Greek Prog: From Alpha To Omega

DAEMONIA NYMPHE     Music and moussaka! Daemonia Nymphe (Latin for Demon Nymph) are an ethnic ensemble of players who sound as authentically Greek as an evening of fine dining and plate-smashing at a Greek restaurant. So what's on the menu tonight? This charming band of nymphs serve up appetizing morsels of dulcimers, pandouras, bouzoukis and Greek lyres, all wrapped together in a tasty pita bread of heavenly voices and tribal percussion instruments. This ethnic blend brings to mind delicate Incantations of Mike Oldfield's music, especially on his folklore-influenced fourth album. So if you're in the mood for a Bacchanalian feast of ethnic chanting, combined with the most authentic assemblage of Greek instruments you're ever likely to experience outside of Athens, then prepare for an enjoyable evening of caroling and carousing with the nymphs. They say that the devil has all the best tunes and Daemonia Nymphe are a devilishly fine band. They're the most exotic musical experience since neoclassical darkwave duo Dead Can Dance first twanged our heartstrings, so if you're a fan of Aussie duo Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry, then you're surely going to love the sound of Daemonia Nymphe. "Tyrvasia" offers up a veritable feast of charming Greek folk with some of the finest ethnic music of pure beauty you'll ever hear within the realm of a dying sun. And if you're in an adventurous spirit, then you may like to try a marathon-run of all six of Daemonia Nymphe's albums, where you'll find their latest offering "Psychostasia" is the Olympic gold medallist in terms of excellence with performances as polished as Greek marble.

CRYSTAL THOUGHTS     Tripping the light fantastic! Crystal Thoughts are the most exciting phenomena to occur in the spacetime continuum since cosmologist Carl Sagan first took us on a fantastic voyage of discovery across the Cosmos in his eponymous TV series and book. This incredible album is a cosmic journey of the mind though, only without the psilocybe effect of eating magic mushrooms, and yes, they are indeed toxic, so they're best avoided if you see them growing in your local magical forest. Crystal Thoughts are one of the most obscure and enigmatic outfits ever to emerge from the Greek archipelago, with psychedelic folk music as wide and expansive as one of Demis Roussos' colourful kaftans. Crystal Thoughts only recorded this one outstanding album, and then just as mysteriously disappeared forever and ever into the cosmic aether, elevating the album to instant classic status. Finding this ultra-rare album for sale in your local record store would be almost as amazing as finding the Ark of the Covenant on sale at your local antiques shop. This transcendental treat won't help you escape the surly bonds of Earth, but it may lift your spirits high enough to almost touch the face of the prog gods on Mount Olympus. "Toxic Phenomena in Kosmic Fields" takes us on a magic carpet ride back through time, back to those hazy lazy halcyon days of flowers and beads and butterflies in a psychedelic Garden of Eden, when being gay just meant being happy and carefree. This lovely album has all the glowing warmth of the Mediterranean, combined with the mystery and exoticism of the ancient casbah and with inscrutable song titles as colourful as a florilegium. It's not crystal clear what the final album track "Carovna Pistalka" refers to, but it appears to be a Greek children's fairy tale, and after listening to this beautifully mellow album of spaced-out meditative moods, then maybe you too will believe there are fairies at the bottom of the garden. Then again, maybe not. Either way, this spacey and hypnotic album is as chilled out as a dry vodka Martini, shaken not stirred. "Kosmic Fields" is a good solid album of Grecian alabaster marble and a real diamond gem of psych-folk - and you know what they say about diamonds and longevity.

BLACK STRAT BAND     Kalimera Corfu! The beautiful sun-blessed isle at the northwest frontier of Greece is where these four talented guys hail from. Not much happens on the sleepy Greek island of Corfu, but Black Strat Band are the most exciting thing to happen there since the great naval battle of Arginusae during the ancient Peloponnesian War between the Greek city states of Athens and Sparta.  Back to the present day now, and If the name of the band and the striking silver "V" on the album cover conjures up visions of a twin-Strat axe attack of Greek fire and fury - something along the lines of Wishbone Ash's twin screaming diz-busters with their distinctive "V" shaped black Stratocasters - then you may be in for quite a pleasant surprise when you hear Black Strat Band for the first time, with maybe the greatest "Eureka" moment since Archimedes pulled the plug in his bath. This is heavy Blues-Rock that's as cool and laid-back as an ice-cold margarita with a slice of lemon on a sun-kissed Corfu beach whilst reclining in the shade of a beach umbrella. There's no shortage of down and dirty  heavy riffing though, so imagine Gary Moore on a Corfu beach with his custom gold Gibson guitar and you'll get the picture. Black Strat is a good solid album of Greek marble with no Achilles Heel, but the real twin highlights of this heavy duty blues-breaking album are the simply sublime "Girl with the Golden Hair" which reaches high up into the stratosphere with music as grand and majestic as the ancient Parthenon in Athens, followed by the anthemic, rabble-rousing grand finale: "Ships of Freedom" which, if you have a vivid enough imagination, brings to mind potent images of Greek galley slaves rising up and breaking free of their chains. They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder and that's certainly the case with the Black Strat Band when they came back with the equally strong "Absence" album two years later. Finally, what do they call a resident of Corfu? ..... A Corfiot. Not a lot of people know that, but you don't need the wisdom of Socrates to know that the Greeks are top dog when it comes to prog. 

Or one of Sarah Palin's many word salads....

I'm sure it'll be an absolute stunner! The chances of me not liking it are about as likely as Britain returning the Elgin Marbles to Greece. 

That's wonderful to hear! I'm enjoying this Greek listening jamboree even more the second time around, made even more worthwhile by hearing Aries stellar album again, and of course, Forbidden Myth. I look forward to hearing the long-awaited second album. 

AWAKE & GALLO     The truth is out there! An album for fans of the X-Files, so don't blame me if this creepy burnt offering scares the living daylights out of you. Awake & Gallo have the notable distinction of being the only Krautrock band ever to emerge from Greece, although not a total surprise when you consider that Germans weren't exactly flavour of the month there during World War Two after heavily bombing the Greek port city of Piraeus, along with the Nazi Fokkers machine-gunning civilians from the air. The list of Nazi war crimes against Greece is longer than the Unter den Linden in Berlin. Thankfully, these days when the Germans invade Greece every summer, it's only to be the first to lay their beach towels on the sun-loungers beside the hotel swimming pool. Anyway, enough about the war. Awake & Gallo are tripping the light fantastic with a haunting, LSD-inspired album that takes you on a mind-blowing odyssey into a shadowy demon-haunted world of psychedelic purple haze that drifts in and out of the consciousness like a bad dream - or like some dark nightmare vision in The Twilight Zone. Beware! This spooky, atmospheric album of phantasmagorical delights will wrap its warm tendrils around your heart and grab you by the throat. It may even be enough to give Mulder & Scully the creeps and freak them out. "In Search of the Universal Truth" is destined to seductively charm its way into the inner recesses of your brain and not let go. This is sonic nirvana for the mind, body and soul. It's an ideal album for listening to late at night during a thunderstorm with the lights turned down low, as you drift  gently away into the arms of Morpheus. Just make sure you lock all of the doors and windows first and remember to check under the bed. Awake & Gallo's second album sounds even more dark and sinister than the first - hardly surprising with a title like "Ultra Violence World" - but their third and final album is Prescription Only, so you'd have to order it from your local medical practitioner. 

My pleasure. You just reminded me to include mention of vocalist  Giannis Palamidas in the Apocalypsis line-up.