Reviews list for Medieval Demon - All Powers of Darkness (2025)

It was shaping up to be a poor Saturday afternoon all round really. It was pissing it down with rain and blowing a gale too, making any hope of gardening or a walk out in the woods completely out of the question. I had sat through (or at least started to listen to) around eight bm albums already and was slowly losing faith in the current slew of releases I had been pencilling onto my to do list over the last fortnight. Even Hermóðr and his two EPs from this year couldn’t impress me, and after there being far too much experimental musings from various other artists, I was close to turning the PC off and going for a read. Thankfully, Medieval Demon were on hand to save me.

Featuring Jim Mutilator of once upon a time Varathron and Rotting Christ and current Yoth Iria fame on bass, Medieval Demon have been around since 1993 and are now on to their fifth full length with All Powers of Darkness. With Lord Apollyon providing drums and keys, Sirokous handling vocals and Chthonius on guitar (which sounds mighty in the mix, btw), this four piece play a richly melodic and obviously Hellenic sounding brand of bm. I would say they do use a fair old amount of symphony to good effect as well as just keys. Check out the majestic Emperor-esque ‘Raging Lord of the Deeps’ as a great example of this. It is the sense of drama and theatre that is present on All Powers of Darkness that really have helped it to standout on this rainy Saturday afternoon. There is also a mightiness to the overall sound. This record has been produced to sound BIG! It fills the room as it plays, swarming its darkness over the walls, floor and ceiling too.

This record is a real lights off, candles on whilst you drink blood from the skulls of your enemies’ type of affair. Featuring leads that blaze across the tracks like some unholy hellfire, a solid percussion section that underpins the dashing keys and symphonic moments perfectly, the album sounds like a complete package. Riffs fire out like a heavy metal record from days of yore and Sirokous’ vocals possess a marauding potency about them. For a band on their second wind (they were on hiatus 1998 to 2018), this is a record that oozes an epic appetite for darkness. The “demonic orchestral” style the band have become renowned for (check out ‘Abbadon’ and closing track ‘All Powers of Darkness) is rampant and this album also sees the return of the saxophone on the title track, which is another regular inclusion on MD albums, apparently. It should not work on so many levels, but it blends so well with the dynamic nature of the closing track that I love it. Everything is superbly played too, especially those leads. Showing a real knack for arrangement, Medieval Demon are an excellent revival of that classic Greek black metal sound.

It is not a perfect score, as you can see, and that is because the album does take a little while to get going. Opening track, ‘Mystic Path Towards the Abyss’ is a bit too lacklustre in its approach to herald the approach of the rest of the album and overall, I would argue that the record only gets going from track three onwards. Still I must give credit where it is due and All Powers of Darkness holds nothing back in the main, beyond these minor gripes above.