Passengers In Panic, streamline with album number two, embarking on a less progressive path over all but maintaining their unique mix of grooving heavy metal driven by the rhythm section of bassist Lefteris Christou (ex-Womb Of Maggots, ex-Inactive Messiah) and drummer Phoibos Andriopoulos (Clairvoyant, Sad Dolls) and traditional folk music.
Both Lefteris and Phoibos have bags of experience in the heavy metal fringes of extreme/power/gothic metal and so they channel these skills to create a style that bit more mainstream with influences of modern and classic metal combining with their use of traditional folk instruments such as a Macedonian gajda (bagpipe), the kaval (flute), the laouto (similar to an oud), the violin and the daouli (drum).
It steers them more towards the direction of acts such as Orphaned Land and the Scandinavian folk metal scene. But this is Greek folk music, something which has life of its own evolving from Ancient Greek, Balkan and Byzantine traditions, giving Passengers In Panic a similar approach as the lauded, Villagers Of Ioannina City. They even cover a Greek folk song, Kaixi, on this album to further their hybrid sound.
Along with the rhythm section I mentioned earlier Passengers In Panic are rounded out by the storming riffs and harmonic melodies of guitarist Lela Argyri and the soaring emotive voice of Ioanna Galani. As a four piece they play socially conscious music, inspired by violence, injustice and relationships and how we all navigate through these, the vocals from Ioanna are not typically what you'd expect but they're passionate and carry the folkisms well.
Amnesia embellishes the Passengers In Panic sound with vocals and narration from Yiannis Tsortekis of the Netflix series Maestro while How To Breathe features orchestration from Christos Antoniou of Septicflesh. How To Breathe takes us into modern mainstream metal doing away with the majority of the other instruments for one song as we go into something similar to the likes of Evanescence while Siren's Call ups the riff quota.
Now right at the beginning of the album I said they were doing away with the prog but 23:21 definitely has a proggy time signature to it but Echoes Of Death hits it's stride with a Maiden-like gallop, those Maiden style returns on the title track as well. Erase Me leans heavily on the pipes as Mother's Lament continues with the pipes alongside the Maiden grooves.
Passengers In Panic return with an album that focuses on their uniqueness, combining classic metal grooves with traditional arrangements, its a very strong sophomore release. 8/10
Still Dusk - Chronicles Of Dystopia (Rock Company Records)
Still Dusk are an alternative metal band from Athens, Greece, formed in 2018, Chronicles Of Dystopia is their debut full length after their released and EP in 2023. That was lauded and it seems as if Chronicles Of Dystopia will receive similar high praise for it's hard hitting down-tuned riffs and gutsy vocals. The band members all have different musical backgrounds and they merge it all into Still Dusk, be it the symphonic gothic flavour of Black Water, the pop punk moves of Disobedience or the 80's balladry of Midnight Run, there's a real breadth to their 'alt metal' tag.
With bands such as Skunk Anansie, SOAD, Halestorm and the grunge style of AIC and more all visited by Still Dusk. They craft songs with a lot of power to them, the musical backing of guitarist Yannis Kemenidis, bassist Constantine Stavrou and drummer Yannis Tarasis, brings thick grooves to the likes of Eigengrau, however they can roll it back to more melodic moments as well. Konstantina Damianidou's vocals are passionate carrying the culturally/socially conscious lyrics and big chorus hooks these songs have, with her own style that sneers on Insidious as the album closes with the funky but chunky Sugar.
Chronicles Of Dystopia is a big metal record from Still Dusk, nine impressive alt metal tracks with some guts. 7/10
Manos Six & The Muddy Devil – When Skies Are Grey EP (FYC Records)
Americana from Greece, Manos Six & The Muddy Devil come from the shadows with some Death-Country inspired by Tom Waits, Nick Cave and Oldboy with the dark heart of bands such as Crippled Black Phoenix. Comprised of Manos Six (vocals/banjo) and Stamos Abatis on acoustic bass, they play with the stripped back ethos of black metal.
They are joined by Jan Westermann (drums/percussion), Elena Malamou (six string banjo) and Gina Selini (keyboards/noise), this EP has a fuller sound than their previous album. Named for the traditional song You Are My Sunshine (copyrighted by Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell), they flip it back to it’s introspective roots by a slight renaming of When Skies Are Grey when they play their version as track too, a simplistic arrangement of whispered, fractured vocals and banjos it’s haunting, as it builds into some fizzy electric guitars (from George Emmanuel) but the whole record is supposed to be haunting and ominous.
Drawn from the mysticism and storytelling of the American South, the music of Manos Six & The Muddy Devil has a dark, pagan heart to it. At odds with many of the artists associated with country and Americana, they make sure to leave the doors of their chapel open to let the devil in. Whether it’s the bluegrass shuffle of I’m Not Gonna Turn My Back On The Devil, that shifts into black metal, the guitars of Dimitris Kouzis ferocious as the American traditional music takes a more metallic turn. When Skies Are Grey is more forays into the belly of the American South through the minds of Atheist Greeks. 8/10
Qualia And The Five Ancestors Of The Great Maryland Kingdom - Accidentally Funding The End Of The World (Thousand Islands Records)
Their new album "digs into PFAS, BPAs, PCBs, microplastics, and the toxic legacy we keep burying ourselves in." It's ultimately though about how humans navigate these things and how we should try to improve the way we use them before they bury us all.
A punk rock ideology if there ever was one but this is punk Jim but not as we know it. Accidentally Funding The End Of The World is a very proggy record taking influence from prog (Styrofoam) skate/crossover punk (The Middle), mathcore (Eat The Stars) and simple pop punk (The Conversationist), they throw a lot more than just four on the floor chords with this second album.
The Devil's Garage, sounds like Yes with the fluid guitars, while Stockholm Syndrome Flavoured Cake reminds me of Weezer, Legacy Of Contaminants meanwhile is a 6 minute piece of They Might Be Giants goes hardcore punk, the synths oscillate on Deficit and Rounding. You'd think Qualia were from the USA on how slick this record is, especially the vocals. An impressive record from not your average punk band. 8/10
Compared to Protest The Hero, This Is A Standoff and Bad Religion, there's plenty of comparisons that can be made on this new album from Athenian progressive punks Qualia And The Five Ancestors Of The Great Maryland Kingdom, who I'll refer to just Qualia for the purpose of this review.
Their new album "digs into PFAS, BPAs, PCBs, microplastics, and the toxic legacy we keep burying ourselves in." It's ultimately though about how humans navigate these things and how we should try to improve the way we use them before they bury us all.
A punk rock ideology if there ever was one but this is punk Jim but not as we know it. Accidentally Funding The End Of The World is a very proggy record taking influence from prog (Styrofoam) skate/crossover punk (The Middle), mathcore (Eat The Stars) and simple pop punk (The Conversationist), they throw a lot more than just four on the floor chords with this second album.
The Devil's Garage, sounds like Yes with the fluid guitars, while Stockholm Syndrome Flavoured Cake reminds me of Weezer, Legacy Of Contaminants meanwhile is a 6 minute piece of They Might Be Giants goes hardcore punk, the synths oscillate on Deficit and Rounding. You'd think Qualia were from the USA on how slick this record is, especially the vocals. An impressive record from not your average punk band. 8/10
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