Bastard Sword, the Athens psychedelic doom power trio, release their debut full-length “Bastard Sword I” on classic black and limited edition bone color vinyl. Follow them on their interstellar trek of vintage psychedelic doom, featuring terminally heavy guitars and adorned with trippy brushes of analog synthesis.

The band:

• Achilles Charmpilas (vocals / guitars / synths / engineering) • Akis Kapranos (drums / backing vocals) • Odysseas Tziritas (bass)

Bio:

At the start of 2022, a band was quietly born in a basement opposite the church of the Sacred Belt in Kypseli, Athens, Greece. Achilles Charmpilas had just come out of two years stuck in the aforementioned basement, not doing gigs. The plan was to play and compose some new and adventurous music, learn new musical tricks and generally take the dry spell as an opportunity to reset, and get better at stuff he had been meaning to try out. Well, at least in theory. What actually happened was that he simply reverted to his teen self, growing up in northern Greece in the 90s, vibing out on Sabbath, Motorhead, Hawkwind, Kyuss, Cathedral, Earth and Sleep. In a few months, a torrent of music poured out of his fingers, travelled through a ridiculous array of distortion and fuzz pedals (a collection he has been building up since his time as a music instrument repair guy and touring bass player in Berlin), into an Orange and a Laney amp, out of a speaker, etcetera etcetera. You get the point. Before long, almost without realising, there it was. More than an album’s worth of material. Just hanging out on a hard drive. Waiting. But, what to do with it? Achilles decided that a first step would be to get some outside perspective. In the end of the day, this might simply be a midlife crisis in the making, right? I mean, who needs another derivative doomy band in 2022? Come on dude, get over yourself. Achilles sent a demo to Yiannis from Sound Effect Records, with whom he had previously collaborated in 2 by bukowski’s last release to date, Her Kind Fight Everything. A few sweat soaked days later (waiting for a big review is the worst), Yiannis reached out. He dug it. What a relief. There were insightful and welcome notes and comments, but one stood out: “there are too many instrumental doomy bands out there, why don’t you try some vocals?” Achilles’ personal projects have been mostly instrumental for over 20 years. Singing? What fresh hell is this? But wait - this whole thing started out because he was out “to reset, and get better at stuff”. It’s in the first paragraph, isn’t that crazy? Maybe this singing thing was where this was leading all along. Also, if Yiannis likes it, maybe more people will like it. Why not just bite the bullet, write a bunch of lyrics about the things he truly loves, learn to sing and start a new band? And so he did. Enter Akis Kapranos, a fellow veteran musician, film and single-malt scotch buff. He had previously played with important bands of the original Black Metal scene, like Septic Flesh and Thou Art Lord. An offer was accepted between drinks, and that, as they say, was that. Last piece of the puzzle was the bass. Bass is important, Bastard Sword would need an outstanding player. Well, as it so happens, Achilles had been producing music with an Athens scene wunderkind named Odysseas Tziritas. Odysseas inexplicably took the bait and the three met in a derelict but historic rehearsal space in Exarchia and jammed out for a few magical hours. It worked. It really worked. A couple of months later, the newly fangled psychedelic doom power trio played their first show to an amazing audience in a kick ass punk bar called Bad Tooth. That was it, there was proof. The band works. Let’s get out there and make some noise. And so it goes ever since. Although the band members have hundreds of shows under their collective belt, as of this writing they have only done one live recording and one show together. Next stop: Side Effects Festival @ Gagarin.

The Album:

The upcoming album Bastard Sword I was recorded in a tiny basement over the period of 10 months. The initial demos with all instruments recorded by Achilles were used as the basis. Akis and Odysseas joined just in time to contribute to it, making the album finally sound like a real album.

Tracklist

1. Il Gigante (06:01)
2. Hierophant (06:14)
3. Witching Brethren (04:58)
4. Santeria de Sangre (04:12)
5. Ghost in the Beehive (05:47)
6. Anthropocene (06:32)
7. The Orbital Mechanist (01:51)
8. Tenbones (03:44)
9. Tooth Rattler (04:55)

Recorded, Mixed and Produced by Achilles Charmpilas @ Sacred Belt Studios