Year: 2021
Total Time: 49:39
Label: Steel Gallery Records
There are different ways to tell a story but an epic phantasy will always need some heavy metal music in the background.
Since its early days during the 70s, heavy metal was every sorcerer’s preferable soundtrack and every hero needed his theme. Ok there’s also orchestral music, but I tend to think of heavy metal as its closest modern relative so…
From the days when the forefather Ronnie James Dio grabbed the microphone and sung of places and creatures “far away from home” to the days of King Diamond, Manilla Road, Blind Guardian etc., the gates of phantasy opened naturally to the artists and the fans of metal music and this artistic expression revived and modernised the tradition of the ancient minstrels, bards and troubadours in a very unique way. And believe me when I say that it was not always about the “dungeons and the dragons” but it was mainly about the allegories and the hidden truths that had to do with the everyday life, our modern times and the way we chose to spend our finite time on this planet.
With their fifth album, “Mavericks” the Greek band WARDRUM uses some dynamic power metal to tell their story. The five-piece from Thessaloniki was founded in 2010 and inspired by bands such as Riot, Symphony X and Judas Priest, they’ve given us until now five studio albums with three different frontmen. The first was Piero Leporale [“Spadework”, (2011)] followed by Yannis Papadopoulos [“Desolation” (2012), “Messenger” (2013), “The Awakening” (2016)] who left the band leaving his place to George Margaritopoulos [“Mavericks” (2021)].
Since their first release, Spadework in 2011, WARDRUM introduced to the public their “mascot”, The Messenger. Although this figure is present throughout their discography, we can’t say that there’s a concept behind his appearance. Well, that’s something that drastically changes with their latest release “Mavericks”. Stergios Kourou, WARDRUM’s drummer and founding member alongside the guitarist Kosta Vreto, undertakes the difficult task of imagining, constructing and revealing the Messenger’s story in a book entitled “Mavericks – The Story of the Messenger”, which is limited printed in 300 hand-numbered copies (you can get yours from Steel Gallery Records).
Now I had to lay out all these for you in order to talk a little bit about the music and to make a point. First of all, the band releases new material after 5 long years, presenting to the fans a new member, the vocalist George Margaritopoulos and at the same time a cohesive storyline of The Messenger. It’s like they reintroducing their presence in the scene, their history, their identity. Yiannis Papadopoulos, their former singer and one of my favorites in the Greek metal scene, left a gap very difficult to fill and the fans had every reason to feel troubled.
But here comes George Margaritopoulos who delivers in a unique and very personal way the new compositions. I’d say that even though he’s more intimate as a singer than Papadopoulos, he doesn’t lack the power especially in his higher register. I believe that he chooses to invest more on his expression and dynamics and propose a more theatrical interpretation with his vocal performance. Eventually a great choice for the band which fits perfectly to their new material.
But what about the music? Is there a new approach in WARDRUM’s power metal? No. But they shuffle the deck in a way that even though we’ve seen all the cards before, the result sounds fresh and interesting. The strong influence of the European power metal scene of the 90s can be clearly herd in “Mavericks”. The production was under the responsibility of the guitarist Kosta Vreto and with its high quality and pristine clarity presents in every detail all the musical complexity of the album.
The melodic element is prominent as in every WARDRUM album. Fifty minutes and 11 tracks of great riffs and catchy hooks. The rhythm section is solid with Stutter and Kourou delivering as a well-oiled war machine and the guitars played by J Demian and Kosta Vreto complement perfectly each other. What’s not to like? Another great release in the genre coming from Greece and a great comeback for Wardrum who seem really unstoppable with great quality material and ready to hit hard the international metal scene.
Rating 7,5/10
Editor: Yiannis Tziallas
Related Link: WARDRUM – Official Page
