Evolution

This act is the brainchild of the Greek guitar player Ilias Papadakis who uses sagaciously his connections within the metal circuit, and has invited quite a few of the metal celebrities to help him with the recordings of whole seven full-lengths up to this date (more on them later). In other words, the man doesn’t keep a steady line-up around, but summons whoever is available at the time from his acquaintances for the completion of the creative process.

The debut was a passable mix of power and thrash with echoes of the 90’s works of Megadeth, above all, with both modern and classic tendencies tussling throughout. Said tussle carried on without any audible alterations on the sophomore, but on “Reduced to Ashes” things went up in nearly every department, not without the help of the drummer Nick Menza (Megadeth) and none other than Jeff Waters himself, the sound becoming more technical and marginally more aggressive, logically clinging towards the more recent exploits of Annihilator as well.

The album reviewed here may be considered the guy’s finest hour, the super group this time comprising luminaries like Steve DiGiorgio, Gene Hoglan, and Ralph Santolla (Deicide, Obituary, Iced earth, etc.). With a stellar cast like that one can’t expect anything but the best, and the music by all means delivers now courting the old school canons almost exclusively, the Bay-Area the prime target for worship with vigorous headbangers like “Where Hate Lies” flying around. More speed on “The Break” which winks at the 90’s power/speed metal movement with soaring “eagle fly free” rhythms; and it’s even three in a row with “Circle”, a short lashing speed/thrasher. The headbanging fiesta knows no rest later with “Destiny Found”, a notable fast-pacer with cutting lashing riffage, and “New Era” causing a few headaches along the way being another brief exhibition of primal speed/thrashing aggression.

The more technical character of the previous instalment hasn’t been paid much attention as the guys focus on the more immediate, bashing side, still producing positive results along the way. The vocals provided by the only relative unknown in the team, Chris Valagao (also Mechanism, Zimmers Hole, The Kill, etc.), are nothing short of outstanding the man covering a wide range of octaves, sounding quite dramatic and attached for most of the time in a way not far from Eric Adams (Manowar) even.

Other stars were lined-up for the follow-up “Seven Sacrifices” (from Strapping Young Lad, Flotsam & Jetsam, Megadeth again (Dave Ellefson)), but this time the delivery was much less inspired Papadakis falling into a self-repetitive cycle, consisting of a not very edgy, feelgood power/thrash hybrid, akin to the one that has been plaguing Jeff Waters for quite some time; and one that was also witnessed on “Zero Hour” in all its banal glory. Fortunately, this one didn’t last very long as the spell was partly broken on “Duality of Man” which was a much more aggressive affair, Papadakis sounding pissed and non-conforming. No celebrities on the last two; the trip down retro power/thrash memory lane is over; now the real journey begins…