Review by Kostas on June 21, 2023.

Aherusia were always innovative and sounded fresh, with their folk approach to black metal giving their music a special byzantine-like, epic feel. So, as you can imagine, when I heard they were about to release a collection of Greek traditional songs in their own style, I was both excited and curipus to see what these Athenians had prepared.

The first impression I got once I started listening was that ''Nostos ~ An Answer (?)'' is not as heavy as I expected it to be. There are not many aggressive parts, blast beats or even harsh vocals at all. Instead, every musical composition sounds very melodramatic and, I dare to say, closer to rock than metal at several points. I am not saying that such a surprise is not entertaining or enjoyable, but I believe Aherusia could for sure have incomporated more elements from different musical styles, like they have done in the past. For example, the haunting atmospheres of their first album or the epic feel of ''As I Cross The Seas of My Soul'' are not present here. And it is a pity, because all of these traditional songs the band chose could have been brought to a whole new level. Instead, they sound just like the originals, the only difference being they are played with an electric guitar, bass and drums. What I am saying is that the band should have tried harder to give these tracks a whole new identity and create substantial modern covers.

Nevertheless, I should definitely not neglect the talented musicianship that contribured to the creation of this album. The singer proves how much of a beautiful voice he has, even if as I mentioned before he does not use his also great harsh vocals. Somehow, he manages to convey an outstanding amount of opposing feelings. I was personally impressed by how his loss and sadness-bearing tone evolves into fury during the last track, '' Μια λυγερή τραγούδαγε ''. Besides this amazing vocalist, I have not much more to say, other than everything else sounds professionaly correct. The guitars are great, creating pleasant melodies that always follow the folk patterns. The drums offer the necessary background and the bass sounds pleasantly well. Once again, these people prove how much potential they have and how charismatic they are as musicians.

All in all, I have to say that a great job has been done by Aherusia when it comes to the technical part of this fourth full-lenghth. The problem with ''Nostos'' is that despite of all the good traits the artists have, I feel like they did not use 100% of their imagination. If they had done so, this album could have become a modern metal classic, attractive to many metalheads worlwide. Becuase now I think now it is most likely to be appreciated by Greeks.

Rating: 6.4 out of 10