Tears
Falling Certainty
6.1
I was a little hesitant to review a band with a name like Tears, wary of them turning out to be some sort of estrogen-fueled emo band with maybe a screamed chorus tossed in for metal “credibility”. Fortunately this isn’t the case, but Tears’s music is rather delicate, to say the least. This demo contains three standard tracks, all around the 5-minute mark, and a trio of instrumentals/ambient pieces. At their core, they are a classically-based prog band with dramatic overtones, hailing from Greece.
To emphasize the classical influence, the main songwriter Yannis Matagos is a classical guitar instructor, at the ripe old age of 21. Yannis plays the classical and electric guitar for this demo, in addition to singing. His vocals make me chuckle, as he has a very dramatic clean voice and a peculiar way of warbling when he accentuates certain words, in the same way that a sheep sounds. This is most pronounced in the first song, “Things Imaginary”, which is actually the most complete song on the disc. Solemn guitar lines lend a ballad feel to the song, while the combination of Yannis’ singing and dour atmosphere bring to mind the sad side of Green Carnation.
The boy can also shred, as evidenced in “Self Destruction II” and “Time Master”. In these songs, the band shows off more of their musical prowess, in a playful fashion reminiscent of Dream Theater. At certain points in “SD II”, they try to kick it up a notch with faster, driving percussion, but the production isn’t equipped to handle the heaviness, leaving a muddled mess. Constantinos, the keyboardist, unleashes during “SD II” as well, with some ascending/descending scales, but he never goes overboard like certain prog bands I’ve reviewed do. I’m looking at you, Time Requiem.
Tears is one of the many bands with very capable players whose songwriting could use a little tweaking, but this is usually to be expected with a band’s first demo. In their defense, they show more promise than a lot of the unsigned submissions that come through the MetalReview doors. They may have to decide which path to proceed down, the sad-rock of “Things Imaginary”, or the more upbeat prog-metal of “Time Master”. Open-minded Dream Theater fans may have a fun time with this one.
Related
TearsEmptiness
7/20/2006