Second album by Athens, Greece based heavy/power metal act Subfire
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Blood Omen
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The Story So Far…
Subfire is a heavy/power metal act hailing from Athens, Greece. The band formed up in 2004 and in the early days recorded two demos and one EP. After a long hiatus, in September 2021 the band managed to release their debut album, “Define The Sinner”, released under the flag of Symmetric Records.
“Define The Sinner” recorded at the Sound Symmetry Studio, Athens, Greece with Bob Katsionis (Stray Gods, Warrior Path, ex-Firewind) handling also the production and the mixing while the mastering has been handled by Nasos Nomikos at VU Productions, Piraeus, Greece, who has also worked with artists like Warrior Path, Enemy Of Reality, Stray Gods, Validor among others. The album was well-received by the media all over the world.
The band is ready to release their second album, “Blood Omen”, again under the flag of Symmetric Records in May 2024. Bob Katsionis has handled once again the production & the mixing of the album as well as mastered by Nasos Nomikos once again. “Blood Omen” also features the guest appearance of the renowned singer Ralf Scheepers of Primal Fear.
The impressive artwork has been made by Alexis Alifragis (Perverend SlumberSlut), who previously worked with acts like Obduction, For A Dozen Matters, Goateatgod, characterizing in full the concept atmosphere the album has. Α lyric video has been created for the track “Samurai”, made by Manthos Stergiou of ManSter Designs, known for his work with artists like Sakis Tolis, Tardive Dyskinesia, On Thorns I Lay, Jinjer, Powerwolf among others.
The Concept Behind “Blood Omen”
The events take place in the Edo Era in 16th century of Japan. The characters involved, are the Shogun of the time (Tokugawa Ieyasu: He was a daimyo and later Shogun of feudal Japan), the legendary Hattori Hanzo (Shogun‘s right hand). Hattori Hanzo (also known as Hattori Masimanari, was also notorious samurai and ninja of the Sengoku Era, before the Edo Era and before Ieyasu became Shogun), known for rescuing Tokugawa Ieyasu and offering his help in becoming the leader of a united Japan (hence his right hand later) and two very powerful clans and already enemies at the time, but also masters of martial arts, Iga and Koga.
The Shogun, fearing the power of these two clans and wanting to keep his position protected and prevent a possible overthrow from the throne, announces with proclamation the start of duels between the two clans, under the pretext of the spectacle due to the legendary skills they possess in martial arts and to bring forth the truce between them.
Behind this, of course, the real reason and dark purpose is to weaken the two clans and then strike and eliminate them once and for all. So he calls the ten strongest warriors from each clan to duel (papyrus with names).
In the end, everyone dies except the leaders of the two clans, who realized the Shogun’s cunning plan and preferred to commit suicide (seppuku) rather than surrender to him.
The story is narrated by Hattori Hanzo, who was assigned by Shogun to secretly monitor the events.
So our Sinner finds himself at that moment in history, always searching for the existence of God, expecting to find it in the face of the Shogun. But as the events unfold, he is being frustrated by the rot and deceit he encounters and instead he continues his search…
Subfire is
George D Larentzakis / Guitars, Vocals
Rindra Rado / Bass
Veandok / Vocals
Elias K. / Drums