Reviews: Wardrum, ΛΔΛΜ, Night Resident, Sonic Blast (Reviews By Matt Bladen)

Wardrum - Mavericks (Steel Gallery Records)

Wardrum are one of Greece's premier power metal acts. To most non-fans they are the band that featured Beast In Black frontman Yannis Papadopoulos, before he joined that BIB. However they now have George Margaritopoulos behind the mike and his pipes remind me a lot more of Hansi Kursch and Russell Allen, listen to Silver Of Eternity to get that Symphony X sound proper. Mavericks is the Thessaloniki band's first album with George behind on vocals and he has infused this album with a new focus carrying the lyrical power of this conceptual record. Yep in true Blind Guardian style this is concept record based on the "Mavericks - The Story Of The Messenger" a novella written by band leader/drummer Stergios Kourou. It fits in well with the band's rampaging power/prog metal style for tracks like Μαύρο (Ulreh’s Song). 

Stergios and Strutter Bass (bass) giving it the full power gallop on Μαύρο (Ulreh’s Song) but also on No One Believes. The guitar duo of J. Demian and Kosta Vreto display flair and technicality throughout, be it on the anthemic Promised Land or the more stripped back No One Believes where the folk sounds move in. The production is handled by the band making the record sound very big, sound-wise letting it breathe in the same way as Symphony X do with bombast fused with virtuosity. Sands Of Time is the most theatrical song on the album full of Middle Eastern influence, that takes things into more progressive realms again re-establishing those prog/power credentials. Mavericks can be seen as something of a rebirth for Wardrum. This concept record based upon their album cover mascot sees them embrace their 10 years of making music with the most ambitious record they have made. Let's hope this is a new beginning that leads to at least another 10 years of stirring Wardrum music. 8/10   

ΛΔΛΜ - Sun (Venerate Industries) 

This is a bit of musical exploration I really enjoy. Athenian five-piece ΛΔΛΜ (Adam), play an esoteric, atmospheric, psychedelic style of music that's a melting pot of grooving stoner, dirty grunge, shimmering post-rock and traditional music all brought together in a potpourri of musical goodness. Sun is a concept record about the celestial body itself, dealing with fatal hope that even though it brings so much good, it will at one point come to an end taking us all down with it. The three song suite Monolith is the climax of the unnamed protagonist returning to earth and reality from another plane of consciousness which is why ...And Then There Was Light is such an ethereal sounding record with an echoed sound and the hints to the broad scope later on. 

There's a mixture of Alice In Chains Never Say Never) and Soundgarden psychy/grunge, the desert rock leanings of Kyuss and then later on crushing riffage from bands like Monolord or Windhand. What makes Sun sound different is that they of course have that cavernous rhythm section and serpentine riffage that so often change between dual harmonies, thunderous heaviness and even lighter fluid melodies. But ΛΔΛΜ also bring keys and slide guitar to the record to flesh out their widescreen musical identity. I was listening to Sun in my garden with a beer in hand and I must say this is probably the ideal way to indulge in it. You can totally lose yourself in Sun, a psychedelic journey with soaring highs and crushing lows. 8/10    

Night Resident - Darkness Is My Home (Endless Grey Records)

If you ever wondered what Ghost would sound like if it was three dudes from Greece, then Night Resident will sate your curiosity. Bass player/vocalist/producer John Tsiakopoulos leads the band from the front with vocals that are very similar to those of a certain Tobias Forge while his bass playing brings the guys to the bands doomy, gothic hard rock. So yes they do sound a lot like Ghost but early Ghost before they added the 80's electro-pop. Darkness Is My Home is a record with a much broader scope than their previous efforts, lodged into the doom rock base (title track) is jaunts into some NWOBHM (Little Emperor Nothing), some proggier touches and strong vein of hard rock. 

Into Her Eyes is the closest song to that of Ghost with a driving riff and those spectral vocals. Though to be honest that can be said of most of this album from the chanting Stardust through the more atmospheric In The Mountains Of Sorrow all maintain a strong melodic edge. If you enjoy the music of BOC, Uncle Acid or of course Ghost, without the visual gimmicks then let darkness become your home and shift into the twilight realm of Night Resident. 7/10

Sonic Blast - Humanity Divided (Boersma Records)

After listening to this album for the first time, I immediately messaged Fury frontman Julian Jenkins to let him know about the album. It was mainly to gauge how he was going to gage the incredible similarities between this Kozani, Greece based band and the Worcester/Birmingham road warriors. I'm still not sure if he was flattered or called his solicitor, as Sonic Blast have a sound that is a dead ringer for Fury. Now as anyone who knows me will attest, I love Fury, so it stands to reason that I'll like this record. However I feel that in few places they let themselves down a little. I'll get to that in a bit but first a little background on the band, formed in 2015 by Nick Dedes (guitar) and Dimitris Gkatziaris (guitar/bass) they added Thimios P. (drums), Nick Vogiatzis (keyboards) and Dimitris Vachtsevanos (vocals) and set about recording their debut album Humanity Divided. 

It's a record that clearly takes its influences from Maiden with the bass playing taking the lead, the Steve Harris sound very prevalent across the whole album, as well as very high in the mix. The keys too are used as another melodic tool along with the twin leads but due to the mix of the record, they don't really stand out that much because of the heavy bass overwhelming everything. So that is one of the problems of this album, the second is Vachtsevanos' vocals which are similar to JJ of Fury but, unfortunately not as good, often finding him reaching for notes he can't quite hit such as on Queen Isis. They also tend to stay in the mid-pace a bit too much. Humanity Divided is a decent enough album for classic metal fans, but despite being very similar to Fury, it's not in their league. 6/10