King Mountain - Tempest At The Gates (Grooveyard Records)
Oh yeah. There's always a part of my brain that gets excited when I hear fat, blues riffs through a tube amp, played with in the slower stoner/proto-metal style. King Mountain play this kind of style and yes my synapses started firing and those endorphins began rushing through my body as soon as the strutting riff of Soul Sacrifice got this new record from the Athenian band going. From what I can see this is the fifth album from King Mountain and yes it's meat and potatoes, simple riff, chorus, soloing all wrapped up in a bluesy doom/stoner bow, but it's entertaining and make your head want to bang.
King Mountain is another project from Stavros Papadopoulos who also is the creative force behind Revolution Highway and Super Vintage. Here he takes guitars and vocals, playing a more distorted style than in his other bands which lean heavily on Hendrix et al. King Mountain owes more to bands such as Spiritual Beggars, Fireball Ministry, Monster Magnet and even Karma To Burn. King Of The Mountain especially having that smoky Southern blues meeting big Sabbathian riffs.
Stavros' vocals especially whiskey soaked here while his guitar playing is sublime throughout, the backing and are no slouches either. A tight knit unit that knock out these grooves together. You can digest all sorts of styles when you're a music fan/journalist but sometimes you just need a bit of tasty riffage to ease yourself into a good mood.
Tempest At The Gates is good mood music, ideal for sunny days and good friends. 8/10
Dope Default - Division (Self Released)
Big riffers Dope Default return with their first album since their 2019 release Imprisoned. The Thessaloniki band added frontman John Campbell for that album and he continues behind the mic on this their third full length. On the previous record they added more melodic touches and these become more pronounced on Division. Having come from the raging stoner scene of bands such as Planet Of Zeus, on this record there's some Sabbath-like doom that opens Midnight Mass, but Dope Default have made sure to adapt what they offer a bit more on Division.
There's a bit of Black Label Society on Future Without, a bit of grunge on Duplicity while Dope Default bring a touch of the American radio rock scene as well on first single Down To Pieces. Campbell's vocals are gritty so when they do pack in the stoner riffs on The Saint Of Killers he can give a snarl, but also has a lot of melody for numbers such as One More Time a song that feels like Distrubed or the ballad So Far Away.
The rest of band consists of bassist Makis Georgiou and drummer Thodoris Anastasiadis who are the heavy undercurrent while guitarists George Kontouris and Dimitris Kolimvanos pair up for some nifty guitar work that changes between distorted riffs and fluid leads. Division continues Dope Default's evolution as a band successfully merging their stoner beginnings into something that now features plenty of shout along melodies. 7/10
Echoes Of Decay - Delirium Of Madness (Self Released)
Thessaloniki based death/doom as Echoes Of Decay follow their 2019 debut full length Dive Into Darkness with this four track EP that solidifies their atmospheric death/doom with the influences of My Dying Bride, Katatonia and Moonspell. Now this is an EP but these songs aren't short Circles the thundering opener is 10 minutes of slow, deliberate heaviness that gets the ball rolling on this EP, next Isolation is shorter and more melodic as Lunacy's Crescendo adds a dose of the progressive as the shifting between heaviness and melody. Oobe closes out the record with more classic doom/death bluster. Delirium Of Madness is an entry point for anyone who hasn't heard what Echoes Of Decay do. 7/10
ORRA (ΩЯRΑ) - Unbounded (Self Released)
ΩЯRΑ (ORRA) are a prog metal band from Athens and they like Queensryche, they really like Queensryche, vocalist Vasilis Axiotis is trying hard to emulate the singing style of Geoff Tate. Now I suppose this was deliberate as the band is actually Peter V. Pierrakeas (guitars/keyboards) and Minornoiser (bass) with the vocalist and drummer William V. Baldo are credited as additional musicians. The unfortunate thing is that this record is that it's not actually that great, musically there is a vein of prog metal bands such as Queensryche, Fates Warning and Shadow Gallery but it's a record that struggles to really grab my attention. Even at just 6 songs I found it wandering a little as tracks such as Redemption droned a little. A shame as it's got a lot of potential. 5/10