Epic power/thrash is a perfect description of what Greek band Desert Near The End have been doing for 14 years now, formed in 2010, Tides Of Time is their sixth studio album since forming and it continues with an run of boundary pushing heavy metal inspired by the US power metal scene with nods to Savatage, Warlord, Demons & Wizards and Nevermore but also UK bands such as Hell and Sabbat. Frantic thrashy riffs thrown at you with progressive shifts and run times as dramatic vocals "explore the rise and fall of cities, heroes, and kings, interweaving forgotten stories lost in time’s unrelenting tide."
It's heavy duty in its approach but never avoids using orchestral compositions to make it more grandiose. Maiden-like bass throbs are turned into frozen blasts of black metal trem picking as the Athens based band owe a lot to the band that recorded two live shows there in 1999 (I'll let you Google it) the darker tone of their music making the more extreme side prominent without sacrificing their power metal side. Greek epic/trad/power metal acts so often fall into the US Power sound and Desert Near The End are very near the top of the Hellenic pack.
Examples of this can be found on the fist clenching anthem Children Of Lethe which has acoustics throughout it they make a return on the last track In The North Of Every Man’s Heart too. There's a leaning to folky Blind Guardian-like metal on Half-Learned And Long Forgotten while the histrionic Damnation features guest vocals from Ruby Bouzioti to augment Alexandros' wide range and powerful delivery. Come into Desert Near The End's newest Dark Saga, Tides Of Time is their most diverse offering yet. 9/10
Sunlight - Son Of The Sun (Total Metal Records/Metal Scrap Records Inc.)
More impressive melodic power metal from Greece, it seems every week there's another band with banks of keyboards from Panos Anastopoulos, melodic guitars from Makis Kaponis and the powerful vocals of Mike Karasoulis the trouble, well not trouble, is that they are all very good. There is a glut of melodic power metal acts coming out of Helles and Sunlight are the latest.
Compared to the likes of Stratovarius and Sonata Arctica in the promo and when you listen to the finale Sunrise you can hear those epic Scandi sounds. Having been in production since 2016 it seems Sunlight is a shared Panos Anastopoulos and Makis Kaponis project, the keys and guitars playing a prominent role in the same way Tolkki and Johansson did on 1997's Visions.
Recorded by Fotis Benardo (Nightfall, Rotting Christ, On Thorns I Lay) and mastered by George Nerantzis (Pain Of Salvation, Nightrage, Dark Funeral), Sunlight borrow heavily from that classic 90's Scandinavian power metal sound, bright and breezy melodies set against speedy rhythms (Can't Let You Go), these influences are set from the rollicking opening Son Of Fire, while Thoughts Of Despair (Apognosis) gets heavier like the more recent offering from Strato and Sonata.
Makis and Panos trade off throughout, the brisk pace of tracks such as Forever Lost and the epic Mystery set by bassist Manos Karachalios and drummer Andreas Kalogeras. The song writing is brilliant, a must for fans of the melodic power sound, Mike's voice soars and has a romantic fragility to it as well, especially on the acoustic Secret Of Silence or the synthy rocker Echoes Of Hope.
Now seeing as I'm a Strato/Sonata fanboy I found a great amount of joy in this record, but even if you're not Son Of The Sun is brilliant debut melodic power metal from Sunlight. 9/10
Soulskinner - Glorified By The Light (Xtreem Music)
For 24 years Soulskinner have been bringing Hellenic brutality. On Glorified By The Light, their sixth album they show no signs of lightening up. I believe this is the first album where their former drummer Kostas Savvidis has taken lead vocals. Now I say vocals but they're really more growls as Soulskinner are inspired by Asphyx, Bolt Thrower and Fleshcrawl who have an album called Soulskinner.
Anyway I digress let's get to the album, Intro is just that, a piano driven beginning that segues into some ringing synths and Soulskinner are unleashed, counterpointed, escalating guitars and blastbeats galore. It's savage, heavy and brings blood soaked aggression as the riffs shift between blasts of ferocious speed to boot stomping grooves.
There's plenty of melody though be it the leads that are used throughout Glorified By The Light, while The Arrows Of My Desire has a Maiden gallop as To The Moon takes a leap into the psychedelic void in its middle eight. It's death metal that uses other genre styles well to keep it from being one note. Soulskinner continue their long run of great death metal. 8/10
Nomos - The Great Unknown (Iason Productions)
The Great Unknown is a debut concept album from Greek band Nomos, I couldn't find much information about the record but I know that's Nomos are a metal band founded in Athens in 2016 by Michael (lead guitar) and George (bass), they brought in guitarist Kostas, drummer Michael, keyboardist George and singer William who vocally sounds like a mix of Matt Barlow and Phil Anselmo.
It's good that he does so as Nomos favour a sound that puts US power metal alongside some groove metal and metalcore. Melodic but modern and heavy, be it Ghost Of Tomorrow which sounds like Brits Intense, the first three tracks are great US power metal tracks but from Last Call they sort of shift to a keyboard driven version of Pantera/Exhorder, the vocals on Worms and Wise Man get much deeper and growled, the songs having that choppy Dimebag style riffs.
The whole middle section of the album adopts the Pantera/Exhorder groove metal stance before the final track brings back the US power metal style of the beginning, I assume their is a creative reason for this within the concept and while it's not too jarring it take me by surprise. Still both sides of Nomos' musical vision work well on their debut. 8/10
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