Due to the difficult political climate under the military dictatorship and a lack of technical resources, Vangelis Papathanassiou, a musician who was popular in Greece, left his homeland and moved to Paris. There, in 1968, he founded the progressive rock band Aphrodite’s Child with bassist and singer Demis Roussos, drummer and singer Lucas Sideras as well as guitarist Silver Koulouris. He himself played keyboards, flute, percussion and vibraphone and composed most of the tracks. Following two previous LPs, which achieved considerable chart success in Europe, the quartet released this fascinating masterpiece in 1972, which differed radically from the group’s previous sound.

The recordings were made in 1970–1971 at the Europa Sonor Studio in Paris with the support of various guest musicians. The result is a constantly surprising fusion of every conceivable musical style, ranging from prog rock, folk, psychedelic, free jazz, pop and musique concrète, enriched with echoes of raga and Middle Eastern folklore. As with Akritas, the Greek lyrics were written by Costas Ferris. The concept album 666, released as a double LP, is based on the story of the Apocalypse as described in the Book of Revelation. Musically far ahead of its time, the work failed to achieve any commercial success, leading the band to disband shortly thereafter. Original British Vertigo pressings of this legendary progressive concept album are highly sought-after worldwide and extremely rare these days.