This would be only the second time I’d see Fates Warning in my life, and I can’t say I had the best possible impressions from my first live encounter with them. Two years ago, I saw them getting pulverized by Dream Theater in Terra Vibe Park in Malakasa and giving me the certain impression that they can’t perform that good in an open scene. The great new album they recently released entitled ‘’Darkness In A Different Light’’ and the fact that I’d see them in a closed scene, made me decide giving them a second chance and I think I left with much better feelings and with the band raised many clicks in my conscience after this gig. If I add the fact I saw two very interesting support bands before them, then this Sunday night was worth spending time in Fuzz Club (which is only twenty minutes straight walk from my house, so pretty much I was still close in the neighborhood).
Parthian Shot is a great sixtet that plays progressive music in all the sense of the word and not only they don’t sound cheesy and light, but they give you the sense that they know what they want from the music they play and what’s even more important, was that you could see them having real fun while playing, showing that they knew they had a big chance, which they surely took advantage of. They played the tracks from their self-titled EP (which you might have purchased if you got a specific Greek Metal Hammer issue and they also distributed it inside the club) and their last track was entitled ‘’Promises-The Damnocracy Anthem’’, a ten minute epic which will be included in their forthcoming album. Surely the most complete and demanding track they played. Heavy sound, great vocals, guitars that are not afraid to rage as much as they want, steady rhythm section and essential keyboard fillings is what you’d witness for about 35 minutes. The singer’s t-shirt was writing ‘’This is what a really cool dad looks like’’. If you are a new dad my friend, then I wish you and your family all the best (and to all those who have become fathers recently of course).
The Silent Wedding came after a quarter and with this quick change, the fans weren’t tired of waiting and were ready to also welcome them with warmth. The guys play a more atmospheric kind of music, with the vocalist trying to get the crowd’s attention in favor of his band and succeeding to transmit some energy on the stage. Unfortunately for them, the guitar wasn’t heard at all, the sound fucked the guitarist up, at least on the four first tracks they played, leaving the bassist the duty of becoming the rhythm guitarist of the band as well. Of course, they are such a good band that they overcame the loss of their most valued weapon (as the guitar OWES to be for ANY metal band) and continued professionally enough, playing Savatage’s ‘’Gutter Ballet’’ before their final track. The cover was gladly welcomed warmly by the crowd and half an hour after they entered the stage, they left getting the people’s applause which didn’t seem to get annoyed by the guitar’s absence. If you encounter them, give them a chance, as they sound way better with heavy guitar sound. Still they managed to handle this situation with decency and that’s something we have to admit. Cheers to you guys as well.
Fates Warning is one of the most beloved bands for the Greek fans, in such a way that there were a lot of people in a visit of them once again (while many of the fans didn’t honor Shadow Gallery for example a week ago, strange enough but let’s stick to the point). The band started with ‘’One Thousand Fires’’, showing the strength of the new album at once, and going on with ‘’Life In Still Water’’, it was time to please their die-hards, showing they would leave everyone satisfied. ‘’One’’ sets Fuzz on fire, the sound is by their side, heavy and clean, with Ray Alder showing flexible, Jim Matheos alone in his corner and the great rhythm section of Joey Vera on bass and Bobby Jarzombek on drums playing in such way that you think they are the band’s secret weapon. The third part from ‘’A Pleasant Shade Of Gray’’ leads us to ‘’Another Perfect Day’’ (one of the best tracks they’ve written the last years) and ‘’Down To The Wire’’ represents ‘’Inside Out’’ (which sounds much better live), before the sixth part from APSOG makes the gig go full circle. Here starts the part I get obsessed, as I LOVE the heavy side of the band, and ‘’Pieces Of Me’’ shows how much it suits them to play this way.
It’s not bad at all to bang your head in a gig you know, the same goes out for the band as well, as they were pretty much far from their really heavy side in the 1989-1994 period. ‘’I Am’’ is a new track that sounds a lot like Tool and if you watched Jarzombek carefully, then you took free drum lessons on this one without asking. Time for parallel ways, with ‘’The Eleventh Hour’’ (surely the most complete track of their light period I mentioned above) and ‘’Point Of View’’, with the fans exploding and Alder showing he feels it deep inside him. ‘’Firefly’’ is in my humble opinion the best track they’ve written the last 25 years (don’t throw curses, my opinion is just a point of view after all, right?) and a reason to buy their new album immediately. ‘’Through Different Eyes’’ takes over again before APSOG Is represented by it eleventh part, closing this album’s suite for the night. ‘’Nothing Left To Say’’ must have been a surprise, I don’t know how many fans waited for it, and was the last track they played from ‘’Perfect Symmetry’’, time brings ‘’Monument’’ to the speakers and from the crowd’s reactions I can easily understand it’s a very personal track for many of the attendants inside Fuzz Club. Joey Vera did some backing vocals on it with the bass pick in his mouth, how much of a little god he is anyway…
The band leaves the stage and returns shortly with another surprise called ‘’Still Remains’’ which sounds colossal live (just like anything from ‘’Disconnected’’ album’’), before they close the gig with ‘’Eye To Eye’’ and leave the stage after 110 minutes. The truth is we see bands for the same ticket price that play 70-80 minutes by pulling it to the edge, Fates played like professionals and showed why they are loved so much in our country. As for me personally, I believe they were much better than I expected and imagined. The fans didn’t like the fact that Ray was coming in and out of stage sometimes (to take some clear breathing I guess). Talking with friends after the gig, I got various opinions (or points of view if you prefer). A friend having seen them four times, said this was surely the best one. Another more experienced friend (we share the same age) said it was good, but as he has memories of them playing the whole APSOG back in ’98, he thought of this gig as inferior. I’m surely somewhere in the middle, as I haven’t seen them so much times and surely they play better being not a support band. I only hope they’ll keep this heavy side of theirs as much as possible and adapt it to the setlist so successfully as they did this time.
