Bandemonic – Chains (2012)

Arriving today from Greece, we have Bandemonic and their EP “Chains”. Playing a very traditional and well-crafted Heavy Metal, this band delivers that great old-school vibe with a certain modern context and a whole lot of attitude. At first glance, the cover of this release looks like a mixture of some Dethklok scene and the band’s logo on Iced Earth typography, however, the music is far from cheesy since it is actually pretty solid.

The EP opens with powerful distorted guitars that nicely resonate in the background as George Manthos delivers his powerful vocal lines. The song structure is quite typical of the genre, but the nice combination of catchy riffs, tight drumming, and charismatic vocals immediately command attention. The magic continues with the EP title track, providing interesting tempo changes and George showing his true Heavy Metal range in this one.

For those of us that like power ballads, “Don’t Regret…Just Regret” showcases the band’s more sensible song-writing skills with clean guitars and very melancholic vocal melodies. The band’s vocalist again steals this show on this track, and it’s one of the band’s strongest assets. With a Thrash Metal edge, “Nightmare” steps up the band’s game and shows their versatility. In this one, we have to say that the ‘harsh’ vocals sound a bit forced at times, but the overall song has very sick guitar sections.

Before closing the album, we have the shred-tastic opening of “Sail to Heaven”, one of our favorite sections in this release. The song in general has a relaxing and more guitar-oriented approach with excellent guitar leads and a commanding bass guitar line. The powerful opening minutes of the closer, “Hunting Illusions”, showcases the band’s sensitive side, making the song quite appealing in our ears. We particularly enjoyed this side of the band more, since they craft excellent melodic and atmospheric passages.

Overall, “Chains” showcases a band with great potential. Bandemonic’s songwriting skills are quite solid, and if they mixed up their ballad power with their heavier songs, they would probably have an excellently balanced signature sound. We can only expect that the band keeps improving in the future, and we hope that their next release is 10 times better than this one. Highly recommended for fans of traditional Heavy Metal with a soft-side for power ballads.

Label: Self-Released

Release: May 11th, 2012

Genre: Heavy Metal

Country: Greece