Review: Mother Of Millions, Paranoid Reverb, Edouarth, The Mute (Matt Bladen)

Mother Of Millions - T (ViciSolum Productions)

Over the years we've charted the continuing musical evolution of Greek prog band Mother Of Millions.

From their modern prog metal/Djent beginnings, like so many that came from that genre they now reside at a place that still has moments of crushing modern heaviness but these are now part of a larger musical cityscape where the likes of Soen, Riverside, Katatonia and more have ventured.

Blending experimental structures with emotionally charged performances and a layered depth that draws in strings, synths and a cinematic feeling. There's touches of Vola on The Innocent, Floyd on The Circle, Soen on The One and the spectre of Muse is a large one but it's difficult to pick out individual tracks on this record, better to heard as a complete whole because Mother Of Millions have evolved again since 2023's Magna Mater.

While Magna Mater ignited the change towards the anthemic and melancholic style that is favoured more highly now, T defines it by restructuring again for crushing riffage and progressive rhythms that feature on the industrial majesty of The Sun, while the tracks that have haunting female vocals and ambience realise the tension in the heavy moments through beauty.

The world is a harsher place, endless war, oppression and corruption have all pushed the band to bring back their heavier side with a sense of resilience, a feeling that with these songs they won't crumble under the weight of life, but fight, scratch claw and eventually win, it's a message of hope, more balanced than the last record but heavier in it's overall sound and it's emotional weight. 9/10

Paranoid Reverb - Red River, Black Roots (Octopus Rising)

The Greek stoner scene is extremely fertile, there just something about the Greeks and a love of heavy riffs, psychadelic wanderings all played through a cloud of smoke.

From Thessaloniki comes the second album by psychadelic stones Paranoid Reverb, who have inhaled too much of the herb, picked up their guitars and written another record of woozy heavy psych that takes inspiration from Nightstalker and 1000mods.

They shift from hypnotic journeys like Come Undone to metallic rhythms on Quicksand, building on their debut, Billion Drops with an all round heavier and more mature outing, focussing on the themes of decay (river) and transformation (roots) by building tension and then releasing it in a burst of massive riffage or fluid leads.

Approaching the album like they did their live set, it ebbs and flows like a river, recording it as live as they can so it's easy to replicate on stage, keeping it sounding organic but keeping complexity that doesn't require overdubs or studio trickery.

Just a band who knows how to work with dynamics, utilising pedalboards and effects they can use on stage, to take you on this journey through psychadelic sounds driven by some heavy stoner riffage. Red River, Black Roots holds strong inspiration from the Greek stoner scene and carried that into a strong second album from Paranoid Reverb. 8/10

Edouarth - Street Vengeance (Sleaszy Rider Records)

The second album from Greek NWOTHM Edouarth is a lot more mature than their debut but that's probably because there's a lot more experience from two of the members involved.

Fronted by James Edouarth of Spider Kickers on vocals and bass, the band also features his sons, 14 year old George (drums) and 12 year old Peter (guitars), who have been putting in the practice between this and their debut record 2 years ago.

Street Vengeance has more variation too it, the guitars especially are more varied than on the debut, while the drumming gets a bit more expressive as well. As this is music that apes the NWOBHM sound favoured by Holocaust, Angel Witch, Venom and the nastier side of that scene, there doesn't need to be much virtuosity, just galloping riffs.

However there's plenty of talent in these kids that will mean the band get more technical with every record, keep an ear open for Edouarth. 7/10

The Mute - Oscillating The Void (FYC Records)

FYC Records have always given a very varied output, from DBSM to outlaw country, torchlight death ballads and now with the signing of The Mute, electronic ambience.

The Mute is the musical project of Nick Chalntoupis, a composer, sound designer, live sound engineer and mix/masterer who last released his own music five years ago but now signing to FYC Records has found a home for his latest offering Oscillating The Void.

Oscillation being the keyword as this record is built around modular synth, analogue modular synth, at that and as such is inspired by the likes of Tangerine Dream, Vangelis (obviously) and Isao Tomita as Nick draws from Japanese scales to create soundscapes that flow organically with no editing just the alchemy of it's creator.

Not metal but an interesting exploration of electonic instrumentation from The Mute. 7/10