INNERWISH
Innerwish have stayed relatively under the radar since their inception over 20 years ago, while being incredibly respected in the melodic metal scene. Having released albums in 1998, 2004, 2006 and 2010 keeping up good momentum and balance to their work, Innerwish have managed to piece together quite a backlog of music to listen to. They also carry a strong sound tie to some of the best acts of all time that they just so happen to also have shared a stage with! Themes from Helloween, Judas Priest, Rhapsody and Manowar appear in dashes throughout Innerwish’s work, which blend together to create a powerful sound.
Innerwish returned to Devasounz Studios in Athens, Greece, to record their fifth studio album, self-titled as ‘Innerwish’, with George Eikosipentakis on vocals, Thimios Krikos and Manolis Tsigos on guitars, Antonis Mazarakis manning bass, George Georgiou on keys and featuring Fragiskos Samoilis destroying the drums! How would this, being their fifth studio album, fare? Would it emerge from the middle of the pack to finally attract the attention that they hope to gain? Let’s take a look!
Kicking things off is a track titled ‘Roll the Dice’ and it rocks. I love the journey this track takes from powerful speedy march riff to a wondrous melodic chorus. ‘Broken’ picks up the pace slightly as it transitions into a sharp rhythm, while carrying us to a very impressive climactic guitar solo. So much love for the attention to detail, I get hints of Iced Earth and Judas Priest in the early tracks.
‘Modern Babylon’ and ‘Machines of Fear’ continue into the middle of the album. While some of the lyrics can come off a tad bit comical or cheesy, it is impressive to hear a continuous story from track to track. ‘Needles in my Mind’ starts off with a change of pace acoustic entry that nearly passes itself off as a calm of the storm type ballad track. Then, before you get too comfortable, the song kicks into gear with a nice series of riffs that lead to a catchy chorus. ‘My world on Fire’, ‘Rain of a Thousand Years’, ‘Serenity’ (no connection to the classic TV series) and ‘Sins of the Past’ mount up a great nucleus to this album that any classic metal band would be proud to claim ownership of.
Taking us to the final four tracks of ‘Innerwish’, we have ‘Through my Eyes’ and ‘Zero Ground’, which lead into ‘Cross the Line’ and ‘Tame the Seven Seas’. ‘Zero Ground’ offers an excellent transition of styles with the most melodic sounding riffs found on this album. Then we have the all acoustic ‘Cross the Line’, which is a nice change of pace, even if it feels more like a missing track from a 1980s’ Whitesnake album. Our final track, ‘Tame the Seven Seas’ gives us a powerful path to the exit of our album with really complex solos on guitars and keyboards that really show off the talents of this band.
Overall, there’s so much to love with this album! Is it perfect? Probably not, but they do enough right to make it a required listen and one of the more solid releases of the early goings of 2016. ‘Innerwish’ will make any fan smile greatly as this should be considered to be their most complete album to date with fantastic twists and turns from beginning to end. I look forward to hearing more Innerwish soon!
Innerwish returned to Devasounz Studios in Athens, Greece, to record their fifth studio album, self-titled as ‘Innerwish’, with George Eikosipentakis on vocals, Thimios Krikos and Manolis Tsigos on guitars, Antonis Mazarakis manning bass, George Georgiou on keys and featuring Fragiskos Samoilis destroying the drums! How would this, being their fifth studio album, fare? Would it emerge from the middle of the pack to finally attract the attention that they hope to gain? Let’s take a look!
Kicking things off is a track titled ‘Roll the Dice’ and it rocks. I love the journey this track takes from powerful speedy march riff to a wondrous melodic chorus. ‘Broken’ picks up the pace slightly as it transitions into a sharp rhythm, while carrying us to a very impressive climactic guitar solo. So much love for the attention to detail, I get hints of Iced Earth and Judas Priest in the early tracks.
‘Modern Babylon’ and ‘Machines of Fear’ continue into the middle of the album. While some of the lyrics can come off a tad bit comical or cheesy, it is impressive to hear a continuous story from track to track. ‘Needles in my Mind’ starts off with a change of pace acoustic entry that nearly passes itself off as a calm of the storm type ballad track. Then, before you get too comfortable, the song kicks into gear with a nice series of riffs that lead to a catchy chorus. ‘My world on Fire’, ‘Rain of a Thousand Years’, ‘Serenity’ (no connection to the classic TV series) and ‘Sins of the Past’ mount up a great nucleus to this album that any classic metal band would be proud to claim ownership of.
Taking us to the final four tracks of ‘Innerwish’, we have ‘Through my Eyes’ and ‘Zero Ground’, which lead into ‘Cross the Line’ and ‘Tame the Seven Seas’. ‘Zero Ground’ offers an excellent transition of styles with the most melodic sounding riffs found on this album. Then we have the all acoustic ‘Cross the Line’, which is a nice change of pace, even if it feels more like a missing track from a 1980s’ Whitesnake album. Our final track, ‘Tame the Seven Seas’ gives us a powerful path to the exit of our album with really complex solos on guitars and keyboards that really show off the talents of this band.
Overall, there’s so much to love with this album! Is it perfect? Probably not, but they do enough right to make it a required listen and one of the more solid releases of the early goings of 2016. ‘Innerwish’ will make any fan smile greatly as this should be considered to be their most complete album to date with fantastic twists and turns from beginning to end. I look forward to hearing more Innerwish soon!
LABEL:
FORMAT:
Ulterium Records
Album
INNERWISH
Review by Joshua Jaeger
RUNNING TIME:
69:48
RELEASE DATE:
18th March 2016
TRACK LISTING
1) Roll the Dice; 2) Broken
3) Modern Babylon
4) Machines of Fear
5) Needles of Fear
6) My World on Fire
7) Rain of a Thousand Years
8) Serenity; 9) Sins of the Past
10) Through My Eyes
11) Zero Ground
12) Cross the Line
13) Tame the Seven Seas
3) Modern Babylon
4) Machines of Fear
5) Needles of Fear
6) My World on Fire
7) Rain of a Thousand Years
8) Serenity; 9) Sins of the Past
10) Through My Eyes
11) Zero Ground
12) Cross the Line
13) Tame the Seven Seas
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
Greece
"...their most complete album to date with fantastic twists and turns from beginning to end."
