One of the year’s most unlikely critical successes.
You probably don’t expect one of the year’s most acclaimed experimental albums to come from a Greek Orthodox priest.
You definitely don’t expect it to feature doom metal, religious dubstep, Christmas carols and a €135 electric guitar.
Yet that’s exactly what Father Dionysios Tabakis has pulled off with Paradise Metal, the home-recorded album that’s become one of 2026’s most surprising critical success stories.
The record recently earned a 7.6 from Pitchfork…
Not bad for someone who spends most of his time leading church services.
“The guitar was made by God,” he said. “The devil cannot create something. God has created all.”
It’s a philosophy that challenges centuries of Orthodox tradition.
Within the Greek Orthodox Church, instruments, particularly electric guitars, have often been viewed as worldly distractions, if not outright sinful.
“The electric guitar is a bit misunderstood in the church,” Tabakis admitted. “It’s thought to be of the devil.”
He’s hoping to change that perception one riff at a time.
The album refuses to sit comfortably inside any one genre.
Heavy doom metal collides with Orthodox-inspired hymns, electronic textures and even dubstep, while one song bears the wonderfully bizarre title ‘You’re Flexing Big Time (Church Rap)’.
Against all odds, it works.
Away from the unexpected fame, Tabakis remains deeply committed to his life as a priest.
Married for 32 years with three children, he makes regular pilgrimages to Mount Athos, one of Orthodox Christianity’s holiest monastic communities, and speaks admiringly of ascetic priests who devoted their lives entirely to faith.
He even describes their work as more important than his own.
“My talents are showier,” he said modestly.
That’s probably true.
Not many priests can say they’ve made one of the year’s most talked-about underground records–or convinced music critics that doom metal and devotion might not be as far apart as they seem.
