SILENT WINTER
“Utopia”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

10/10

Silent Winter are a power metal band from Greece formed in 1995 who released two demo’s before disbanding in 2001. Reforming in 2018, four new members joined founder, guitarist Kiriakos Belanos, the band releasing their debut album ‘The Circles Of Hell’ in 2019, sophomore album ‘Empire Of Sins’ in 2021, and third album ‘Utopia’ in 2024…

…featuring one hell of an upturn in power, pace and oomph! Silent Winter – comprising singer Mike Livas (Prydain), guitarist Vaggelis Papadimitriou, bassist Vaggelis Tsekouras, drummer John Antonopoulos and keyboardist Maria Mosxeta alongside Kiriakos, are a rising force in the worldwide power metal scene, establishing a fierce reputation as a lively and energetic act on stage, performing at various metal festivals and opening for such legendary bands as Helloween, Judas Priest and Rhapsody Of Fire. The bands new album contains nine songs across an exhilarating forty eight minutes, ‘Utopia’ storming into life with (album) opener ‘We Burn The Future’.

And the band are immediately into their stride, racing forth with incredible purpose and intent, the level of head bang ability shooting right through the fucking roof! A blistering opening salvo, ‘We Burn The Future’ is gonna turn the heads of every listener in the world towards Greece, Silent Winter anything but silent, the band roaring louder than a parent who’s just stepped on a Lego brick that’s been left lying around on the floor by their untidy and messy children! And as a parent of two, I know that roar very well – ‘Utopia’ moving in a more melodic power metal direction with ‘Hellstorm’, the overly infectious classic European metal sound rising high in the air. And that chorus too, sing a long-able or what! And if you’re not rocking your head back and forth to this one – are you deaf? It’s so fucking catchy you should be – and with a sudden drop in pace and power, ‘Hands Held High’ enters the fray with an immense hymn-like come ballad aura, the band bringing a touch of symphonic metal elegance to the fore, ‘Hands Held High’ proceeding to take on the mantle of rabble rousing anthemic metal! All together now for the call to arms chorus break “One for all and all for one, We fight for what is true, Side by side our voices to be heard, Together in union we stand” – and if you haven’t got your fist raised high in the air to salute a belter of an anthem, are you really metal?

The opening threesome has been terrific, Silent Winter building upon everything ‘Empire Of Sins’ achieved, ‘Reign Of Tyrants’ returning the European power metal sound to the fore, every listener everywhere rocking their head back and forth – whether they want to or not! For ‘Reign Of Tyrants’ is so fucking addictive and infectious that involuntary head banging is very much the order of the moment, along with yet another highly sing a long-able chorus – a chorus that an in-concert crowd are gonna scream at the tops of their voices! What an experience that’s gonna be to be a part of – the Greek outfit not putting a foot wrong so far with their third album. If anything, the bands feet are firmly planted on the monitor, the band proudly parading the iconic pose of heavy metal as ‘Manifest Of God’ enters the fray with a much heavier feel than anything heard so far – the sound of heavy, power metal rising high in the air to infect a worldwide audience. The energy and drive here is out-of-this-world, Silent Winter forging ahead with more energy than is needed to power planet Earth for a whole year! The band are unstoppable right now, and I for one ain’t even gonna try, the glorious gallop of traditional come power come melodic metal featuring highly as ‘Reborn’ roars into sight with more catchiness than every other song heard so far! And when I said the first threesome was terrific, the second threesome has been amazing!

And if this magical trend continues, imagine what the third threesome is gonna be like! Well imagine no more readers, the third and final threesome begins in classic melodic power metal mode – ‘Heart Is A Lonely Hunter’ another one of those banging tunes that’ll have you head banging without even realising it! Yes, it really is that powerful, just like every other song on offer, Silent Winter are performing at the top of their game to deliver a belter of an album that deserves a place in every power metallers collection – ‘Silent Shadows’ bringing a rougher hustle and bustle feel to the fore, the band pounding the ground hard to wobble walls and shake buildings to their foundations with a force much stronger than gravity! And we all know how strong gravity is – it stops us all from falling off the face of the fucking planet! And as ‘Utopia’ cruises towards its final song, the Greek metallers couldn’t have chosen a more apt title for the album, ’cause if you don’t already know, “utopia” is, according to a brief internet search, defined as a “place of ideal perfection” – an exceptional choice for a title as it does exactly what it says on the tin (to coin an old phrase). So closing out the album, the title song ‘Utopia’ is more mellow than anything else on offer, for all of the first thirty six seconds! And then all fucking hell breaks loose, Silent Winter accelerating to top speed in the blink of an eye, the electrifying pace heard earlier making an emphatic return in sensational style – the third and final threesome a breath taking one!

Overall, a sensational forty eight minutes of magnificent power metal, one hundred percent infectious with an all consuming head bang ability.

TRACKLIST

We Burn The Future
Hellstorm
Hands Held High
Reign Of The Tyrants
Manifest Of God
Reborn
Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
Silent Shadows
Utopia

https://silentwinter.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/silentwinter.gr

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