Review: Thy Shining Curse – Theurgia

Style: Symphonic Death Metal, Progressive Death Metal (Harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Fleshgod Apocalypse, Septicflesh
Country: Greece
Review by: Christopher
Release date: 16 February, 2024

You might think that the reviewer perk of receiving advanced copies of albums is a joy with no drawbacks, but February 2024—an impressively strong release month—has been so boring for reviewing because I heard and wrote about everything I wanted to for this month in January. As everyone picks up the new Kyros or Eternal Storm or even Ihsahn, I’m sitting here weeks ahead, the novelty already worn away. Yes, this is an incredibly privileged whine, but it’s important context; waiting for new releases to grab me, mediocrity reared its head at every turn, until one album finally managed to break the February curse. 

Working in the vein of groups like Fleshgod Apocalypse and fellow Greeks Septicflesh, Thy Shining Curse conjure exactly the sonic chaos you’d expect: blistering metal riffs, breathless harsh vocals and thundering drumwork beneath grandiloquent symphonic accompaniment—pianos shred, strings urge haste, rapturous brass notes pierce through, and Carl Orff-esque choirs portend breathlessly. Theurgia describes a series of magical rites rooted in Neoplatonism, aimed at communing with superior beings and, ultimately, The One.

Vocalist Leonidas Diamantopolous delivers the expected harsh vocal delivery, while guitarist Leonidas Diamanotopolous shreds away with some impressive solos and sturdy riffs, all the while drummer Leonidas Diaman—huh. Bear with me a moment… This is all one guy?! Holy shit! Yes, Thy Shining Curse is a one-man-band effort, Diamantopolous handles everything besides a couple of vocal and guitar contributions from guests. One-man-bands often have particular strengths that come at the expense of other facets of musicianship depending on their musical background—after all, a guitarist-by-training can be forgiven for being guitar-forward in their output. But Theurgia’s has an unexpectedly strong compositional focus, every instrument and element has equal weighting and an effortless sense of interplay. 

Symphonic death metal, however, is a well established genre at this point, and one has to break the mould a little to stand out. In this regard, Diamantopolous isn’t exactly a great innovator, but Theurgia nevertheless demonstrates some unique ideas: the chaotic sax solo over an orchestral break on “Abyssaoth” works beautifully, the prominent palm muting in the djenty main riffs of “Acephale” proves an unexpectedly successful textural choice, the Acropolyptic (stop booing me) opera chorus over a sick synth riff on “Aesahaettr” makes for a gorgeous melodic foil to the relentless riffage, and “Melmoth” opts for some more expressive and complex percussive choices in the opening and verses. 

There are no glaring issues here, though there’s a little roughness around the edges—the drum mix sounds a little wet but it’s only noticeable when the layers are stripped back, and the orchestral work can sound a little too synthetic in some moments, but mostly it’s great. The last three tracks feature moments of spoken word which work to greater and lesser degrees. The sample on “Lenore” just feels a bit cliched no matter how epic the music is, the spoken word performance on “Heptacletus” has a little more drive in it, but it’s the whispered vocals on “Melmoth” that work best, interwoven into a restrained orchestral break while portentous choir leads us into what might well be the best guitar solo of the record.

As debuts go, Theurgia is deeply impressive, and all the more so when you know that just one man is behind it all. Diamantopolous has delivered a work of symphonic death metal that goes toe to toe with the genre’s leading lights and comes out unscathed. As a mission statement, Thy Shining Curse have delivered a doozy, and there’s great potential for them to become a force to be reckoned with in the symphonic death pantheon… or should that be Parthenon?

Recommended tracks: Abyssaoth, Aesahaettr, Melmoth
You may also like: Lamentari, Aeternam
Final verdict: 7/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page

Label: ViciSolum Records – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Thy Shining Curse is:
– Leonidas Diamantopolous (everything)