Reviews: Shewolf, Once Upon A Winter, People Of The Black Circle, Amphipolis (Reviews By Matt Bladen)

Shewolf - Shewolf (Frontiers Music Srl)

Newly minted band Shewolf have been signed to Frontiers Music, possibly on the back of talented Greek vocalist Angel Wolf Black who South Wales readers will remember as the final singer of Triaxis, but she has also worked in a number of bands including Vivaldi Metal Project. Shewolf has Angel once again displaying her versatile, melodic singing style in a symphonic/power metal setting. Flanked by her pack; The Hunter (guitar), The Predator (bass) and The Alpha (drums), this debut record bursts out of your speakers with a style that feels like Nightwish, Sonata Arctica and Temperance, basically that upbeat, symphonic metal sound that brings in the galloping blasts of power metal and the folk metal flourishes too, the flutes on Lone Wolf. 

Produced by the deft hand of Michele Guaitoli (Temperance, Visions Of Atlantis) and Marco Pastorino (Temperance, Even Flow), it's big, bright and bombastic in its approach, letting Angel's vocals shine brilliantly, while keeping the melody and metallic bite of the band also. With the band all going under pseudonyms, Angle herself is The Shaman, the enlightened force that brings together the gathering pack, paying tribute to Selene (Greek Goddess of the Moon) with this self titled debut. Now readers will know that symphonic metal has to have 'it' for me to be interested and Shewolf definitely have that 'it' factor, rarely too saccharine, there is a great balance between the emotion and melody. 

Moonbound is a great place to start if you want to feel of what Shewolf sound like as a band, great vocals, pacy riffs and orchestrations galore, it's symphonic metal in its most appealing guise. However there is plenty to love on this album Safe In The Dark is the most operatic song, Nothing Is Forever the albums most potent ballad, The One You Feed Shewolf at their folkiest. A superior symphonic/power metal record, if this is the debut, then I can only think where they go from here. Come and join Shewolf's pack. 8/10     

Once Upon A Winter - Void Moments Of Inertia (Self Released)

The only words you'll find on this fourth album from post-rock band Once Upon A Winter is at the beginning where a voice says "Loneliness is the suffering of our time. Even if we’re surrounded by others, we can feel very alone" this idea of loneliness is what this Thessaloniki five piece are delving into on Void Moments Of Inertia. Consisting of Ilias Kakanis (guitar, vocal & synth), Angelos Athanasiadis (guitar), Fotis Sitaras (bass), Nick Taras (piano/sax) and Konstantinos Alex Noulas (drums), their sound is full of widescreen post-rock delicately balancing waves of thundering heaviness with dreamy atmospherics and emotional melodies. 

Touches of Mono are mixed with Cult Of Luna, Alcest and also Pink Floyd as there is an amalgamation of influences as the folk flourishes on Anthos segue into some brilliant lead guitar led modern prog. Then there's a song such as Elegant Demise which once again features black metal tremolo picking set against a violin for a duality that is both unique and interesting to hear. Instrumental music can often be a bit 2 dimensional but Once Upon A Winter are a band that keep you on the edge of your attention by changing pace, tone, style sometimes within a few minutes of each other.

_ether is delicate but evolves into one of the most emotive songs on the record full of dramatic rhythms and lots of sax, though the award for best song goes to the title track, a piano/synth, single guitar opening, cascades into blistering flashes, then changing tact into something else entirely as it gets towards it's climax. Void Moments Of Inertia is a post-rock record that has a wide range of sounds contained within it, a excellent listen for anyone after instrumental mastery. 7/10       

People Of The Black Circle - People Of The Black Circle (Self Released)

Evoking bands such as Spectral Voice, Hexer, Ufomammut, Ruby The Hatchet and MWWB, People Of The Black Circle are a cosmic doom band from Athen Greece and the nature of the record is slow moving, low slung riffage with intergalactic synths to take you into more spacial realms. The six songs here all take their time to unfold, building up from auspicious beginnings to the heavier passages across 6, 7 minute run times. Cimmeria shows this best, the ode to everyone's favourite Barbarian (though also the people of modern day Crimea who were driven out of the region by the Russians - sound familiar?) is the moodiest track here, understated and dramatic it shifts into The Ghoul And The Seraph (Ghoul's Song II) which is a reminder of how Ghost used to sound. 

People Of The Black Circle certainly know atmosphere, however they do suffer a little from being a little lighter than I expected, the heaviness really needs to be turned up for it to have bit more power, with the bands I mentioned earlier in the review you can feel them as well as hear them and People Of The Black Circle could do with trying the same, Ghosts In Agartha especially would benefit from an increase in noise, the long, lazy riff reverbing through your ear drums. Still People Of The Black Circle have given themselves a template to work on with this self titled record, immersed in mystique and cosmic vibes it's a decent listen. 6/10  

Amphipolis - Strange People (Self Released)

More retroness from Greece, this time with one-person 'band' Amphipolis. Based in Athens and influenced by 70's & 80's rock, Strange People is basically a lost Scorpions record, with a bit of Yes and British prog thrown in as well. The production is really D.I.Y, attempting to be analoge but sounding really amateurish, the only thing really audible are the Klaus Meine style vocals. The rest is a quite processed debut record that feels like a one man band affair, simplistic songs that have a more 'experimental' nature, coming from the prog influences, though they still just feel a bit basic. By the middle of the record I was struggling with this album, I know it's a debut and the one-person thing is admirable but the music itself is a bit of pale imitation of the bands they are trying emulate. 5/10