Tasos Danazoglou

Tasos Danazoglou
Background information
Birth Name	Anastasios Danazoglou
Alias	Tas
Born	1971, Athens, Greece
Occupation	Tattoo Artist, Musician
Genres	Doom Metal, Epic Doom Metal, Death Metal, Black Metal, Thrash Metal, Occult Rock, Heavy Metal
Instrument(s)	Bass, Drums, Vocals
Years active	1987 - Present
Labels	Rise Above Records, Metal Blade Records, Hell's Headbangers Records
Associated acts	Great Coven, Eight Hands For Kali, Sabbah Navahthani, Electric Wizard, Friends of Hell, Satan's Wrath, Mirror, Diavolos, New Jack, Πορφυρία

Tasos Danazoglou (Often best known simply as Tas) is a musician and tattoo artist from Greece. Though performing with several bands in his early years he is best known as a one-time bassist for Electric Wizard and his vocal duties in black metal bands such as Satan's Wrath and Diavolos.

Appearance-wise he is noted for his tattoos on his face, a reflection of his tattoo career in which he has been active with since the 1990s. Tasos' artwork has also been used for Fear Candy magazine and he has participated in several tattoo conventions throughout Greece and Cyprus in his career.

Since performing with his first known band back in 1987, Tas' work as either a drummer, bassist or vocalist has appeared several albums, most notably the critically acclaimed 2010 Electric Wizard album Black Masses.

Biography

Early Bands (1987 - 2008)

Danazoglou's musical roots would lie in hardcore and punk, beginning with the Athens, Greece hardcore band Πορφυρία from 1987 - 1991 along with the hardcore band New Jack from 1994 - 1997.

In the late 1990s Tas would re-locate to Spain, forming the Epic Doom Metal band Great Coven, who released a single album in Viaticum in 2004. Feeling they could not make a better doom album Great Coven would split up with three of it's four members (Tas, Jondix and Keryen) forming Eight Hands For Kali, working in collaboration with Argentinian vocalist José Luis Armetta (Los Natas, Solodolor, Dragonauta, etc.). The band would release an EP in Mount Meru and an album comprised of a single 55-minute song in Himalayan Necromantia before disbanding. Tas would then move to Cyprus to perform in the sludge/thrash band Sabbah Navahthani, whom released a single album in 2007.

Electric Wizard (2008 - 2012)

With intents on moving to the United Kingdom with his current band at the time, Tas would move there though he would end up joining Electric Wizard, replacing Rob Al-Issa. His first live performance with the band would be at the Hole in The Sky Festival in Bergen, Norway on 27 August 2008. Following appearances at festivals such as Hellfest and touring with Blood Ceremony Electric Wizard would record with Liam Watson at Toerag Studios, Hackney, London, May-Aug 2010.

Black Masses would see release on 1 November 2010, proving to be one of the most successful albums of the band's career in terms of critical acclaim and charting. Following a short tour with Moss, Electric Wizard would tour Europe in support in 2011, with Tas quitting the band by the end of the year. Tas would refer to his tenure with Electric Wizard as "wasted constantly" and "just a mess".

Satan's Wrath (2011 - Present)

After quitting Electric Wizard, Danazoglou would form Satan's Wrath, a black metal band heavily inspired by the likes of Venom, Slayer, Possessed, Hellhammer and Bathory. The band is listed from Athens, Greece despite Tas having not lived there for over 20 years. Tas would record an album's worth of material (drums, bass and vocals in order) all in one take while working with guitarist Stamos K handling the guitars along with guests in Jondix (Great Coven, Eight Hands For Kali), Henrik Palm (Ghost, In Solitude) and Janne Christoffersson (Grand Magus, Spiritual Beggars).

Satan's Wrath would release their debut album Galloping Blasphemy via Metal Blade Records on 21 September 2012 to positive reviews from the likes of Louder Sound, Angry Metal Guy, Scene Point Blank and Valkyrian Music to name a few. Attaining a full band the now quintet would record a follow-up at 210 Studios in Berlin and Bowerman Studios in London. Aeons of Satan's Reign would see release on 8 November 2013 to further critical acclaim.

