GROTESCO KARMA will release their second album, “Metanoia”, on 26 March 2027 through The Circle Music. The Athens-based occult symphonic metal band announced the record on 2 November alongside “Theatrical God”, its first single and an official performance lyric video. Pre-orders are open through the label.
The album follows “Devil’s Menuet”, released in early 2025, and is the band’s first release since signing with The Circle Music. “Metanoia” will feature orchestral parts performed by the Violione String Orchestra and will explore repentance, spiritual corruption and transformation.
A ceremony becomes a trial
GROTESCO KARMA frame “Theatrical God” as a confrontation between a believer and a deity who creates human weakness, permits temptation and then condemns humanity for falling. The song’s theatre imagery presents the god as playwright, director and judge, while guilt and punishment become parts of an imposed performance.
The lyric video was made by Nikitas Mandolas, who also plays drums, wrote the lyrics and sings backing vocals. George Constantine Kratsas plays guitar, arranges the orchestration and mixed and mastered the track. The Violione String Orchestra recorded the orchestral parts with Pavlos Elinas conducting, Ioannis Zarias as artistic director and Fotis Sakalis engineering.
We wanted “Theatrical God” to feel like a grand ceremony slowly revealing itself as a trial, where humanity is condemned for a fall it never chose. The orchestra becomes part of that drama, binding faith, guilt and transformation into the world of Metanoia. As our first release with The Circle Music, we’re proud to begin working together.
- Grotesco Karma
Ten tracks, one CD bonus
GROTESCO KARMA have set the album’s track list at ten songs: “Mnesthete”, “Anosiourgema”, “Theatrical God”, “Gesthemane”, “Testament Of The Serpent”, “Apparatus Of Delirium”, “Ikesia”, “Gospel Of The Wound”, “Metanoia” and “Oratorio Grottesco”, which will appear as a CD bonus track.
The new record expands the band’s combination of grand orchestration, extreme metal, avant-garde composition and ritual atmosphere. The current line-up is Maya on lead vocals, George Constantine Kratsas on guitars and orchestration, and Nikitas Mandolas on drums, lyrics and backing vocals.
Maya leads the ritual
Maya is Grotesco Karma’s lead vocalist and fronts the band’s current recording line-up. Her vocals appear at the centre of “Theatrical God”, a song built around religious imagery, accusation and rejection of imposed faith. She performs alongside George Constantine Kratsas and Nikitas Mandolas, whose instrumental and orchestral work shapes the track’s theatrical setting.
GROTESCO KARMA formed in Athens and had already built an international live profile before the album announcement. The band released “Devil’s Menuet” in 2025, toured Europe with Imperial Age, headlined a Balkan tour and played in Turkey and Dubai, where they appeared alongside Rotting Christ. Their 2026 Latin American headline run is part of the activity leading into the “Metanoia” era.
The album will arrive on 26 March 2027 via The Circle Music.
