It was about time. It was the time to listen to a good progressive
metal band from Thessaloniki. For
all those who are unaware of the tradition
that the capital of Macedonia (the
one and only Greek Macedonia) has
in progressive metal, let me say that
some of the most inspired and talented
bands ever came out from this beautiful
city (Horizon’s End, Elsewhen,
Dol Ammad, Fourth Dimension to name
a few). So this time Implosion took
the torch from their predecessors’
hands and debuted with an excellent
sample of progressive metal. Their
sound is a mixture of Dream Theater’s
early days and Fates Warning. The
spirit of "Images and Words"
flies over the heads of the five members
and this is mostly evident in the
sound of Tasos Korkovelos’ keyboards,
which pays a tribute to the lost innocence
of Kevin Moore. The performance of
every single member is faultless,
but I feel responsible to note the
exceptional performance of Chris Fotiadis
on vocals. He truly gives another
essence in tracks like "Temptation"
and "The Pledge". Lastly
it is quite remarkable the achievement
of the very good production, even
if the demo was recorded in their
home studio.
But we must be fair. They have
to work very hard on some areas.
Most significant of all is to raise
the level of their originality and
to highlight their own personality.
Dream Theater and Fates Warning
are colossal entities for progressive
metal and their shade is long and
thick, but Implosion should explore
other areas too, if they want to
be progressive in the true meaning
of the term.
Contact Alex Papoulidis, the band’s
guitarist, at alexpapoulidis@gmail.gr
and ask him how you can get their
demo (I think that it is distributed
freely). I strongly believe that
they deserve your attention. Rumors
has it that Implosion are very powerful
on stage too, so if they come to
a theater (actually a club) near
you, then don’t miss the chance.
As for me, I am starting to think
that I should establish the Greek
equivalent of InsideOut with so
many good progressive metal bands
around.
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