Band info
Band: No Hand Path
Album: Μυστικισμός της Ενηλικίωσης
Released: March 21st, 2025
Genre: black metal, progressive
Location: Greece
Review 
It probably might be hard to understand the eagerness by which some of us were expecting No Hand Path‘s sophomore album, but we have to go back 15 years ago, when the band released their debut full-length album, ‘An Existence Regained‘. In one of the stronger debut albums for a Greek band (and not only) of that era, No Hand Path offered a vision of black metal with progressive influences and epic, expansive songwriting that was distinctly different from anything else at the time, bearing a very personal and unique style.
Unfortunately, while the recordings of a second album were announced, it went into stasis as members moved to different countries, with some updates every few years that work on the album was still going on and that it would be eventually released. Enter 2025, and we finally have it in our hands. While the antifascist politics of the members were generally known even before (having members in the thrash/hardcore band Revolting Breed, for example, who played in squats), this time they are placing it in on the forefront, using the antifascist black metal tag in Bandcamp. There are heavy exceptions for an album for sure that is supposed to show the maturity of all that time, which are also perhaps reflected on the excellent title that can be translated as “The Mysticism of Coming of Age“.
Growing up comes with a lot of bitterness, and that is reflected in the music, which comes this time on a much darker and aggressive tint, with furious blastbeats leading the way in most tracks, while the guitars are mixing up the melodic, atmospheric element present in previous No Hand Path track with dissonant elements. The lyrics, written in an impressive Greek poetic prose and spit out with hatred, attack religion, patriarchy and conservationism. It’s an unrelenting album which grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go until the end, rising in intensity which culminates in the last two tracks, “Traitor” and “Cosmogonia“, showing a band that did not simply want to repeat what they have already done, but bold go in the direction they have chosen.
In the end, it’s an impressive album showing a band that can infuse new blood into the direction of black metal against authority and the shackling of the human spirit. We are also happy to announce that in due time, we will also feature No Hand Path‘s fantastic debut, and we certainly hope that this won’t be the last we hear from them.