Nightstalker – Great Hallucinations

This veteran Greek group always has things to say. The world and the scene have proved their retro style, because the marker has been turned around and now they are in fashion. They started in 1989, so I suppose it’s something that already touched them. They had very good positions to start on the days that the grunge He was knocking on the door, and may, after so long, have reached their moment. Sabbatical riffs, first class stoner and excellent compositions. The Greek scene of Stoner It is sublime and one of the most powerful on the world scene. The influences of bands like Monster magnet or Kyuss They are present, but the Hellenics manage to add enough ingredients of their own to the mix and they have a legion of followers throughout the globe.

It all starts with the brilliant and brief “Black Cloud” in which the guitars and bass melt to riffle in the most obvious Sabbath tradition. The playful bass of Andreas Lagios and the voice of airs Ozzy who spends Argy. All very compact, with a groove lucid and extremely attractive. Script turn in the warm “Sweet Knife”, much more atmospheric and with Argy singing from the start with clean voices. Definitely, retro rock high voltage that can remind you of Graveyard when they attack their superlative ballads. The final acceleration suits the composition wonderfully. There is a lot of feeling in compositions such as “Sad Side of The City” because you can see that there is a surplus of ideas making all the themes be sufficiently disparate between them. Here we would be, perhaps, before the most accessible and melodic cut of the compact.

The deepest notes and sabbathescos are reflected in “Seven Out of Ten”. Great Density Work on the Guitar Tolis Motsios but it’s mostly the combined ben rhythmic base of the bass of Andreas Lagios and the timpani of Tell us roulos which makes the group walk on the right path. The fun “Cursed” could perfectly be the single because of its obvious accessibility and that charm that comes from the cradle. In “Half Crazy” they enter the path of Corrosion of Conformity and they come out graceful again. Truly the work of Argy is commendable. “Hole in the Mirror” saddens you showing another side of the group that remains at the beginning of the extensive and final “Great Hallucinations”. The title a little alludes to its more psychedelic beginnings and the theme grows from the slow pace with very voices Ozzy. End with instrumental prominence and lysergic excursion.

Few records of the style have caught me as immediately as Great Hallucinantions. Nightstalker it stands out as an overwhelming reality capable of capturing all its quality on a disc that is short and that comes in from the first time you shoot it. If the style suits you, you must listen. It is a dynamic and purely analog whole with a group that works organically and is able to accelerate, slow down and play with the intensities with pure mastery. Although Argy He is a living legend in Greece, here we still sin of ignorance towards his work. With this album it is possible to consider a European tour supporting a more established formation.

Jordi Tàrrega

Record, film and book collector. Open minded towards music and all its forms, but with a special predilection for all branches of rock. I also enjoy the mere fact of writing.