Showing posts with label hard driver. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hard driver. Show all posts

Monday, 15 November 2021

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


Wednesday, 6 September 2017

Universal Hippies - Mother Nature Blues (CD)


Busy boy Stavros (Super VintageFreerock Saints, Hard Driver) is at it again. This time delivering a bunch of instrumental tracks under the Universal Hippies moniker. I'm not a huge fan of instrumental albums, I shall admit, but this is some pretty cool shit. Opener Redemption Day is a cool, melodic thing with highly tasteful guitar harmonies and great melodies. Enjoyable indeed! Homo Sapiens continues in the same vein and I get a feel of Wishbone Ash meets 70s Epitaph, with some bad ass riffing thrown in. Stavros plays outstandingly tasteful. No overplaying, no meaningless shredding, but melodic soloing, great feel, great arrangements and really great songs. There's not a bad track on the album and I must say I really love every part of it from the songs to the performances to the songs. Awesome!
Janne Stark

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Label: Grooveyard
Year: 2017
Country: Greece