Greek multi-instrumentalist Dimitros ‘Dimon’s Night’ Sakkas did form Inhibitions about twelve years ago, initially assisted by the guttural throat of Coprojunkie (both of them are / were in Humanity Zero too, by the way). Early in the second half of last decade, the latter, who was the vocalist, left and got replaced by Pain (and for your information: both Dimon’s Night and Pain play together in acts like Horrorgraphy, Blessed or Feeble). This duo recorded two full lengths before, Flames Of Desolation (Spring 2016) and La Danse Macabre (very early 2018). That last one, by the way, was released in a partnership in between Ira Aeterna Productions and Satanath Records. And it is the latter that releases this third full length studio as well, this time collaborating (for the 666th time) with More Hate Productions.
With The Fullmoon Above My Head (cool title?) was fully recorded by the duo: Pain on vocals and guitars (he wrote the texts as well), and Dimon’s Night performing bass and electric guitars, drums, and synths. Dimon’s Night took care as well of production, mix and mastering at his home studio. There are five hundred physical copies, on ‘normal’ compact disc (the jewel-case edition), coming with an eight-page booklet. That one contains the lyrics (mainly in English, partly in their mother tongue), and quite cool black-and-white cover artwork by some Menggil Asenja (layout, FYI, was done by Satanath’s master-brain Aleksey).
The sonic result lasts for three quarters of an hour and it differs a little from the former recordings. Inhibitions do focus on emotion and aggression this time, rather than grotesque melancholia. The whole is less bombastic and symphonic, and more firm and straight-ahead. And it works, it surely does.
The main influences are still related to the Nordic trend, the so-called Second Wave, with a convinced dose of that great Scandinavian Nineties attitude. But it goes further, not just sounding like ‘just another non-Scandinavian band inspired by the old schooled sounds from Sweden or Norway’ (even though there is nothing wrong with that, of course), but despite not being very original, Inhibitions are not a narrow-minded copycat, but they try to add their own twists and sounds. In pieces like the title track, the Greek scene too shows its bloody teeth, and that’s quite impressive, I think, to be able to do so.
Besides, there is a huge level of variation on With The Fullmoon Above My Head. A first element has to do with that anti-copy thing. Being influenced by a huge amount of sub-styles, it is a pleasure to experience the organic execution. There are technical and melodic parts, there is inspiration from styles like Pagan, Atmospheric, Orthodox / Traditional, Technical, Blackgazing, Occult and Thrashing Black Metal, and the tempo and structures continuously change and interact, the whole of the time. The better part is quite fast and melodious, with forceful, pushing rhythms and fine-tuned tremolo riffing. But there are lots of accelerations, from time to time even blasting and explosive of nature. At the other hand, more than once the whole thing slows down, flirting with doomier structures and adding intrinsic-emotional dimensions.
The sound quality is exceptionally well-done, especially considering that this thing was recorded in a non-major home studio (Dimon’s Studio, as mentioned above). It is such a pleasure to experience all instruments / voices so clearly. The bass lines and rhythm guitars are able to show their importance into this whole concept, the drums are top-notch (just blasting when needed, then again almost melodious), the leading riffs and solos (though very limited) fortify the epic character of the atmosphere, and the deep-throated screams and frosty snarls add that angry, icy atmosphere. Even the few keyboard passages (with a truly mesmerizing xylophone-alike sound in a dreamlike, floating and doomed piece like Κανεις Σας Δε Θα Μεινει Ζωντανο, which includes deep-going elements from Doom-Death Metal) (the use of synths increases during the second half of the album) and acoustics are well-mixed (besides finely written and professionally performed). Furthermore, there are no irritating background noises at the one hand, and at the other hand, the result still maintains a certain crudity, a coarseness that sucks all colours out of the painting, leaving the whole as a grey wasteland of anger and despair.
This album will not redefine the worldwide scene. Therefor With The Fullmoon Above My Head lacks of renewing or progressive elements. But from qualitative point of view, this piece of traditional Melodic / Atmospheric Black Metal is an excellent addition to the worldwide scene…
http://satanath.com/releases/item/sat255.html
http://satanath.com/news/item/inhibitions-2019.html
https://satanath.bandcamp.com/album/sat255-inhibitions-with-the-fullmoon-above-my-head-2019
https://morehate.bandcamp.com/album/with-the-fullmoon-above-my-head
http://www.morehate.com/release.php?id=341&page=2
https://inhibitions1.bandcamp.com/album/with-the-fullmoon-above-my-head-2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHFFdSJlijw