Artist: Varvitos
Title: A Jester’s Ode To The Dead
Type: Album
Label: Digital / Dale Of Shadows
Originally released in March 2025, this album by Greek maestro Varvitos got a tape edition via fellow Greek legend Dale Of Shadows in November which is where I came across this. A tale from the lips of a jester is always a double edged thing; wit with insight, sometimes cruel, being their art. Speaking indirect truth to power. Every culture has had them in some form and their trade is precarious and essential. So what does this Ode To The Dead offer…?
‘In The Halls Of the Dying King’ gives us our first clue, the shading of the title opens up a huge, funereal sound. This is the sombre death of royal grandeur. The kettle drum sounds are ominous and slow, the synths surge up and around us to create a vast hall and even when quick dancing notes appear, harpsichord light, they cannot escape the wave of shadow. This is a court waiting for death, slow dancing their way through the memories of his reign. It is a huge sound evoking the grim reality even in these rich, imperious places. Peasant or King; death waits. Beautiful opening.
‘Dirge Of The Damned’ is as grandiose when it builds but there is no hint of a celebration of life. This is a deep, rich sound of the inescapable. The synths lay a grey, dusty sound where even the lighter touches of melody only amplify the approach of fate.
‘The Broken Crown’ is a short passage. Dark and menacing drum beats, horns demanding worship, the melody raising tension…so we approach ‘Where The Fool Was Buried’. A slow, sad flow of synths, a mournful sound. I somehow picture an overgrown, forgotten corner of some graveyard. Ivy gripping stone in a death, words fading and the memory of a life lived at the heart of history somehow fading. The music is beautifully evocative; thoughtful and emotional and full of the threads of the storyteller.
‘Hymns From The Overworld’ has such an epic feel to it. This sedate but powerful flow of the main theme surrounded by the ever present drums and the layers of synths. It feels somehow as though I am seeing things from afar – unreachable and untouchable. Maybe the dead Fool looking upawrds to a world they will never breath again brings the mournful quality? Who knows.
‘The Fools Lament’ is a delicate moment. A harp plays a bittersweet melody brought low by the sombre drums and deep backing synths. There is a real feel of old Arcana to this moment in particular but to the album as a whole also; the sound of dark ages, classicism and esotericism woven in a rich tapestry of velvet synth and the shadow of slow drum beats…. ‘Shadows Waiting In The Great Hall’ is where we are led. A final dance or a dusty wake? There is a strange feeling to the sadness here. Perhaps I am following the Jester too closely, but it as the tempo picks up there is a curious sense of welcome. Yes there is a subtle pervading air in the background synths of dark things, but perhaps this is where our fool has always ment to be? Maybe his life and words brought these shadows some feint memory of joy…? But it is almost like a welcome home for one of their own even if they did not know it.
‘Ballad For No One’ closes the tale. This is a beautiful coda. The synths weigh heavy and slow but the horn sounds crane their necks and offer a respectful celebration of memory itself. There are moments of light, passages of deep lament and quiet introspection. Maybe the name has faded but the feeling that someone who saw so much has slipped away from our history remains. A forgotten no one who mattered as much as any.
This is for me an album full of sadness and of memories. It made me muse on those who observe great moments of history and yet somehow their names are simply the dust that time ushers to the shadows. Varvitos offers moments of light, yes, but always there is a sense of the inevitable whsipering round the edges.
It is a fine, fine example of dungeon synth marinaded in the days of Cold Meat Industry neo-classical works and early Dead Can Dance. It conjures the world and the character with deft, graceful strokes and keeps you enthralled until the final fade. You won’t rgret taking this journey, not for one moment.
Gizmo
A Jester’s Ode To The Dead | Varvitos
LRDXN141 – Varvitos – A Jester’s Ode To The Dead | Varvitos | Dale Of Shadows
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