Astarte

Black Metal - Greece

Greek band Astarte first formed under the name Lloth in September 1995 at Elefsina, Attica. The original line-up included Maria Kolokouri (bass, guitar, keyboards), a.k.a. Tristessa (who subsequently took over on lead vocals), Nemesis (guitar), and Kinthia (vocals, guitar). They had Psychoslaughter, the drummer from Greek band Invocation, play for the sessions on their demo, “Dancing in the Dark Lakes of Evil”, released as Lloth in 1997. Shortly thereafter they adopted the name Astarte, named after the Semitic goddess of sexuality. Their debut full-length album, “Doomed Dark Years”, appeared in 1998 on Black Lotus Records and two further LPs followed on the label. After line-up changes in which Nemesis and Kinthia left to be replaced by Katharsis (keyboards) and Hybris (guitar), they released their fourth and fifth albums on Avantgarde Music, the most recent of which, “Demonized”, was released in North America by Season of Mist.