Ancestral Prophecy

Lesser-known melodic Black/Death Metal group from Xanthi, active in the early noughties during which time they recorded their only known demo CDr “Gleams of a Distant Past” (2003). Members of the band were (sorry, only first names) Giannis (vocals), Elias (guitars), Tasos (guitars), Christos (bass), Fotis (drums) and Alexandros (keyboards).

“Gleams of a Distant Past” featured seven tracks that might (or might not) be centered around some kind of conceptual theme – at least the introduction and song titles point in that direction. The music sounds undoubtably inspired by the Scandinavian scene, with the band valiantly attempting to re-interpret the works of say… DISSECTION, GATES OF ISHTAR, early DARK FUNERAL, etc. (although with less focus on the typical folk-inspiredness of the Swedish bands). The material is quite technical with convoluted riffing and plentiful tempo changes.

As in so many similar cases, it's a bummer that the band didn’t stick around long enough to cultivate a style of their own as well as improving their technical and compositional abilities on subsequent releases.

Compilation appearances: