On November 10th 2014 we did upload the review I wrote for a split in between Mortuus Caelum, Enoid and Dizziness. The three of them did surprise me, but Dizziness simply impressed me. It might be a personal opinion, but their contribution on that Impetum In Tenebris split album was the best part on it. So I was quite pleased when the very same label, Lower Silesian Stronghold, did send me the newest effort by this Greek band. The material was recorded in two different studios, Giafka Dungeon (bass and guitars) and Made In Hell Studio (voices and drums), and several guest musicians are part of the game.
Bound In Strength brings thirty eight minutes of purest Epic, blackened marches to victory, aural expressions of pride, vengeance and Pagan superiority. Dizziness perform Epic Black Metal in a mostly pure definition. The material is highly melodic, based on majestic lead riffing and a monstrously heavy rhythms section, gruesome screams, some harmonious chants, and a couple of folkish passages. The compositions do differ a lot, especially when focusing on structure and tempo. Slower passages interact well with faster outbursts, and everything gets penetrated with Viking / Pagan-laden intelligence. It is great to notice that this Hellenic Black Metal horde maintains an underground-rooted harshness, in combination with a universal execution. Though, that ‘universal’ attitude can easily be ‘limited’ to Scandinavian proportions, for Dizziness still come with that glorious majesty that did characterise the whole Scandinavian scene from one and a half decade ago, with the Norwegian one on top (though, Bathory’s supremacy returns too within this Greek band’s performance – hail!). But they do not limit themselves to the northernmost eras of our European soil; excerpts within Myrmidons, for example, refer prominently and shamelessly to the grandeur of Summoning (even though that isn’t but an excerpt, yet certainly worth mentioning). And what to think about the Varathron cover Deep Beneath An Ancient Dominion, which includes vocals by nobody else but Mr. Necroabyssious himself?...
The sound still is pretty heavy and intensifying, and probably the cleanest to date, I think. It isn’t a bad thing, but some might miss the un(der)wordly grimness of Old; I do focus on the positive side of it, for the result strengthens the basics of the compositions and the fine mix that empowers every single aspect recorded in the studio. Actually, this stuff still stands miles away from fake catchiness or expensive over-production; but once again, the ‘Nordic’ production did somehow disappear.