A band made out of our wildest dreams and two support bands I hadn’t seen in years. Which better reason to attend a gig in a warm October night? Three years after their first phenomenal visit in Greece, Americans progsters Shadow Gallery came back to finish what they had started in 2010. The show was promising from the very beginning with the announcement of the support bands, Greek heavy progsters Wastefall and heavy/power metallers Dark Nova, and having seen Wastefall supporting Black Sabbath in 2005 and Dark Nova playing with bands like Rage and Testament before even the ‘00s decade, I knew what to wait from two of the most important bands of our country which for various reasons, never got the attention and publicity they deserved.
Seven minutes after eight o’clock, Wastefall entered the stage and it was a great joy to see nothing changing compared to what I knew. The quartet delivered really heavy progressive metal, mainly based on the marvellous ‘’Soulrain 21’’ album, with touches from their latest internet release ‘’Meridiem’’. Their singer was about to audition for Ark once if I’m not wrong and he showed us all how it is to be able and play great riffs and have a voice that fits the genre. The best thing about this band is that despite being a progressive one, they are even heavier than you can imagine and they are the best possible answer to progsters who sacrifice their heaviness in order to sound more mellow or emotional. Wastefall can sound like everything you want from a modern thinking metal band with a very traditional way of acting on the stage and without forgetting to power it up when needed. I also liked the use of cymbals of their drummer, the guy hit everything and he adds a lot to their sound. I hope they’ll be releasing stuff more often and they won’t miss a second chance given to them to become real leaders in the Greek scene.
Dark Nova came out with the air of the experienced band and even if the sound in the first two tracks was burying the heavy riffs somehow, the continuation was much better. They have a bassist that is the epitome of his organ, a seven string monster which looks very much like the eight string guitars Meshuggah are using. Together with the help of the relentless pounding of the drummer, they created a rhythm section many bands would be jealous about. The guitarist was always pulling new riffs from his chest and the lady in the keyboards showed how it must be to have a woman in your band. She was not just standing like a primadonna like many other ladies in bands do, but she was also headbanging while playing, showing a real metal attitude. Last but definitely not least comes the singer who helps the band and delivered a great performance. Highlights of the night were ‘’Twilight Star’’ (from the legendary ‘’Dark Rhapsodies’’ debut), ‘’Temptation’’ from the ‘’1999-A Step Beyond’’ album) and for the end, the ‘’Dark Nova’’ track which is also the title of their latest album. After forty five minutes and with the joy painted on their faces, knowing they had done the best they could and getting the applause of the crowd, they left the stage and we were ready for Shadow Gallery.
Time for magic, time for joy, time to forget all our problems, though we suspected it, we didn’t imagine it would be in such a scale. Shadow Gallery made such a performance once again that they make you believe in God, in music’s power around the world and in a better tomorrow in general. If the first time we saw them is marked as most special in our hearts, then this second visit of theirs is simply the establishment of their talent, of the transmission of countless feelings through their music and of their undisputed skill to sound even better than in their six wonderful albums. In a band where every member is a protagonist and three of them switch from guitars, keyboards and singing, then I don’t know what else someone else could expect. When Brian Ashland says ‘’this is our home’’ just at the very beginning of the show, you understand how happy they felt for coming back. When they play ‘’Don’t Ever Cry, Just Remember’’, you get the feeling that Mike Baker is up there, watching proudly his friends getting recognized in front of people amazed with the band’s shine on the stage. When they play ‘’Alaska’’ they remind us that they can offer surprises as well, when they play ‘’Pain’’ you can see why Ashland is a very expressive singer and why their latest album ‘’Digital Ghosts’’ can look the other five albums straight in the eyes.
