King Mountain - Kingdom Of Shadows (CD)

 

One of Greece’s hardest workin men is without a doubt Stavos Papadopulos. Guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, singer, producer, recording engineer, mastering engineer and song writer. His name can be found in relation to bands like Universal Hippies, Hard Driver, Freerock Saints, Super Vintage och Revolution Highway. King Mountain is another one and it rests on the sacred grounds of the hard rocking 70s, with the riff as a word of honor. Stavros is also without a doubt a master in this trade, which he proves again and again. On the album with singer Tania Kikidi, which was released at the same time as this he also delivered a big chunk of great riffs, so I guess his riff account is pretty big. Actually, this album and Tania’s album, aren’t that far apart musically. The biggest difference is in the vocal delivery department, where the vocals here are handled by Stavros himself. If I was to compare this to some contemporary bands, it would probably be The Dead Daisies or Black Country Communion. Hard rock with riffs up front and bluesy vocals to fit the mold. Stavros is a very capable singer who does a great job even if his guitar playing is a few notches better. I truly love his guitar playing, his groove oriented rhythm playing and the bluesy, bleeding solos. King Mountain – check them out!

/Janne Stark

Year: 2021

Label: Grooveyard Records

Hard Driver - Freedom Machine (CD)

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Stavros must be the busiest man in Greece! Not only does he rock out with Super Vintage and Freerock Saints, now he has also released an instrumental CD with Universal Hippies and, at the same time, let loose another beast. Those of you familiar with Jake E Lee's band Badlands will surely make the connection here (for you uninformed Hard Driver is a song on the first Badlands album). Hard Driver sure do have some Badlands overtones. Bluesy hard rock with a southern touch. This is indeed a pretty solid album. The songs range between good and kick-ass and the band sounds great. The Achilles Heel, for my personal taste, is the vocals. Stavros is a good singer, but there is still something lacking for me to fully embrace his vocal performance. I'm not 100 % sure exactly what it is, but it's most likely a combination of his vocal range, his sound and his overall performing lacking a bit of oomph, for lack of a better word. However, what he lacks in vocals, he makes up for in his excellent guitar work. The songs are solid and the band plays great! Well worth checking out!
Janne Stark

Label: Grooveyard
Year: 2017
Country: Greece