Mythodea - Mythodea
Mythodea - Mythodea
\r\n
\r\n“Is this true?All these guys playing at Mythodea?This is really very interesting!How was it possible to gather all these guys?”This was my reaction to a friend of mine of facebook when he introduced me to a project called Mythodea having an unknown Greek guitarist without previous releases in his discography as his mastermind.Very well known and respected names are misters West,Di Giorgio and Kuprij.So it seems really strange.How was he able to do it.Was it by luck?I would not think so...\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\nThe answer is simple.Through his musical abilities and his hard work.Christos Nikolaou is an excellent musician and when this project got in his mind he aimed high.His choice for the singer position was John West (in my personal opinion along with Russel Allen and Jorn Lande the 3 best singers appeared in the metal scene in the last 20 years).And it was bull’s eye!John was convinced for Christos’ talent and musical potential and it was of no surprise the rest of the well respected company to follow.So slowly the project started to take flesh and bones.\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\nOf course none of this would have been possible without Christos’ own personal and financial sacrifice (five whole years of constant effort it was the time needed).Having no company or high budget to support his ambitious plan he had to support it through his day jobs,being responsible himself for the production.The result is a true reward for him both performance and production-wise (perfect 100 for the production I would say) which can be compared with ease with the genre’s finest productions.\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\nDespite of the well respected names this would be nothing without the composions’ quality.And I have to say this record is an excellent display of symphonic progressive metal.None of the three components being overshadowed by the other three.The classical/symphonic elements sound no way out of place,but they come and match perfectly through the songs,adding a lot of background and feeling to the material.The progressive elements here have nothing to do with the technical babble and exaggeration which charachterizes this genre many times.Here all the effort goes to the creation of memorable melodies,while the needed techic for this genre is still present.The guitar riffs totally metallic give the needed power and heaviness to the songs,while Christos’ solos are very memorable and techical with equal doses of technic and melody (his highlight on the album being his solo at hope,with Di Giorgio providing some spectacular bass lines).The composition create multiple images and feelings to the audience and they certainly travelled me to other places.Christos’ influence coming from various musical scenes like classical,prog and power metal,soundtracks and even new age create a perfect blend here with a great production to support it as we already mentioned.\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\nOf course is pointless for anyone to doubt about the player’s perfomance.Di Giorgio and Zeleny create a solid and technical rhythm section,being both spectacular and simple depending on each song’s needs.John West reminds us of the singer we fell in love with at Royal Hunt and Artension .Christos’ compositions made it easy for him to show a full display of his range (see Asia) and also the emotional side of his voice (see Nostalgia, a beautiful ballad that speaks to my soul) and he offers us some his best lyrics ever.His beautiful backing vocals which has been his trademark over the years could not be absent here and many times they get in the center of attention.\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\nThe songs that appealed to me the most were Another World, Hope, Mnemosyne, Nostalgia, Asia and Sailing on a Stormy Sea ; songs which gave me chills after I first listened to them.But the whole release is excellent,not any song lacking in quality.This release will click on every fan of progressive metal but it will also appeal to fans of other genres with relative ease.Many bands would have wanted to have so many good songs on their debut or even in their other releases but few are able to do so.This release come as a breath of fresh air (or as an oxygen mask I would say) to the saturated genre of progressive metal.Let us hope this will be just the beginning.Step one is a great one and only as promising and bright can be described.\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\n(Since this is an independent release in only 500 copies everybody who is interested should have a look on the following link.Remember always support the bands!\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\nhttp://www.mythodeaband.com/home.cfm )\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\nTasos ’Overkill’ Poimenidis\r\n
\r\n
\r\n