinner>>BARON BLOOD [MAKIS]>>Terra Tenebrae, Soulskinner – Rotting Hell, NAOS, Thou Art Lord, Diabolos Rising, Varathron, Raism, Zemial, Danse Macabre, Principality Of Hell>>MORBID MAGUS VAMPYR DAOLOTH [GEORGE ZACHAROPOULOS]>>Rotting Hell, NAOS, Thou Art Lord, Diabolos Rising, Varathron, Raism, Zemial, Danse Macabre, Principality Of Hell, The Magus

Drum

Yiannis ”The Worshipper Of Pan” Papayiannis – Stillborn Virtue, Ravencult, Nergal, Mortal Torment, Plaguendgraves, Heavensore, Hordes of Decay, Principality Of Hell, Dødsferd, Nadiwrath, Abyssgale, Necrochakal, Cross Denied, Thou Art Lord, Dephosphorus, Saboter, Profane Prayer, End, Disharmony, Nigredo, Mentally Defiled, Embrace Of Thorns, Fadom, Caedes Cruenta, Shadowmass, Ectoplasma>>YIANNIS VOTSIS>>Thou Art Lord, Dephosphorus, Profane Prayer, End, Nigredo, Mentally Defiled, Embrace Of Thorns, Caedes Cruenta, Shadowmass, Slaughtered Priest, Extoplasma

Keyboard

Inferno - Valet Parn, Chaostar, Rotting Christ, Solo>>GEORGE EMMANUEL>>Solo

History & Biography

Athens, Greece-based Necromantia was founded in November 1989 by Morbid and Baron Blood as a vampire-oriented black metal band and issued a promo tape in 1990 and a demo, called Vampiric Rituals, in 1992. Another demo followed before the band signed to the new black metal label Osmose Productions of France for three records and issued a debut, Crossing The Fiery Path, in late 1993. This record was pre-recorded by the band and was being shopped around. Inferno joined in 1993. The year after brought the From The Past We Summon Thee 7” EP through the Greece-based Dark Side Records. Backing vocalist Slow Death left in 1994. Then it was back to Osmose and a full-length. The beginning of 1997 brought an EP, called Ancient Pride, which ended up being the last collaboration with Osmose. It featured a Manowar cover version. In the meantime, founder Magus Vampyr played in half a dozen other bands signed to Osmose and others. However, by the year 2000 and IV: Malice the band was on a Greece-based label owned by the Magus himself. Earlier the man had a label called Hypervorea on which he issued Zemial. IV: Malice was released on vinyl by Ledo Tadas Productions. Lasting one album, the next release, which appeared seven years later, was on a Germany-based label, which also went out of business.

From then on it has been a case of a band with a couple of minor releases and the usual array of samplers and cover songs. People Of The Sea was a 2008 7”. Chthonic Years/Demo Collection was a 2018 compilation. The band announced it would disband following the release of an EP. It was called Baron Blood as the man of the same name had died of a heart attack in 2019. Magus would, moreover, promise that there would be no re-releases either.

A full-length album came in 2021. The Depths We Descend... was supported through a video for the song Inferno. George Emmanuel and Yiannis Votsis were in the band. The latter man was searching for any new bands he could join in order to complete his tour of every single band out there. The Magus co-wrote a biography called The Serpent & The Pentagram and had it distributed by Pagan Records. Magus launched a project called The Magus also in 2022.

Necromantia means ‘Prediction Of The Dead’ in Latin. The band made hay of the absence of guitars in most of its music instead being armed with two bassists. Yiannis ”The Worshipper Of Pan” Papayiannis also played saxophone.

Reviews

NECROMANTIA - THE SOUND OF LUCIFER STORMING HEAVEN - DOCKYARD 1
If recent American politics has shown the world anything, it is that anyone can say any hypocritical lie and get away with it. George W. for instance has said things like “I believe that freedom is the deepest need of every human soul” just as he transformed America into a blatant banana republic replete with presidential decrees, lack of privacy and illegal snooping and spying or “We know that dictators are quick to choose aggression, while free nations strive to resolve differences in peace” as he unilaterally bombed Afghanistan and Iraq to smithereens under false pretences that only served to enrich his donor/sponsors in the arms and oil sectors. In this vein, Necromantia might very well get away with the claim that its new album “is a fist in the face of contemporary black metal.” What is radical about an album featuring heaps of synthesizers by two keyboardists is a riddle. The band’s further proclamation that it is keen on “remaining loyal to black metal music and to metal music in general” again reads well as a knock against its Greek contemporaries like Rotting Christ until one again hears the pop elements on the album and recalls how Necromantia’s main man himself was not only a member of RC, but contributed synthesizers of all things to the shameless wimp-outs as well.
Now, if that was the only reason to disdain Necromantia, one would be liable to enjoy the music on a strictly superficial level, but alas, the songs are a mess of the grandest order. Past the genuine likelihood that the Greek duo has forgotten to master its album, The Sound Of Lucifer... is a shoddy clutter of uneven and untight sounds that would be embarrassing for a brand new act, let alone a group that was formed in 1989. Why a label would sign Necromantia - one band member owned its now-bankrupt previous label Black Lotus Records - is a mystery. The fact that the act features two bassists and no guitars is a gimmick at worst and a coincidence at best that became old news years ago.
Given the advance of religion on every continent and the worsening level of ignorance amongst the masses since the band’s formation in 1989 if Necromantia’s attack on God, Christ and faith are any indication the band’s musical track record likely matches its advocacy and beliefs. - Ali “The Metallian”

Interviews

Necromantia