Flames

FLAMES is to Greece what Kat was to Poland:  both extreme metal bands with a kind of old-school black/death/thrash style who paved the way for their current scenes (and both Greece and Poland have truly thriving black metal scenes).  Their style, like Kat's, is really strong thrash with black/death overtones.  Similarly, their lyrical content is obsessed with death, murder, and Satan.

This is "Made in Hell" off of the album of the same name

Flames formed in Athens in 1984, and released their first album in 1985--Made in Hell.  This is an album that has that great old-school thrash feel to it, with evil atmosphere slightly reminiscent of early Slayer and even Venom.  After Made in Hell, Flames put out Merciless Slaughter in 1986, an album which was more aggressive and had much better vocals.

"Beloved Dead" is from 1986's Merciless Slaughter

Flames seems to have gotten a little more aggressive, a little more evil-sounding with each release in those early years.  I honestly think 1988's Summon the Dead is more blackened sounding than the previously two albums.  Fans of modern black/thrash would probably enjoy it very much.

Title track from 1988's Summon the Dead

The primitive vocals of Flames is one of the things that really makes their songs so effectively evil-sounding.  On Summon the Dead (and 1989's follow-up, Last Prophecy) Flames makes such an effort to have really evil, vile-sounding vocals that it makes their efforts stand out.  They continued to release albums into the 1990s, and I think they're still together.

Select Discography:

Made in Hell (full-length) (1985)

Merciless Slaughter (full-length) (1986)

Summon the Dead (full-length) (1988)
Last Prophecy (full-length) (1989)

Next time: NECRODEATH