The Facebook event said doors open at 21:00, I was there at 21:20 to find the place half empty. Thankfully, by the time Dead South Dealers got on stage (roughly 22:00) the number of attendances was picking up.
Dead South Dealers’ sound can be described as the heavy/stoner rock mix that Greek bands are known for. Zakk Wylde style guitars, early Zakk Wylde (before he turned into Ozzy) type vocals, heavy almost cave man drumming and a Kyuss reminiscing baseline. I must admit that I was not familiar with Dead South Dealers. Unfortunately, they do not have the most original musical compositions I’ve ever heard, but they were highly enjoyable nevertheless. I wasn’t counting but they must have played somewhere between 5 to 7 songs. All of them pretty tight but none of them stood out for me.
Second in line was Material Vibe, another band which I’d never heard of before that night. No idea what genre of rock their sound can be classified as. Let me just say that after 3 of their tracks somehow Metallica’s “Seek and Destroy” was stuck in my head. So by that time I could perhaps describe their music as a combination of early and “Load”/”Reload” era Metallica. However you classify their sound, one thing is certain: it’s heavy as f@ck and that’s for sure. As an extra bonus they also support their raw and aggressive sound with their stage presence. Nice aggressive vocals. All in all, a tight performance. With the exception of the two covers 1. At The Gates’ “Blacken By Fear” & 2. “So What” (the Metallica version). It’s not that those two covers were badly done or anything like that, but they were pretty pointless.
After Material Vibe finished their set it was time for the headliners Sorrowful Angels to take the stage and present their brand new album entitled “Remedie”. First impressions of “Remedie”: if you like hard/heavy rock and you enjoyed the band’s previous work, chances are you’ll like this too. As for the show, the only thing that struck me was their poor stage presence. I mean after the first 3-4 songs, it was like there wasn’t a band playing. It was almost like background music. What I mean is that apart from the 10-15 people in the front, the rest of the crowd mostly talked amongst themselves hardly paying any attention to the group. It’s a shame because their music is nowhere near being bad. Even their cover of Elusive’s “The Circle Never Ends” was not half bad. But they just could not communicate with the audience at all.
For the last part of the show Sorrowful Angels had chosen to bring some guest performers to join them on stage. First came a violin player whose name, unfortunately, I didn’t catch. Let me tell you, this guy was amazing. Full of energy and played the hell of that violin. I don’t think it’s a coincidence the audience started paying a lot more attention to the commotion on stage then. Next the band’s old drummer got up and sat behind the drums, then the old bass player plugged in and they all played some old tracks of the band (sort of a reunion of the old line-up). Then George Peokopiou, the vocalist of Poem, got up to sing two Iron Maiden tracks (from the Paul DiAnno era) “Running Free” and “Prowler”. Last but not least, Sakis Darkface, lead singer of W.E.B., joined Sorrowful Angels for an Apoptygma Berserk cover of “Mourn” and closed the show with “Denial” from Sorrowful Angel’s first album. It’s safe to say that the last 30 minutes or so of the night, with all the guests, was the highlight of the entire evening.
Second in line was Material Vibe, another band which I’d never heard of before that night. No idea what genre of rock their sound can be classified as. Let me just say that after 3 of their tracks somehow Metallica’s “Seek and Destroy” was stuck in my head. So by that time I could perhaps describe their music as a combination of early and “Load”/”Reload” era Metallica. However you classify their sound, one thing is certain: it’s heavy as f@ck and that’s for sure. As an extra bonus they also support their raw and aggressive sound with their stage presence. Nice aggressive vocals. All in all, a tight performance. With the exception of the two covers 1. At The Gates’ “Blacken By Fear” & 2. “So What” (the Metallica version). It’s not that those two covers were badly done or anything like that, but they were pretty pointless.
After Material Vibe finished their set it was time for the headliners Sorrowful Angels to take the stage and present their brand new album entitled “Remedie”. First impressions of “Remedie”: if you like hard/heavy rock and you enjoyed the band’s previous work, chances are you’ll like this too. As for the show, the only thing that struck me was their poor stage presence. I mean after the first 3-4 songs, it was like there wasn’t a band playing. It was almost like background music. What I mean is that apart from the 10-15 people in the front, the rest of the crowd mostly talked amongst themselves hardly paying any attention to the group. It’s a shame because their music is nowhere near being bad. Even their cover of Elusive’s “The Circle Never Ends” was not half bad. But they just could not communicate with the audience at all.
For the last part of the show Sorrowful Angels had chosen to bring some guest performers to join them on stage. First came a violin player whose name, unfortunately, I didn’t catch. Let me tell you, this guy was amazing. Full of energy and played the hell of that violin. I don’t think it’s a coincidence the audience started paying a lot more attention to the commotion on stage then. Next the band’s old drummer got up and sat behind the drums, then the old bass player plugged in and they all played some old tracks of the band (sort of a reunion of the old line-up). Then George Peokopiou, the vocalist of Poem, got up to sing two Iron Maiden tracks (from the Paul DiAnno era) “Running Free” and “Prowler”. Last but not least, Sakis Darkface, lead singer of W.E.B., joined Sorrowful Angels for an Apoptygma Berserk cover of “Mourn” and closed the show with “Denial” from Sorrowful Angel’s first album. It’s safe to say that the last 30 minutes or so of the night, with all the guests, was the highlight of the entire evening.
photos by Babbis Michalopoulos
