The RMR crew and the Greek Black Metal community are pretty sturdy acquaintances. Rotting Christ1, Dødsferd, Isolert, or – again – Dark Portrait, all appeared on this zine. In fact, you get a fair number of the ritual folks roaming about the Southern reaches of Europe. This, and the sturdy French section, got ourselves a pretty virulent base to judge newcomers against.
So, will the sophomore record of a still obscure Greek Black Metal band be able to invoke the lightbringer, or will boredom set in after a while? Grab that spell book. That should already do something, right?
Decipher ain’t newbies no more, of course. They started harrowing the populace almost 10 years ago, in 2017. Yet their 2023 debut full-length piece Arcane Paths to Resurrection didn’t hit our review pipe at all. If I remember correctly, the RMR Review Desk was busy covering feistier pieces such as this one. So, in hindsight, we probably should have gone for Decipher as well.
And thus, ΘΕΛΗΜΑ (Thelema) arrived at our doorstep. And it comes with an interesting title. The word translates into will as its centerpiece. More importantly, it reaches directly into Aleister Crowley’s ‘Do What You Wilt’ theory2 and more ancient iterations that may have preceded his tenure.
The record lets loose with a pretty traditional yet well-elaborated, middle-of-the-road iteration of the Black Metal art. A modern version sturdy enough to please the hardened sinners in this world of daemonic atrocities and other bestial endeavors. At least to a point, that is. In other words, you got enough Rotting Christ in there to please the masses. And some will argue that the latter are long estranged from the blackened arts. And that’s exactly the point. But more to that later.
Thelema gets you the basics, alright. The tremolo-laden axe work, meaty undulating riffs galore, and Kostas Gerochristos‘3 merciless rasps that you’ll encounter at any corner of the record. And on this sturdy blackened base, Decipher build a pretty hefty rhythm section. One that often uses melody, changes in tempi, and the use of guitars in ways usually reserved for other genres. Need some examples? The sometimes thrashy, high-pitched tone of some of the guitar work is not often used. Or you’ll suddenly find some weird solos gone bridges at certain spots of the tracklist (Hail Death, The Black March). That is not something unheard of, but it is remarkable nonetheless. And all of that speaks to a willingness to experiment. A will to get rid of the ancient dust the core of the genre unfortunately acquired over time.
I reckon that Thelema was bestowed with all that jazz to dive deep into this sinister and daemon-infested soundscape in which the genre thrives best. And this is where the record kinda lost us. The RMR crew can see the musical prowess, the genuine drive to take this one step further. But one of the main pillars of any Black Metal piece is menace and underlying, darkly ominous negative emotion. That sinking feeling that Astaroth is just around the next corner, bad breath and all. And whilst Decipher have the thundering part worked out just good, the RMR is still waiting for that little something that should frighten the bejeesus out of us.
So, ultimately, Thelema for sure is well elaborated with all them accouterments usually found in a sturdy Black Metal piece. If you dive into the innards of the record, you’ll find enough elegantly painted grimy style elements and melodious parts to please. Yet, to this crew, this here piece is way too whitewashed4 and devoid of that genuine, arcane daemonic menace, this underlying evil you cannot shake and that will follow you around for a while. True, this will please the American crowd to a point. But to our blackened souls, Thelema, whilst technically astute, sounded like some warm-up round before the depraved geezers at the RMR Review desk will go for the real rotten meat these thoroughly ritualistic bands serve.
That said, Litany, the last track hailing Satan, gave us pause. Could there still be a vile, gritty vein buried somewhere in this band’s elegantly blackened DNA? Let’s wait to find out what they do next.
Record Rating: 6/10 | Label: Transcending Obscurity | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 20 March 2026