While talk of shows and festival appearances were in the works, Satan's Wrath essentially functioned as a studio-only band. Satan's Wrath would release a third album in Die Evil on 1 May 2015, with Tas returning to drums and bass along with Stamos K and second guitarist Vangelis Labrakis. Die Evil would attain generally positive reviews.

Mirror (2015 - Present)

In 2015 Tas would found another band with guitarist Stamos K, guitarist Matt Olivo, drummer Jaime Gomez Arellano, and vocalist Jimmy Mavromatis to form Mirror, a heavy metal band that would draw from classic metal such as Judas Priest, Scorpions and Diamond Head. Working with Metal Blade Records the quintet would release the eponymous Mirror on 13 November 2015 and performing a string of shows in the United Kingdeom with Repulsion.

The band would perform more often than with Tas' other projects though the lineup would change by 2017 with more musicians based out of Cyprus (Daniel Georgiou, Nikolas "Sprits" Moutafis and Constantinos C. Blynd). With this lineup the band would release a follow-up album in Pyramid of Terror on 28 June 2019.

Diavolos (2015 - Present)

Tas would form the blackened thrash metal band Diavolos in 2015 with the likes of Taneli Jarva (Chaosbreed, Impaled Nazarene), K. Savvi (Soulskinner, Anaëmia), Bill El (Soulskinner, Principality of Hell, Rotting Christ) and Nik Angelopoulos (Heavier Than God). This quintet, with Tas handling lead vocals, would release their only album You Lived Now Die via Hell's Headbangers Records on 11 December 2015 to praise from the likes of Metal Observer and Invisible Oranges.

Friends of Hell (2021 - Present)

On 18 November 2021 Rise Above Records would announce a new signing in Friends of Hell, a collaborative doom metal project featuring Danazoglou, along with Albert Witchfinder (Reverend Bizarre, Spiritus Mortis, etc.) on vocals, along with guitarist Jondix and bassist Taneli Jarva. Their eponymous debut album is set for release on 18 March 2022.

Bands

• Πορφυρία - Bass (1987 - 1991)
• New Jack - Lead Vocals (1994 - 1997)
• Great Coven - Drums (2002 - 2004)
• Eight Hands For Kali - Drums (2003 - 2006)
• Sabbah Navahthani - Bass, Vocals (2006 - 2008)
• Electric Wizard - Bass (2008 - 2012)
• Satan's Wrath - Drums, Bass, Vocals (2011 - Present)
• Mirror - Bass (2015 - Present)
• Diavolos - Vocals (2015 - Present)
• Friends of Hell - Drums (2021 - Present)

Selected Discography

• New Jack - Demo (July 1994)
• New Jack - Explicit Lyrics (March 1996)
• Great Coven - Viaticum (Studio Album) (2004, Self-Released)
• Eight Hands For Kali - Mount Meru (EP) (2005, Pariah Child)
• Eight Hands For Kali - Himalayan Necromantia (Studio Album) (2007, Pariah Child)
• Sabbah Navahthani - Sabbah Navahthani (Studio Album) (2007, Necroterror Records)
• Electric Wizard - Black Masses (Studio Album) (2010, Rise Above Records)
• Satan's Wrath - Galloping Blasphemy (Studio Album) (2012, Metal Blade Records)
• Satan's Wrath - Aeons of Satan's Reign (Studio Album) (2013, Metal Blade Records)
• Mirror - Mirror (Studio Album) (2015, Metal Blade Records)
• Diavolos - You Lived Now Die (Studio Album) (2015, Hell's Headbangers Records)
• Mirror - Pyramid of Terror (Studio Album) (2019, Bad Omen Records)
• Friends of Hell - Friends of Hell (Studio Album) (2022, Rise Above Records)

External Links

• Slaves of The Inverted Cross
• Interview via The Midlands Rocks
• Diavolos on Facebook
• Diavolos on Bandcamp