Harmonize - 2020 - Warrior In The Night

 (45:27; Harmonize)

Track list:
1. Warriors in Line (Intro)
2. Never Back Down
3. Warrior in the Night
4. Angel
5. The Astonishing End
6. Tonight
7. Crawling Among Shadows
8. Beyond Darkness (Outro)
9. Angel (Acoustic)

Line-up:
Sozos Michael – vocals
George Constantinou - guitars
Lambros Apousianas – guitars
Panagiotis Takkides – bass
Harrys Peratikas – drums
with:
Andreas Paraschos - backing vocals
Nicolina Papas - voice


Cypriotic band HARMONIZE  was formed in 2012, and they have opted for the traditional manner in which to hone their craft since then. They have settled a line-up, recorded demo tapes and played live, and the latter probably as often as they have had the opportunity I imagine. Come 2020 and they are ready with their debut album "Warrior in the Night". And as is often the case these days, the album was self-released by the band.

I understand that this album is something of a conceptual creation, with a story-line exploring the good, old tropes of Sword & Sorcery with a warrior as the main character. hence the title of the album. Storywise and lyrically this album then provides a setting many metal fans will be instantly familiar with.

In terms of the music itself, this is an album I suspect will have its greatest appeal among those who have been on this planet a few years, as the spirit of the 1980's is all over this album. The mix and production has a slightly closed in feel to it, with the guitars pushed more up front than on many contemporary metal albums, and the guitar tone used for the riffs in particular tends to have a primal, gravelly edge to it. One might say that there's something primal to the general character of the album, which obviously fits with the concept. Almost to the point of creating a desire to give a shout out to the entity Crom, a being I imagine the band members of Harmonize may well be familiar with. If not from the original novels by Robert E. Howard then at least from the comics or movies.

Musically the band alternates between a few different styles. Traditional 80's heavy metal with beefy, chugging riff cascades and liberal use of impact riffs and staccato riff patterns is one half of the foundation here, at times creating some massive and majestic sequences exploring these landscapes. Galloping, first era power metal is the second half of the core foundation here, unpolished and energetic as power metal used to be before the term power metal was invented. They further enrich their material by way of slower paced, doom metal oriented inserts and pacier, tighter and harder passages with a wee bit of thrash metal orientation to them. When the band is at the top of their game they use all aspects of their genre palette to good effect to create and maintain tension and variation, and with some sweet guitar solo runs as the icing on the cake. A further specialty of the band, at least for this album, is to open most songs with an atmospheric laden, careful prologue, to establish a suitably mystical, dark atmosphere that I presume ties in with the concept explored. They explore this aspect more detailed in the at times brilliant storytelling creation 'Beyond Darkness (Outro)', where the concept and story is fleshed out in an elongated atmospheric laden creation.

Just how much you will enjoy this album obviously comes down to personal taste in music. I found a lot to enjoy on this album, and a few really solid cuts to boot, but overall I can't say this is a standout album as far my personal taste in music is concerned. It is a good album with a few solid gems though, and one that merits a check by fans of 80's heavy metal in general and those with a fascination for fantasy concept albums explored inside the context of this era of heavy metal in particular.

Olav M. Björnsen, October 2020

Links:
http://www.harmonizeofficial.com/