I got there about half an hour early so I had time to catch up with friends, since half the Greek underground hard-rock and metal scene was there. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of this specific venue for that sort of live events.
My prejudice was proven to be justified when Whatever End came on stage. I admit that I had never heard of them prior to their performance. Their progressive/doom metal was too loud for the PA and the bass sounded completely distorted often tuning up with furniture and causing big vibrations. There were times when the band’s music sounded more like noise in there. Therefore, their songs did come across as a little too long and a little too monotonous. But once again, it could have been the poor sound quality of the venue which is to blame here.
After Whatever End left the stage it was time for Sorrowful Winds. I was kinda eager to hear their new stuff (btw everyone who attended the event got a free CD of their latest album “Non-Alined”). Their sound was more melodious, compared to the dark doom style of Whatever End and had a groove. The singer is real showman with tremendous energy on stage, who might have been flirting with being just a bit cheesy, but never actually crossed the line. As for the rest of the group, they looked and sounded like a confident, tight band clearly there for the music. Highly enjoyable old-school hard rock/proto-metal songs with lots of feeling. There were some problems with the bass and the microphone picking up interference at first, but they were quickly solved.
They performed a lot of songs from the new album in a row, but they also didn’t forget to make a bit throwback to their older stuff. Old and new songs were all received with the same excitement from the audience. You know, playing this sort of old school metal has its risks, the biggest being sounding too close to some well-known bands. Thankfully, Sorrowful Winds have their own sound baptized in past glories but brought perfectly up to date.
Personal highlight: “Beggar of Emotions”.
The night’s low-point: the big break before the final 3 songs so the guitar player could change guitars.
After Whatever End left the stage it was time for Sorrowful Winds. I was kinda eager to hear their new stuff (btw everyone who attended the event got a free CD of their latest album “Non-Alined”). Their sound was more melodious, compared to the dark doom style of Whatever End and had a groove. The singer is real showman with tremendous energy on stage, who might have been flirting with being just a bit cheesy, but never actually crossed the line. As for the rest of the group, they looked and sounded like a confident, tight band clearly there for the music. Highly enjoyable old-school hard rock/proto-metal songs with lots of feeling. There were some problems with the bass and the microphone picking up interference at first, but they were quickly solved.
They performed a lot of songs from the new album in a row, but they also didn’t forget to make a bit throwback to their older stuff. Old and new songs were all received with the same excitement from the audience. You know, playing this sort of old school metal has its risks, the biggest being sounding too close to some well-known bands. Thankfully, Sorrowful Winds have their own sound baptized in past glories but brought perfectly up to date.
Personal highlight: “Beggar of Emotions”.
The night’s low-point: the big break before the final 3 songs so the guitar player could change guitars.
