It’s been a couple of years since their last release, & the Greek sextet are back with their tenth album & first on Season of Mist. The album & current line-up are also different, so while vocalist Peter Miliadis, guitarist Christos Dragamestianos, keyboardist Antonis Ventouris & drummer Stelios Darakis remain, guitarist Filippos Koliopanos & bassist Giannis Koskinas have been replaced by Nikolas Paraskevopoulos & Kostas Mexis, respectively.
The album opens with a beautifully haunting intro before new vocalist Peter, who has replaced long time vocalist Stefanos, delivers his first deep growl as a roar over the slow doomy guitar melody, while guest artists Fanny Melfi, Labros Kiklis, Katerina Tzitzou, Irina Dimaki, Anna Thana also add their voices to “Fallen From Grace”, they have more of an operatic choral touch.
“Newborn Skies” is the shortest track on the album, & it could be because it feels like it’s going at twice the pace with a rapid kick drum keeping tempo for the rolling guitars, as the vocals flitter between growls, roars & rasps to complement the riff being played at that time.
The rather folky start to “Crestfallen” brings to mind images of satyrs & warm summer nights, then the distorted guitars come to the fore, & while the melodies remain, the harsher undercurrent is also prevalent. The additional guest artists Stavros Papagiannakopoulos & Aris Karatzas, along with their traditional ancient Greek instruments add to the mood perfectly, as does the epic lead solo.
Maintaining the lumbering pace with an additional despondence in the vocal delivery, “Among The Wolves” is as melancholic as it is beautiful. The long-drawn-out roars intertwine with the sustained guitar notes, and as the notes ring out faster so do the words, but as the pace slows again it becomes even more heartfelt.
Feeling far more vivacious is “Raise Empires”, where the vocal cadence is set by the drums, while the guitars weave their riffs gently to give the song a soft core under the sharper edges of the blasts & growls.
The final track, “Thorns Of Fire” is mid-paced with a heady full guitar sound over the steady drumming & growls before it mellows down to acoustic with traditional instruments being handled by Stavros Papagiannakopoulos & Ilias Mantikos which the vocals have no issue attempting to drown out near the end of the song before the piano wraps things up.
All-in-all a great album full of emotive pieces, all very well arranged & presented.
(8/10 Marco Gaminara)
Leave a Reply