Esgaroth

ESGAROTH (not to be confused with any of their multitudinous namesakes) is an Athenian Black Metal act, allegedly founded in the early-1990s and for all we know still active under the revised moniker EZGAROTH.

By the time of the demo debut, ESGAROTH consisted of the duo Spyros “Count Lethaemon” Tzouvalis (vocals, guitars, bass – BEHELAL, MEDIEVAL DEMON, THE BLOODCULT, etc.) and Unholy Master (drums), along with Kostas “Lord Apollyon” Karras of MEDIEVAL DEMON on session keyboards. Stylistically, “Crypts of Everlasting Winter” (1996) bears more semblance to Northern European Black Metal than its Hellenic counterpart. Lo-fi, raw and monochromatic, but with a certain epic sensibility somewhat similar to the contemporary works of Germany’s MOONBLOOD. Someone must’ve taken heed of this release, as the demo was later rereleased as a split-CD with Colombia’s OCCULTUS under the title “Dark Passion/Kingdoms of a Darkest Side” (1998) on Sempiternal Productions and then in turn re-re-released by the Columbian label Psychophony Records in 2018.

According to the liner-notes of the “Dark Passion/Kingdoms of a Darkest Side” split, ESGAROTH was planning to release a second demo entitled “The Awakening of the Mighty Serpent”. This demo didn’t materialize though, or alternatively was scrapped from release. However, the band reemerged a few years down the road under the revised name EZGAROTH (see separate post here).

Compilation appearances: