Kev Rowland Well, it has been four years since their second album, which I raved over, but I can see that there has been quite some movement within the band between ‘Anthem To Creation’ and ‘Inure’ as only Theodore "Teo" Amaksopoulos (guitars) and Lef Germenlis (keyboards) are left from that line-up. But, it must be said that in the new members they have some real finds. I rated previous singer Yannis Papadopoulos very highly indeed, but Cons Marg is quite a find with a superb range. They have also brought in a second singer in Donna Zed who provides backing vocals where appropriate, and this allows for some powerful harmonies.

Teo and Lef are continuing to drive the band strongly in progressive metal, with some interesting time signatures and syncopation, and music that goes through the gamut of incredibly melodic through to intensely metallic and everything in between. They work together incredibly well, often both playing complex lead lines at the same time, and then each of them taking turns to provide backing for the other. There is a great deal of space within this album, and there is a great deal of light and shade, so that when they do turn up the riffs and intensity it has immediate impact. Incredibly polished, this is yet another great release from this Greek outfit, and I can only hope that with a settled line-up, which is currently on tour, that we don’t have to wait so long for the next one. More to the Threshold end of prog metal than Dream Theater, just listening to this left me with a huge smile on my face, and who could wish for more?

Kev Rowland And so I have now worked back to the debut, which was released in 2009. The shredding here is really intense, and the impression is not so much of a progressive metal band, but more of a melodic metal outfit trying to work out how to make room for the keyboards, yet definitely using interesting time signatures and arrangements. Parts of this remind me of Threshold’s debut ‘Wounded Land’, although Damianos-Cosmas Roussos’s voice is more like LaBrie than Wilson. He is a fine singer, but did seem to have some problems with holding some of the high notes. But, this was the only album he made with the band, as he left to be replaced by current singer Yannis Papadopoulos in 2010. Overall, this is an intense album, with crunching riffs, as the band are out to make an impact, which they certainly do.

Incredibly, the band was formed 2004, in Thessaloniki Greece, by Orestis Fikos (bass), Lefteris Germenlis (keyboards) and Alex Hughes (drums) when the guys were just 14 years old, and certainly this album doesn’t sound like the debut of some young unknowns. But, compared with their later works this is an unpolished gem with loads of promise, but yet to be fully developed. A strong album to be sure, but it pales against their later works, and it is with these that the intrigued need to start with, but then come back and find out how it all started. www.untilrain.com

Kev Rowland I was so impressed with ‘Anthem to Creation’ that I contacted the band directly, and keyboard player Lefteris Germenlis sent me copies of both their debut album and this their EP, which was released in 2011. I know that this may be seen to be ‘padded’ in that it contains a radio edit of the title cut so that it is here more than once, but only two of these songs appear (in different forms) on their debut, none appear on their second, yet this still clocks in at more than 41 minutes. Guys, this would have been an album if it had been released back in the days of vinyl, not an EP! When I reviewed ‘Anthem’ I described their music as “bringing together elements of prog metal, melodic and experimental metal, art rock, electronic music with some AOR sensibilities, so that they come across as Threshold mixed with Dream Theater, Dragonforce and Symphony X, with bits of King Crimson thrown in for good measure” and here is yet more of the same, although there are also some lovely touches of piano to boot.

This is an incredibly polished band, who exude experience and class from every pore, and I find myself wondering how a band can release material of this quality yet still be quite an unknown quantity to many. “Pictures of the Past” commences with just vocals and piano, until it is time for the guitar break where there is a small duet, while the bass adds a warmth and delicacy to the whole piece. Here is a band that really understand the use of space as an additional instrument, as although there are moments when the sound is all encompassing, there are others where they just let each instrument speak for itself and gives it the room to do so. Strong arrangements, great songs, wonderful performances, this band is definitely one of my finds of the year, and the one good thing about coming across them for the first time is that I get to hear lots of great music all in one go!

