The main man behind Greek Metal legend Varathron, Stephan Necroabyssious, answered our questions and talked about their whole career and their new album "Crowsreign"

Well, How has been "The Lament of Gods" received in the underground?

Well, our last release "The Lament of Gods" was a very good release!!! I think is a little bit experiment into the area of old great heavy metal of 70s and 80s!! An occult black metal release with a lot of influences from the heavy metal roots!!! We received the absolute except for the Underground scene!!. Thiis album has a lot of "new" instruments for us!! Violin, piano, synths and trompets!! I think it is a great album!!

What can you tell me about "Crowsreign" your new CD? Have you already released it?

Well, our newest stuff, our new album "Crowsreign" will be ready soon!! We record it very slowly because we want to make a agreat work with a perfect production!! So, Beware for our new blasphemic Invasion!!! Western Sky, my Kingdom Come....Kingdom of the Crow !!!!.

Are there any plans of touring to support the new release?

Of course. We´ll be playing some gigs in Europe and maybe in Greece too!! Some fanatic friends of mine, they want to see Varathron...in Brazil!!! So, we will see!!.

Which do you think are the main improvements that Varathron has suffered since the beginning of the band?

I think that if you listen our first demo "Procreation of the Unaltered Evil" you can see a band with a total blasphemic feeling, violent warriors!!. So, theyears passing away and the band become better!!! In our last release, our passion is still alive but our sound is so "clear" and technical, atmospheric!!!! We lost our "barbaric emotions" into the songs!!! Maybe the years, maybe the scene...but Varathron is a band with an evolution in our sound, but not in our spirit! So, our main improvements are on sound, more technical parts but the obscure feeling still remains the same from the early days of 1989!! ETERNAL WORSHIPPERS TO DARKNESS!!

How would you compare "The Lament of Gods" with "His Majesty of the Swamp" or "Walpurgis Nacht" ?

As I told you before, I think that "The Lament of Gods" is a small experiment with some "heavy metal" forms and "new" instruments than our two albums" His Majesty of the Swamp" and "Walpurgisnacht". Our last album has our Varathron spirit but is so different thn the other releases!! I think we have returned to our roots with the new "Crowsreign" album!!!! Rules!!!!

Since you started as a band in the late eighties...how do you see the evolution that the black metal scene has suffered since then?

We started in the early year of 1989!! In that days, the black metal scene was a small "child" !! Bands like Mortuary Drape, Samael, Blasphemy, Ancient Rites and some others playing an occult music!! We have a great death metal stuff, some thrash bands and grind bands!! All the bands were so pure musicians...All the Underground System was so...Underground. magazines, demos, 7"EP, tape-trade and "little" vinyls, little -releases on great labels!! Rules!! Now is totally different!! A thousand releases, the most of them without meaning (without target, just simply recopied from other old bands or recopied from their own first releases!!). No pure feelings, just the "big" law of money, pseudo-fame and "puppets" of Big Labels!! Now, the evolution is so "negative" for me!! I prefer to stay in the early days of 90s!! No other "pollution" into our great music underground scene !! CRUSH THE IDIOTS!!

Why did you choose to record a Mercyful Fate cover on "Lament..."?

It´s a long story !!! Before the Tribute to Mercyful Fate from Listenable Recs., a small label from Poland, Still Dead Prods. Sent me a letter and told me if we could record a Mercyful Fate cover for a great tribute to the Gods-N Fate!! Other names were Acheron, Vital Remains, Necrophagia, Equinox, Mystic Force, Memory Garden and more!!! So, we recorded a song from the first M.Fate EP released in 1985 by Raveon Recs. The song was "Nuns have no fun". It was a fantastic song and I am a big fan of Mercyful Fate. But the tribute CD was delayed and we decided to use that song on our "Lament of Gods"!! Well, after one year and more, Still Dead Recs. released the tribute and now is available and re-released by Dwell Recs. (USA)!!

Which are your memories of the legendary split with Necromantia "Black Arts Lead to Everlasting sin"?

A great release!! A cult release in our days!! My memories?? Only great reviews in any zine, in any radio show!!. The total blasphemic-release in the history of Black Metal Underground Scene!!

Why did you choose to release your records on a label from Poland (Pagan Recs.)?

Tomasz from Pagan Recs. was a great brother of mine since 1990!! He released a great mag, the "Holocaust Zine" and we had a great friendship!! So after our "Walpurgisnacht" album we were looking for a label and we had some proposals but nothing so serious. So Tomasz asked me if we wanted to release a MCD first and then our full length album!! So, we said yes and we signed with Pagan Recs. I don´t have any complaints about him until now !! He is a great guy!!

Why did the band dissapeared from the scene after "Walpurgisnacht"?

As I told you before, After the "Walpurgisnacht", we had some proposals from labels!! We worked on our songs and we waited for a contract!! But we had some esoteric problems too!! Our synth man left the band and he went to the obligatory army service!! We found a new synth man and we waited for the answers from the labels!! So, after a long time, Pagan Recs wanted us!! And the results...a very good album, a great re-release "His Majesty at the Swamp" and a powerful nrew release "Crowsreign". The return of the blasphemic warriors !!.

Do you have plans of releasing your older demos on CD for the fans to have them?

My friends from Cursed Prods. Released our demos, our two demos "Procreation of the unaltered evil" and "Genesis of Apocryphal Desire" and 3 unreleased songs on CD in 1997!! An american label, Cursed Prods, and my friend Ray Miller made a great work! Maybe we will be repressing it again for all our fans !! ETERNAL RULES!!.

How would you compare your music to the one in other Greek bands such as Necromantia or Rotting Christ? How does it feel to be considered a legendary band in the underground?

Our music is total Varathron style !! I don´t compare it with any other greek band because we have our OWN style!.

About our so heavy "load" like a legendary band in the Underground, I think we feel responsibility for any of our next releases !! We want to give our fans, to our brother, so great occult-lunatic-music!!

So we have a great respect for our fans, we salute you !!, we will continue our satanical-psalms through the years!!

I know that the underground metal scene in Greece was really big in the nineties. Has this changed since then?

Well, our greek scene have a lot of good bands !! I hope to continue playing so great and powerful Rules!!!!

Something more to add?

Thanks a lot for your support!! Embrace our evil obscure music !! Beware...the knigdom of CROW is....coming !!!! Hail and Kill!!

Stephan Necroabyssious

Interviewed by Federico Marongiu