The Gorgon cries tears of joy!

Featuring members from bands such as Mirror, Friends Of Hell, and Solitary Sabred, MARCH TO DIE is a new entity smashing modern metal. Highly recommended for fans of old legends like Manowar and Bathory, even newer bands that are following this path such as Grand Magus and Eternal Champion, MARCH TO DIE are delivering uncompromised sword-wielding Epic Heavy Metal that bows to none.
The band is based in Cyprus & Greece, and “Tears Of The Gorgon” is the debut full-length. Live shows will be scheduled for 2024. Tas Danazoglou is a world acclaimed tattoo artist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, also member of other bands such as Mirror, Friends Of Hell, and Satan’s Wrath, while he also served as a bass player of Electric Wizard (2008-2012) recording with them the “Black Masses” album. Nikolas Moutafis is also the guitarist of Mirror, Hardraw, Solitary Sabred, and also a producer, mixing and mastering engineer. Drummer Hugo Enrique Olivos comes from the extreme death metal territory and he is also a member of Mirror.

All music by Alex and Tas Danazoglou. All lyrics by Tas Danazoglou. Recorded, mixed and mastered by Nikolas Moutafis at Steel Fortress Studios. Cover painting by Peter Rubens, 1618.

LINE-UP
Alex Danazoglou – Vocals, Guitar
Nikolas Sprits Moutafis – Guitar
Anastasios Danazoglou – Bass
Hugo Enrique Olivos – Drums

REVIEW

Holy sh*t! That album art is immaculate! Paintings are always an instant 10/10 for me in the cover art department. The shocked look on Medusa’s face, the severed head, those damn snakes, it’s all so metal. Logo is sick as hell too. Love the T in “to” being a cross, it’s always a fun touch.

Greece has long been an unsung stalwart in the metal world, constantly churning out solid and diverse acts, ranging from the black metal of ROTTING CHRIST all the way through to the shred of FIREWIND. Alongside Germany, it deserves recognition as a true metal haven. Cyprus, on the other hand, has always been somewhat quiet. Sitting at the influx of Europe and Asia, its touch on heavy metal has been slight, but like all places and peoples, even the faintest of touches is enough to show that heavy metal is a global genre that transcends invisible lines on maps. Thankfully, the Cypriot metal scene seems to be beginning to blossom and boom just like their mainland Greek and Turkish cousins. MARCH TO DIE shows that in their debut record, so let’s dive into this behemoth.

Starting things off with “The Eternal Oath”. Damn it, the epicness of the battle horn (maybe it’s just some extreme bass, no clue), but that combined with the ethereal hymning in the background let me know within 30 seconds of this record starting that I’m going to dig it. The drums are so thunderous, like Olivos is actually trying to summon a demon, it’s rad. A gnarly groove permeates this one before the vocals kick in, which are harder than I expected, but still enchanting. Which is precisely what Danazoglou’s delivery reminds me of: chanting. There’s a definite occult rock influenced tinge here, and I’m all for it. All told, this is less of a song and more of a badass intro, but hell if MARCH TO DIE didn’t bring their all to it.

Next up, we have, “One Eyed King”. Hard n heavy thrash-esque riffs open this one up for us (alongside a few nice scream from Alex!). The sheer amount of epic in both tracks thus far is insane. The chanting in the background, coupled with the chugging riffs and the barrage of drums, it’s all so well produced and put together. Even if the vocals aren’t my typical cup of tea, I still enjoy them quite a lot more than I figured I would.

After that came “Hail to Thee”. Really nice leadwork to start things off here, a solid and simple, but catchy riff that is easy to bang the ole head to. Okay, here is where the vocals really started to hit for me, the chorus was a facemelter for me once it set in. It gets even better once the remainder of the band joins in to recite it all in unison, I’m a sucker for that stuff.

“Son of the Old Gods” followed suit, and began with what I felt the album had been lacking up this point: bass! A grooving bassline kicked off this track, the tone and playing reminded me quite of bit of early TESTAMENT. It segued nicely into a crushing riff before the vox began. The chorus is stunningly addictive, very much calling out to the listener to sing along. A tempo shift near the 4 minute mark eventually gave way to a gnarly solo, short but sweet.

To bookend the first half of the record, we have “Helmetsmasher”. As any record should have at least one, this track begins with a really well put together acoustic guitar intro. What… a… damn… riff at around the 1:40 mark, just steamrolling stuff. Can’t quite explain it, but this one had a real MANOWAR sorta vibe (albeit with the heaviness turned up, and the cheesiness turned down). Another great, but again short, solo slowly began the fadeout for the track (with an acoustic reprise to bring things full circle)

Beginning the second part of the album, MARCH TO DIE brings us “March to Die”. A longer one this, clocking in at just over the 6 minute mark, and it begins a bit more doomy more delving into what I think is my favorite riff thus far. While I did enjoy this track, it started to feel a touch long by about the 4:20 mark, though an really great one-strum that rang out like a battle horn changed that, followed closely by another nice solo.

Next was “Stand and Be Counted”. As a sucker for things that sound right at home in a fantasy movie or video game, the opening for this track was a treat to my ears (even if it was just slow drumming and some light axework). That guitar was soon put to great use, as it picked up the rhythm of the drums and properly introed us into the song. It’s very clear why this is lead single from the album, as it sounds quite a bit more accessible than the other tracks, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It shows that MARCH TO DIE have range and versatility, two things that are absolutely paramount for a band to succeed in the metal world. All told, I think is my favorite track on the record (and mostly because of the scream Alex wails out to close things off).

After that came “Decapitation”! An insane riff began things and maybe hinted at a slight progressiveness in MARCH TO DIE’s future. This track is just indescribably awesome, it’s aggressive and unrelenting, bordering on extreme (not the 80s band). The difference in style and sound in this song from the last one is almost whiplash inducing, but a (moderately) great man once said “It shows that MARCH TO DIE have range and versatility”. This was a banger!

Finally, we come to the title track “Tears of the Gorgon”, an almost SLAYER-like riff brings us headlong into this 7 minute+ leviathan, and that riff continues as the rhythm shifts to follow suit and reall get the headbanging started. It was here that it finally dawned on me, what the “epicness” I’d been describing really was, and it was so simple that I wanted to hit myself for not figuring it out sooner. It’s folk music! Greek folk music. Like the stuff you’d hear in the movie Troy or the Rome: Total War video game. MARCH TO DIE’s record is littered with a very obvious Greco tinge to it in a way that’s both beautiful and frighteningly incredible. Less than 3 minutes in and I knew that this was a masterpiece waiting to be shown to the world. The remaining length of the track was so enthralled that I found myself bewitched by the music. It’s that good of a song. An acoustic reprise seals things up for us.

CONCLUSION

This was a banger, maybe a bit of a slow burn though. I’ll definitely be giving it another listen through when the record releases on November 24th of this year (2023). I personally loved the record through and through, even if it did take until the second half for it connect with me, but once it did, it made the entire experience better. The instruments were solid all throughout, especially those drums, but I could see the vocal style being an acquired taste for some people. All that being said, I can’t recommend this one enough.

TheNWOTHM Score: 8/10 (acquired taste vocals)

MARCH TO DIE
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marchtodie666