Mystery

I'm proud because I am here today to review a classic heavy metal album from my country Hellas. And that album belongs to a band that everyone in the underground metal scene knows. It is one of the first, if not the first neoclassical metal bands in Greece and the brainchild of Angelo Perlepes, a person who has mastered the guitar and is nowadays considered a guitar virtuoso.

In “Mystery” you can find classic heavy rock/metal riffs combined with neoclassical lightning-fast solos which are calculated and played flawlessly. Seriously, the songs here seem to have been rehearsed millions and millions of times (I'm talking about all the instruments) and I bet this applies because the band was formed in 1986 and this album didn't come out until 1991 so yeah, that is a big time-gap for the band to complete the songwriting and make improvements on their playing style and their chemistry between each other.

“Mystery” of course is a very melodic record and that is justified by the fact that all the songs have keyboards which bring an elegant touch to the songs and also there are a lot of riffs inspired by guitar god Ritchie Blackmore who has also influenced Angelo a lot to write these good pieces of music. Specifically, For lovers of classic 70's and 80's speed heavy rock, I recommend “Do Me Love”, Angelo's very own “Spotlight Kid” or “Jet To Jet” if you may prefer, “Unicorn” which has some cool guitar arpeggios and an anthemic refrain. Speaking about anthems, the title track is another highlight in its own right.

Another thing I'd like to mention is how good the vocals are. Pure manly 80's vocals with a very good accent. Even the falsettos here sound masculine and this is what I like. The fantasy lyrics are very poetic even if there are one or two typos in the CD booklet and of course how can you call yourself a rockstar like Mr. Blackmore if you don't write songs about women? This last sentence is connected with my opinion that “Baby Blue” is a good rock song meant for radio play and much better than the boring “Since You'Ve Been Gone”.

I honestly don't have to say anything else about this album. It is fun, it doesn't tire the listener at all, with its duration staying at 30-35 minutes, It promises quality melodic heavy metal music and not poppy rock for the masses, it is professionally written and recorded, with traditional techniques and there is not even one song that will make you yawn.