ALBUM REVIEW: Gone With The Devil – Yoth Iria

The Greek black metal scene may not have generated the same aura or levels of fame (and infamy) as the Nordics, but it is no less storied nor impactful. Sure, the icy frigidity of SATYRICON and others may not have translated to the sunny climes of Athens. Still, the other key traits – abrasion, decay, heresy – were present and full-throated in luminaries such as ROTTING CHRIST and VARATHRON. Longtime scene bassist Jim Mutilator, who played in both bands, began his own project, YOTH IRIA, in 2019. It’s been a productive period since: Gone With The Devil marks their third album in five years.

Those Hellenic black metal predecessors were variously cited as warmer, more mid-tempo than their Northern counterparts. Both those adjectives would apply to Gone With The Devil. But this YOTH IRIA album has grander ambitions. From the opening strains of Dare To Rebel, there’s a grandness more at home in traditional heavy metal, with intricate flourishes of woodwind, strings, and other classical instrumentation adding sophistication to the thunderous drums and riff. It feels less like it’s borrowing from the IRON MAIDEN playbook and more like IRON MAIDEN borrowing from the black metal playbook.

The opening salvo of the first three tracks sets the bar high. Woven Spells of a Demon continues the kitchen-sink approach, all dramatic guitar & string lines and conspicuous pinch harmonics. Its strident approach, including a vast chorus, has hints of power metal, albeit again at a sedate pace. Vocalist He, now firmly established since replacing The Magus prior to 2024’s Blazing Inferno, shows a nice mix of cutting growls and sonorous clean vocals across the album, both anchored in and expanding from black metal roots.

The undeniable highlight of the album is the first single, The Blind Eye of Antichrist. A huge choral vocal hook loops repeatedly throughout the song, both powerful and an undeniable earworm that’ll play in your head for days afterwards. It’s interspersed with some full-throttle double kicks and guitar shredding, a high-energy concoction that it’s hard to tire of.

Sadly, the rest of the album fails to live up to the ambition of the first three tracks and the sheer quality of that single. Both I, Totem and 3am lack the same kind of impact; the vocals of the former stray into grating, while the latter feels far too generic, particularly in the lyrics. YOTH IRIA draw their name from a demonic avatar imagined by Jim Mutilator and first featured on ROTTING CHRIST’s classic 1993 record Thy Mighty Contract. But some of the reheated lyrical tropes of devilry here – “3am, the witching hour” – feel older than that record.

The musicianship across Gone With The Devil hits some great highs, but also fails to inspire at times. The guitar work from Nicolas Perlepe and Naberius deserves plenty of praise. There are lots of big, memorable melodies and riffs, with Give ‘Em My Beautiful Hell finding a fist-in-the-air power chord riff in its middle sections that makes up for the song’s disjointed feel. Drummer Vongaar isn’t short of some talent and flashes of inspiration: I, Totem has a nice 30-second blitz of unorthodox busy patterns near its close. But too often the drums fall into an on-the-beat kick/snare pattern that feels designed for a rhythm-based video game, with occasional shifts into formulaic blastbeats and double-kicks. It’s almost a relief when second single Blessed Be He Who Enters finally discovers syncopation for the kick drum in a blurry post-metal midsection.

In its later stages, Gone With The Devil shakes off its grander elements and delves back into black metal, and in doing so reclaims some of its high-wattage brilliance. The End of the Known Civilisation abandons the slow mid-tempo dirges and major keys for a blitz of drums, screams and panic-laden guitar riffs, with some of the best shredding on the record. Closer Harut, Government, Fallen reaches for a statement finish with cascading drums, 200mph guitar picking and overlapping vocals; it’s a fun attempt. As with much of the album, the high gloss of the busy production helps the songs that lean into it shine, but subtracts from the raw, unfiltered fun of traditional Hellenic black metal.

You can’t fault YOTH IRIA for the attempt here – this is a big swing into a much broader, crossover sound, and at its highest points, Gone With The Devil absolutely soars with hooks and brilliant guitar work. Yet ultimately, it’s an album trapped between two sounds – the maximalism and earworm power of its first few tracks, and the black metal legacy it embraces briefly at its close. The songs in between are sadly a muddle, albeit a muddle with some tasty shredding. All the components are there, though – a slightly better balance and YOTH IRIA could produce a truly exceptional album. For now, it’s fine to settle for one truly exceptional song.

Rating: 7/10

Gone With The Devil is out now via Metal Blade Records.