“H1N1” is particularly poignant, as they use clips from people talking about the flu virus, with just Lefteris providing a synth background. In many ways this is very simple, but is also very powerful. For fans of progressive and melodic metal everywhere, www.untilrain.com

Kev Rowland Until Rain is a progressive metal band that was formed back in 2004 in Thessaloniki, Greece. It took until 2009 for their debut album to appear, and they are now back with their second, and yet again I find myself at a total loss to try and work out how come I haven't come across these guys before? There are some great bands coming out of Greece at the moment, and Until Rain are definitely part of that group. Here is a band that is bringing together elements of prog metal, melodic and experimental metal, art rock, electronic music with some AOR sensibilities, so that they come across as Threshold mixed with Dream Theater, Dragonforce and Symphony X, with bits of King Crimson thrown in for good measure. Yannis Papadopoulos is an incredible singer, with great range and control, and behind him is a band with every skill one could wish for. Lefteris Germenlis has a deft touch on the keys, sometimes being over the top and at others adding just little nuances, while bassist Bill Gkagkavouzis is happy to play in and around the beat adding his own melodies, or just to tack it down while drummer Alex Hughes is monstrous. Then last, and certainly not least, we have Theo Amaxopoulos, who is a shredder par excellence. There are times when the band is heavy, really heavy, and Theo is providing an incredible note density yet at all times he knows that he has a part to play within the whole and the result is a band that are always on the edge, always striving for that little bit more, but never allowing any single person to take over the whole show. Until it is time for he solos that is, when they all use the opportunity to shine without forgetting that it is a band effort. Along with the aforementioned bands, fans of Savatage and Stratovarius should be aware that here is a band that are mixing the prog metal, symphonic metal and power metal genres into something that is intense, melodic, powerful and essential, all at the same time.

I notice that the band are currently offering a special deal on their albums and EP so now could not be a better time to discover yet another incredible act from Greece. And if someone asked me to pick between these guys and Firewind, it would be Until Rain that would win out. For more details visit www.untilrain.com

adg211288 Anthem to Creation (2013) is the second full-length album by Greek progressive metal act Until Rain. It's been several years since the group's debut The Reign of Dreams (2009) and in that time they've acquired a new vocalist, Yannis Papadopoulos, as well as bassist, Bill Gkagkavouzis. They did however release an EP in that time called Pandemic (2011), which saw the new line-up make their debut together.

The music on Anthem to Creation is mostly progressive metal of the traditional, Dream Theater school. Until Rain expands on the sound every so often with aspects of symphonic metal and slightly less commonly, power metal. The album is quite the mammoth undertaking from the young band with a total running time of almost seventy-nine minutes. If there's a genre to play in though where such a long duration can be pulled off then it's progressive metal, and Until Rain show that, although they're not up to the masterpiece stages just yet, they can pull off a truly excellent album of this magnitude without ever allowing boredom to settle into their listeners.

The group are all clearly skilled musicians and during the album they show themselves capable of applying their craft both to shorter tracks like opener Brain Death or Living Hell as well as long epic compositions like Empty Helmet and of course the album's title track, which lasts for a whopping 18:21. The quality of their material is consistently high with only a couple of slightly lower points in the forms of Think Again or The Clang of Shields Pt. II, but I have to say those longer tracks are where Anthem to Creation really hits the spot, although I also have to give a special nod to 13-8 as a highlight. In addition to their instrumental prowess Yannis Papadopoulos is a great vocalist whose melodic tone tops off the package nicely. The end result is convincing and most definitely highly praise-worthy work.

Until Rain doesn't exactly push the boat out in terms of really surprising a listener whose familiar with the typical for progressive metal, however. They're a little bit more than a Dream Theater clone due to including influences of other genres but all the same, Anthem to Creation is a bit of a wearing their influences on their sleeves sort of album, meaning that it'll no doubt find a crowd among those who like artists like Dream Theater, Haken, or Redemption, but doesn't quite manage to rank alongside their best work. Still, this is a really excellent release that I'm still happy to award an exceptional grade rating to. I'd like to hear Until Rain develop more of their own identity within the genre, but even as things stand with Anthem to Creation, their music is still a lot more satisfactory than some of these modern so-called djent bands.

89/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/until-rain-anthem-to-creation-t3181.html)