When you know they’re going to celebrate fifteen years from the release of ‘’Tyranny’’ you expect them to unleash hymns like ‘’Stilleto In The Sand’’, ‘’War For Sale’’, ‘’Mystery’’, you even expect the guest D.C. Cooper to give an extra touch to ‘’New World Order’’ or ‘’Christmas Day’’, but you don’t imagine how much of a chemistry there is between them and the Royal Hunt frontman, about ten minutes are enough to witness the difference with his presence and the gig boosting up in colossal levels of musicianship, like watching the greatest theater performing flawlessly in front of you, like seeing something of the Savatage magic in their music (the show started with ‘’Bohemian Rhapsody’’ of Queen on the speakers, like Savatage did with other Queen tracks), you don’t expect they’ll give you a die-hard moment like ‘’2 Minutes To Midnight’’ of Iron Maiden played in a furious way (I wish Iron Maiden could sound even a bit like this today…) and when the gig closes with ‘’Gold Dust’’ with Ashland singing among the crowd and ‘’Crystalline Dream’’, you simply realize that all you lived for more than two hours was reality and not a dream. They thank the crowd collectively, though the crowd should spend years in thanking them for what they offer. You see the joy in their faces and they see the tears in the faces of many fans. The relationship between Shadow Gallery and the Greek fans can’t even be compared with the movie made loves at first sight (include first listening as well).
This night we forgot about problems, thoughts, internal conflicts, crisis and needless argues between us. This night we were free to feel happy again, like we did five, ten, fifteen years ago with such incidents. This night was added to one of the best in our entire lives until we close our eyes. There’s nothing more precious than this. Thank you Shadow Gallery for making this all happen and for letting us understand that this better second time you came here was the reason to realize that the first time was really true and not just a thought in our minds. I bet a fortune that it’s going to be a day set for many people to re-arrange their lives and think of many stuff from the beginning. Food for positive thought definitely!
Spiritual Beggars is a band that I always wanted to see live and a few days ago I was given that chance. The retro/stoner/psychedelic/rock ‘n’ roll (call them what you wish) gods were supported by Drunk Motherfuckers, SixforNine and Full House Brew Crew.
Due to some transportation problems I almost missed the whole set by Drunk Motherfuckers, but the two songs that I was able to witness led me to the conclusion that if you are into dirty stoner, this band is for you. Sweat, beers, fuzz, groove and a badass attitude pretty much sums up their essence.
Up next was a pleasant surprise, SixforNine. Since the first band of the night and the headliners belong to the wider stoner genre, I was expecting something like their sound. However this band had a totally different sound (flawless in the setting and quality by the way). They belong to the alternative/progressive rock movement, although in many points during their set I detected lots of elements from grunge. Beautiful sound, nice ideas in the songs that made me tap my foot all the time and a singer with a great voice and a joyful spirit that enabled him to connect with the crowd. That singer by the way is Fotis Benardo, the drummer of Septic Flesh.Quite the refreshing element of the night, I am sure that all the attendants would not have a problem with them performing another 40 minutes!
Then came Full House Brew Crew. Nice sound, solid, and although they could be easily categorized as stoner, they reminded me more of a mix of Pantera with Black Label Society. A nice performance here, groovy, they conveyed their rhythm to the crowd, but they did not persuade me as much as the previous band. However, this is just the beginning in their career; there is always time for improvement. Furthermore, it would be really nice for them if the singer stopped copying James Hetfield. We are talking about a blatant copy paste here, from the tone, to the way he pronounces the “oh yeah” and all that stuff, it is just too obvious. Create something yours my friend, I’m sure it will benefit the band in general.
After all these nice supports it was time for the headliners. I had heard many complaints concerning the new singer, Apollo Papathanasiou, who took the position of JB after his departure in 2010 and I want to see for myself if these complaints had any value. Well, they didn’t. Yes, with Apollo behind the microphone they sound different from the band that we had grown accustomed with, but since when does “different” means “bad”? He nailed all the songs with his own grace. An exceptional voice that in many parts reminded me of our late king, Ronnie James Dio, may the gods of metal allow me this comparison. Exceptional connection with the crowd too, he was just amazing. He guided us towards many sing-alongs for that matter and was always full of good “mojo” and appetite for rock and roll. When it comes to the other guys to the band, what is it that I could say? Crystal clear sound for all of them, Ammot spitting solos and lead rythms and melodies all the time, with technique and passion alike, that mountain of a bassist they have roaring towards the crowd, lifting us to our feet and delivering exploding bass lines to our ears, the drummer playing like he had come out of a jungle and carrying a tribal feeling inside of him! But the man who stole the show was Per Wiberg slamming those keyboards like a madman, with such ferocity and a “come on people, let’s dance now!!!” attitude that I’ve never seen before in a keyboard player, what an amazing musician! This show had it all: Drum solos, keyboards solos, an out of this world psychedelic jamming during the encore, you name it! “Left brain ambassadors”, “Euphoria”, “One man Army”, “Young Man, Old soul” and “Mantra” were the highlights of their performance. “Angel of betrayal” however was not played to our great disappointment. Come on guys, this is the one song that you should never leave out! Also if you want to know how the new songs sound on stage, they ROCK. “Turn the tides” for example sounded so colorful and uplifting showing in that way the road Spiritual Beggars has chosen to follow. A more 70’s rock, groovy and funky approach is their new outfit and I’ll be damned if it doesn’t suit them just fine.
