I love surprises, especially when I hear a new band that really surprises me with their quality of work. Such is the case with the Greek Metal/Rock band THELEMITE.
They are made up with members from members from bands like Spitfire, Blind Justice, Dark Nightmare, Heart Attack, Battleroar, and Silent Wedding. John Manopoulos seems to be the driving force, he’s covering the vocals and producer. It appears he did most of the writing and shares guitar duties with Zack Kotsikis.
The music is unapologetically rooted in 80’s Rock and Metal. I specifically hear the earlier part of the decade and strong traces of the NWOBHM. They weave in and out of Metal and Hard Rock through the album. I also hear similarities with Alice Cooper’s “Trash” album, mostly in the structure of the choruses. At times I hear a little Black Sabbath Ozzy and Jon Oliva of Savatage in the vocals too.
Right away “Night Of The Wolf” and “Black Hearted” really grabbed my attention. The production is dead on, great hooks too, which continues through the album. “Bad For You” and “In A Damaged Brain” are also solid with the latter having a very impressive composition.
There’s some nicer slower moments, with “Living Without You”, a love song, and a darker more Cooperesque ballad “Already Dead”. They weren’t my personal favorite songs but it showed the bands diversity.
Even the artwork from Rodrigo Gudina at Core76 Studio has a strong 80’s vibe and the entire album reminds me of an 80’s B-Movie Horror Soundtrack. It has the same appeal as those movies do, I don’t have to think so hard, I can just enjoy the music.
I’m giving this one an 8 out of 10 Flaming Fists. I truly enjoyed listening to the one and I appreciate their devotion to keeping that Classic Metal sound alive and well.
https://www.facebook.com/thelemiteband
TRACKLIST:
1 NIGHT OF THE WOLF
2 BLACK HEARTED
3 NWO
4 THE FIRE STILL BURNS
5 BAD FOR YOU
6 LIVING WITHOUT YOU
7 WHITE DREAMS
8 IN A DAMAGED BRAIN
9 ALREADY DEAD
10 MAKING LOVE
11 VISIONS FROM THE PAST
LINE-UP:
John Manopoulos: Vocals/guitars
Zack Kotsikis: Guitars
Nikos Michalakakos: Bass
Renos Lialioutis: Drums
