This covid-era has been really tough for all the bands out there. Especially when you have to release a new studio album. Sorrowful Winds managed to come up with their fourth studio release, “Deny Reality”, against all the adversities almost 8 years after their previous album “Non-Aligned”.
The now four members also present their new drummer Kostas Exarchakos. Other than that there’s Mike I. on vocals, Thanasis Hatziagapis on guitars and Tasos Iosifidis on bass & keyboards. The new album kinda picks up from where they left off with “Non-Aligned”, but with a more updated, prog and atmospheric sound. The prog/power metal is embellished with lots of atmospheric and melodic parts that along with the doom ones make their music more distinctive and refined. Vocalist Mike is not your typical metal singer… his ala Kind Diamond falsettos, which are accompanied by his theatrical vocal interpretations are adding a variation to their musical outcome. The production is also powerful and tight. The album was recorded, engineered, mixed and mastered by Dionisis Christodoulatos at CFN Recordings studio in Athens, Greece. I do think that the band didn’t have a better production in the past. They did hit the spot this time.
“Deny Reality” is a “strange” and not an “easy” album, which requires several repeated listens, so as to get into it. It’s melodic, it’s atmospheric, it’s progressive, but most of all it’s metal art! This is probably the best release of the band to date. Hence do not let it go by for any reason, especially if you’re into prog/power metal music.
