The first progressive-rock-metal festival took
place on Friday, 12 of November 2004, at Ydrogeios
Live Club in Thessaloniki ( Greece ). This event
was a unique opportunity for all the fans of
the specific sector of music, to learn, be informed
and enjoy bands from Athens and Thessaloniki
by hearing their music.
The event was scheduled to begin
at 21:30. By the time ( 20:45 ) I went there,
the whole atmosphere was not warm enough to satisfy
my expectations. The whole place was crowd less,
making me wonder why Greek rock/metal fans are
not as mature and appreciative as they should
be so as to follow events like this. Despite of
all this unpleasant scenery, the rest of the setting
up was more than most enjoyable. We had the chance
to hear lots of new and old releases of great
prog. all-star bands, from the dj Panagiotis Tellidis
who was also the organizer of the whole live gig,
something very enlightening for all those who
want to learn a little bit more about music.
After a period of time, and just
right on time, the first band Hokam’s Razor
made their appearance on stage. Hokam’s,
a local band from Thessaloniki, consists of 3
members ( Giorgos Filopelou bass, Kostas Konstadinivis
guitars and Kostas Mousalam drums) have been as
a band for 3 years and have just released their
first demo. I didn’t know what to expect
from a trio band since progressive is a music
too difficult to be accomplished by a minimum
of three people, or at least that was the way
that was under my perception. Well, thankfully,
those guys proved me wrong just right from their
start, by the time they came up on stage and started
playing their thrilling and amazing music. It
is my firm belief that the meaning of progressive
rock is exactly what Hokam’s Razor are composing.
Great melodies, amazing technical parts, a heavy
storm of great guitar and bass solos and what
left me speechless above all is the unity of the
band. The band performed songs from their demo
and managed to make on us a strong impression.
After Hokam’s, it was the
time for Uthull. Another local band and trio band
( Kostas Vomenikiotis bass, John Tsoulfaidis drums
and Sakis Badis keyboards ) have already gained
the reputation of a great band in the fields of
fusion that have nothing to envy from any other
band in the specific sector globally. A great
variety of 4-5 minute songs, some from their first
album release “ Editme”( 2003) and
many new one’s, have proved their love for
technical music, their infinite knowledge and
managed to transmit their personal views in an
unfamiliar way for the crowd. In one word , magnificent
! Technical fusion, jazz, funk compositions, performed
in a unique way, astonished me personally more
than everything.
After this technical brainstorming
, it was the moment for well known progressive
band from Athens “Fragile Vastness. The
band has already an album release “Excerpts”
( 2002) and with a new singer in hand shows signs
of improvement. From their first up to the last
song, we came up against with a heavy riff storm,
chop wood drum parts, most impressive vocal demonstration.
Unfortunately due to the number of the band’s
members someone had to pay the price. The sound
of Fragile was too loud ( if you compare it with
the previous bands ) and although we observed
a keyboard player, we couldn’t hear one.
Fragile performed songs from their first release
and informed us about their second upcoming from
which we had the opportunity to hear some new
tracks.
And as the end of the night was approaching, it
was the time for one of the most well-known Greek
progressive bands to make their appearance. Horizon’s
End came on stage accompanied by their new guitarist
Kostas Vretos. The band was full of energy and
great mood during their performance. Vretos seems
to have been adjusted in the bands philosophy
and shared with his band mate’s great guitar
riffs and solo’s with his unique guitar
technique. Horizon’s played many songs from
and some new one’s and thus meet their fans
expectations. But the problem was still the same
with Horizons as well. The sound was too high
and in this way some of their technical ideas
were lost in the blare. In spite of this situation
that worsens the whole atmosphere, their performance
was quite good.
Well in that way, the first Progressive
Rock Festival reached it’s finale. As Metal
Perspective we would like to thank Panagiotis
Tellidis for his contribution on the whole event
and the bands for performing during this magical
night . Closing up I would like to wish for events
like these to keep on happening so as the Prog.
sound and new Progressive greek bands to be promoted.
Keep on the good work guys… |
