Medieval Demon have dwelt in the shadowy underground of the illustrious Greek black metal scene since their inception in 1993. Standing somewhat apart from the rest of the nation’s black metal crowd – bands such as Rotting Christ, Necromantia, Zemial and Varathron – they have nevertheless always maintained concrete connections with that legendary scene, being one of the youngest bands to record at Rotting Christ’s  short-lived Storm Studio in the early 90s. 

A single album, 1998’s Demonolatria, would surface before the band disappeared, only to be resurrected some 15 years later by two of its three founding members; brothers Lord Apollyon (drums, keys) and Sirokous (vocals), who had by then created the respected Athens metal store Bowel Of Noise. A new album, Medieval Necromancy, was created and released in 2018 by US label Hell’s Headbangers, bringng the band to the attention of a new generation, the obscure and atmospheric compositions summoning the esoteric spirit of vintage Mediterranean black metal. The surprise addition of the long-absent Rotting Christ co-founder Jim Mutilator to the line-up has only made the band more compelling, and we tracked down both Apollyon and Mutilator to discuss matters further, the former beginning the conversation by recalling his initial entrance into the black metal cult.

Lord Apollyon: “It was my older brother Sirokous who began to bring many metal records to the house. As we both never liked the mainstream, we were searching for those bands that were devoted to the underground. We always liked the rare and extreme styles of metal music, so we were spending all our money to buy unique records and built our vinyl collections with passion – something we still do now. That was the time we first listened to Celtic Frost, Hellhammer, Bathory, Possessed, Darkthrone, Morbid Angel, Mortuary Drape, Rotting Christ, Profanatica… the gates of hell had opened!”

At what point did you become creators of black metal yourself with Medieval Demon and what inspired that?

Lord Apollyon: “Medieval Demon was formed in winter 1993 by myself, Sirokous and [guitarist and bassist) Necrochrist. We had rejected the kingdom of God since a very young age – we hated church and society and we believed in Satanism as a rebellion against the dominant system and the rotten religion of Christianity. I still remember, it was a rainy night outside a church near the mountains in our city where we had made an appointment with Necrochrist. I was listening to Rotting Christ’s Thy Mighty Contract, while my fists were bleeding from breaking some windows of that church and Sirokous was writing lyrics and glorifying demons!  We said a few words with Necrochrist, agreed to meet again and then we were lost in the shadows – before the police arrived to be involved too…!”

Some years ago you released Necrotic Rituals From The Unholy Past which collected your many early demo releases. How active was the band in those early years and were there any live shows back then?

Apollyon: “We recorded a few demos and later began working on our first full-length album – all this happened between 1994 and 1995, during the second wave of black metal, the times that we felt that the unholy spirit was stronger than ever worldwide. We wanted to release spiritual, horrifying, bloodthirsty, blasphemous and aggressive material, inspired by the chthonic powers of the gods of the Underworld, Satanism, occultism and anti-Christianity. Our interests in black metal had become so powerful, it had become a way of life: night rehearsals, corpsepaint, composing in cemeteries and getting energy from the rotting atmosphere under the candlelight inside the tombs, night walks in forests and mountains, gatherings for ceremonial magic and calling of the dead, reading occult and Satanic books. We were invited and played two sold out gigs in the 90s with Kawir and Order Of The Ebon Hand.” 

The golden age of Greek black metal is slowly beginning to be more widely recognised for its influence and historical significance, and regarded in a somewhat similar way to the more famous Norwegian scene. 

Apollyon: “The Greek black metal of the 90s was original, ritualistic, diabolical and fully dedicated to the scene, with legendary bands such as Rotting Christ, Necromantia and Varathron. By day, we visited the many record shops to buy vinyl of the most true and underground bands, copying them on tapes and then at night we found peace and inspiration to listen to them, walking alone in the forests and graveyards. Actually, even though we respected the greatest bands of the scene, we never liked to be in contact with all local bands and people, and talk about the scene. We didn’t care about others, we never talked about others. We were people of Satanic action, not talking. The unholy flames of our cult shall be burning in eternity, not only in music but into our black souls.” 

How was it recording at the legendary Storm Studios?

Apollyon: “Storm Studio – the private recording studio of Rotting Christ! It was exactly the place we wanted to record our material. It was that minimal sound we wanted to get and the occultism in the atmosphere, with Morbid of Necromantia and Rotting Christ, who was our sound engineer, gave infernal ideas to create Satanic black metal, but always in our primitive, raw style.”

Mutilator: “Medieval Demon were very passionate about black metal and the underground! I remember them coming to the record shop I was working at, they were coming almost every day to buy demos and records. They were maniacs and great fans of Rotting Christ. When Sirokous made the first screams for the recordings of their demo, Storm Studio was ready to explode! Really sick voice.”

How was the recording experience for the debut album Demonolatria, and was the band happy working with the somewhat notorious record label Unisound?

Apollyon: “It was recorded in a few nights and was planned for release in 1995 by Hypervorea Records, the label that was founded by Morbid. Due to delays, we left that label and a record contract with Unisound was signed. Finally our debut album was released in 1998, but Unisound made the mistake of using their own artwork without permission from us as we were in the army for that period, far away from Athens, and we couldn’t check his actions. Anyway, the original art that was supposed to be used was revealed in the vinyl and CD reissues after many years.”

Why did the band disappear after that album? And how did Medieval Demon finally return from the grave?

