Band:	Hail Spirit Noir
Album:	Mayhem In Blue
Style:	Blackened progressive metal, Psychedelic rock
Release date:	October 28, 2016
Guest review by:	nikarg

01. I Mean You Harm
02. Mayhem In Blue
03. Riders To Utopia
04. Lost In Satan's Charms
05. The Cannibal Tribe Came From The Sea
06. How To Fly In Blackness

I have to say that I feel very proud that Hail Spirit Noir come from my small home country. This band rocked the metal scene in 2012 by releasing arguably the best debut of that year and managed to live up to the hype with their sophomore effort two years later. A few months ago they gifted us with another great offering, reflecting the band members' massive amount of talent and ambition.

Mayhem In Blue starts off with a Pneuma-esque song, which immediately grabs the listener by the throat. In the beginning we hear the following words in Greek: "deep is the root of evil... deep? not even the hand of God can reach it?" and straight after that the music kicks in with some of the best black n' roll around. I always have the urge to get up and dance every time I hear the first notes of "I Mean You Harm". The rest of the album is a bit different, but equally appealing; more progressive and experimental, with longer compositions that in no way drag and are fused with plenty of psychedelic rock influences from the '60s and the '70s. The use of keyboards is essential, even more so than in the previous albums, and there is a good balance between the black metal and the psycho-progressive rock elements. "Balance" is a key term for Mayhem In Blue and it feels as if the whole album is trying (successfully) to oscillate between two opposites, to bridge the antithesis. On one hand there is fury, rage and darkness (mayhem) and on the other there is tranquility, playfulness and dreamy weirdness (blue - sky or sea blue).

Compared to the band's previous two releases, Mayhem In Blue is definitely more progressive and experimental and a tad less black. There's a bit more use of clean vocals and a few new ideas, such as the barrel organ in "Lost In Satan's Charms". The album generally creates a trippy, mesmerising atmosphere and could very well be the soundtrack for the red-suited dwarf to dance to in David Lynch's Twin Peaks. I don't know if it's Hail Spirit Noir's best, but the final verdict is that they did manage to pull a "3 out of 3", which is not easy for any band.

I will finish this review with the lyrics that conclude the album: "I'd rather fly in blackness now, than begging for a bloody crown." This record's lyrical content is about the sinister element of the human soul. This is how it starts and how it ends. But it's not pretentious bollocks. As Theoharis has explained in one of his interviews, the aim was to explore the theme of the innate darkness of our psyche; not only the evil aspect of this darkness, but also its creative dimension, which is encountered in philosophers, in the people who choose to go their own way, far from the limelight. Those who, instead of begging for a bloody crown, prefer to fantasise in their own blackness. Those who, like Hail Spirit Noir, I might add, dare to grow and evolve without losing anything from their originality and purity.