PANDEMIC

I was so impressed with 'Anthem to Creation' that I contacted the band directly, and keyboard player Lefteris Germenlis sent me copies of both their debut album and this their EP, which was released in 2011. I know that this may be seen to be 'padded' in that it contains a radio edit of the title cut so that it is here more than once, but only two of these songs appear (in different forms) on their debut, none appear on their second, yet this still clocks in at more than 41 minutes. Guys, this would have been an album if it had been released back in the days of vinyl, not an EP! When I reviewed 'Anthem' I described their music as "bringing together elements of prog metal, melodic and experimental metal, art rock, electronic music with some AOR sensibilities, so that they come across as Threshold mixed with Dream Theater, Dragonforce and Symphony X, with bits of King Crimson thrown in for good measure" and here is yet more of the same, although there are also some lovely touches of piano to boot.

This is an incredibly polished band, who exude experience and class from every pore, and I find myself wondering how a band can release material of this quality yet still be quite an unknown quantity to many. "Pictures of the Past" commences with just vocals and piano, until it is time for the guitar break where there is a small duet, while the bass adds a warmth and delicacy to the whole piece. Here is a band that really understand the use of space as an additional instrument, as although there are moments when the sound is all encompassing, there are others where they just let each instrument speak for itself and gives it the room to do so. Strong arrangements, great songs, wonderful performances, this band is definitely one of my finds of the year, and the one good thing about coming across them for the first time is that I get to hear lots of great music all in one go!

"H1N1" is particularly poignant, as they use clips from people talking about the flu virus, with just Lefteris providing a synth background. In many ways this is very simple, but is also very powerful. For fans of progressive and melodic metal everywhere, www.untilrain.com