Apollyon: “Black metal is only for certain people – when the scene started to get trendy and poser modernity entered in underground circles we decided to disconnect back in 1998.  We had to be closer to Satan, to go into our spiritual world, to the left hand path we had chosen.  We kept our personal occult philosophy and spirituality and split up. After many years passed we needed to experience and once again worship the cult that survived, to return to the ancient tradition of black metal and satisfy our black souls with new recordings.

The excellent return opus Medieval Necromancy saw the return of Necrochrist, who played with the band in the very early days. How was it working together again after all those years?

Apollyon: “Thanks for your words, and it’s great you liked our album, but mostly I enjoy when people don’t like it. For example: I remember a modern guy somewhere on the internet wrote a review about our album, complaining that our sound is like coming from a tomb or a cave… and I say with a great smile, ‘That’s exactly fuckin’ black metal! And once again I have to say that black metal is not for everyone. Necrochrist was an original and important member of Medieval Demon because his black metal values are frozen in time and he is deep in the roots of the old school underground era. He writes in isolation, at his house near the mountains. I also composed my parts alone, visiting castles and graves near forgotten places. Sirokous works the same. Then a few nights in the studio and that’s it.” 

Just recently you announced that Mutilator has joined the band: how did this come together and what does the near future now hold for the band?

Apollyon: “Mutilator liked our music since he first listened to it at Storm Studio in 1993. He is a friend and one day he came to our record store for a beer. I just asked him to join us, and he said yes. We are in Pentagram Studio now recording our new album called Black Coven. The line-up will be Sirokous, Mutilator, Lord Apollyon and drummer Serapis – Necrochrist has left but continues with his band Darkest Oath, and we are unholy brothers still.” 

“Myself and Mutilator are writing the songs: we meet at the studio and all ideas and inspiration lead to true Satanic black metal inspired by the Hellenic cult. All songs are from the 90s, ideas that never had became complete songs in the past and now the gatherings in this great studio of George Emmanuel [ex-Rotting Christ] gives us all time to jam and record them. Sirokous always expresses additional ideas to add also. It is teamwork and the band is so strong together. It is of course an honour that a legend such as Mutilator is a member of Medieval Demon.”

Jim, after years of being out of the public eye you’ve not only joined Medieval Demon, but also formed your own band, Yoth Iria, featuring your old Rotting Christ bandmate Morbid / Magus. How have you approached writing for each band, given that you are working on both projects alongside each another? 

Mutilator: “I think it’s totally different. I’ve tried to be near to Medieval Demon’s own philosophy and their own tastes of music when writing for them. For Yoth Iria, all music and lyrics are done by me. George Emmanuel played all the guitars and added some great solos, and of course Magus is the singer. Believe it or not, it is working perfectly – both of us are full of energy and enjoy every moment. Magus is a genius and a very talented and experienced musician and comes up with great ideas all the time. The drums will be real drums of course, not programming – actually we have to choose between three different drummers and after the album is finished I will check around for two guitarists for live shows. I missed releasing music so much, and of course I like the idea of playing some live shows after so many years.” 

Where does the name Yoth Iria come from and what made you settle on it as the name of the band? I remember you were considering using the much older name of ‘Black Church’ at one point, albeit with reservations.

Mutilator: “Look, Black Church could not work as it was the first name for Rotting Christ. Yoth Iria was a vision from my childhood times and of course I used it in the lyrics of the Thy Mighty Contract album on the song ‘The Fourth Knight Of Revelation’. I think ‘Yoth Iria’ has a good mood, it’s quite mysterious and it’s also connected with my personal life.”

At what point did you begin writing the Yoth Iria material that you are now working on capturing?

Mutilator: “I started back in 2005. All these years I’ve composed a lot of tracks, enough for two more albums – of course it was quite difficult to choose 8 tracks from 40 complete tracks. George Emmanuel helped me a lot with the choice and I think the results are a mix of albums like Non Serviam and Thy Mighty Contract but mainly it’s like the continuation of Triarchy Of The Lost Lovers. Of course you can find some new ideas, but in my personal opinion is quite old feeling music.”

Was Triarchy... your favourite of the Rotting Christ releases you played on?

Mutilator: “Really hard to answer. All of those albums are so important for me and each album has a big effect on my esoteric world. Passage To Arcturus was so revolutionary, Thy Mighty Contract so abyssic and influential, Non Serviam was a really Luciferian gift and Triarchy a mix of all the previous albums... But with a black heart I will say Triarchy... was my favourite.”

The demo versions you sent us during our work on the Rotting Christ biography were already sounding very promising – when will we be able to hear the finished Yoth Iria you are recording at Pentagram Studio?

Mutilator: “We will release a 10-inch record, which will include three tracks: two new tracks, and one cover of [Rotting Christ’s] ‘Visions Of The Dead Lovers’. Then the full-length album is planned for early 2020.”

To return to you Apollyon, both Medieval Demon and Yoth Iria draw upon the unique spirit of the early 90s Greek black metal movement – how is the scene there today do you feel?

Apollyon: “It will never be as strong and real as it was at 90s. Technology, copy/paste minds, and the ease of things gives the result most of the time of clone bands that pass and are forgotten fast. But that is good in my opinion. Real black metal is forever. Even if the bands were not so many… the feeling is eternal. It is just that the new bands should show more respect. If you haven’t lived back in the golden years of the ‘90s, at least learn the history in the right way, and try to create without talking much. This is the way to keep the flames of our cult burning in eternity.”

Interview and Yoth Iria photo by Dayal Patterson.