Release Date: October 11th 2024. Record Label: Ihaveadrum Records. Format: DD/Vinyl
Afterlife - Track Listing:
1.Preview Of An Afterlife
2.Baptized In His Death
3.Step on, Skin Off
4.No Ordinary Life
5.The Song You Misunderstand
6.Let's Call It Even
7.Bad Milk
8.Letter To A Newborn
9.The Vixen
10.State Of Non-Existence
Members
BABIS PAPANIKOLAOU: VOCALS, GUITAR
STELIOS PROVIS: GUITAR, VOCALS
GIANNIS VRAZOS: BASS
SERAFEIM GIANNAKOPOULOS: DRUMS
Review
Stoner Rock masters Planet Of Zeus return with their sixth album Afterlife where the band take a dramatic creative shift with their music and just when you have them all figured out the band still have a few surprises up their sleeve to keep their sound highly original after almost a quarter century in the business in playing sublime Stoner Rock/Metal sounds.
Afterlife captures the band playing a heavier and progressive style of music where they bring a buoyant Progressive energy with classic sounding Stadium Rock delivery within the album. Planet Of Zeus are one of the bands at the forefront of the Greek Stoner Metal scene alongside such bands such as 1000MODS and Nightstalker always delivering the goods with each passing record.
Thie album allows Planet Of Zeus to further enhance their overall sound with a jagged Psych Rock, Fuzz Rock and Desert Rock sound with a rebellious aggressive spirit which comes shining through on the opening batch of tracks such as: Preview Of An Afterlife, Baptized In His Death and Step On, Skin Off. The lyrics are quite DOOM METAL based with Planet Of Zeus showing a more mature sound compared to their previous releases. However, the band are known for their epic and classic sounding Stoner Metal grooves which are all in full flight which harks back to the legendary 1990’s Stoner Metal scene.
The album is perhaps Planet Of Zeus’s most personal record to date with Afterlife touching upon subjects that are perhaps deeply personal to the band themselves which is conveyed through the sublime lyrics written for the album. The band do show a more mainstream and commercial angle to their sound but they have that legendary underground drive where they blend moments of Alternative Metal and a 1990’s Rock/Metal mentality.
Taking cues from bands such as Foo Fighters, QOTSA, KYUSS, FU MANCHU, CLUTCH and MASTODON but still so god damn original on tracks such as: No Ordinary Life, Let’s Call It Even, Letter To A Newborn and the brilliantly dynamic and powerful track State Of Non-Existence.
The vocals from Planet Of Zeus have also gone under a slight reinvention with HEAVY METAL and aggressive leaning vocals being heard from time-to-time. The music is always melodic and allows the band to add other genres of the Hard Rock scene into the mix with a mighty creative winning attitude allowing Afterlife to be perhaps the most complete PLANET OF ZEUS we’ve experienced in quite some time.
Afterlife is another classic slice of Stoner Metal from Planet Of Zeus and should no doubt firmly establish them as one of the most essential bands from the Stoner Metal scene that you need to listen to right now.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to Planet Of Zeus and 3P Labfor the promo.
Afterlife will be available to buy on DD/Vinyl from Ihaveadrum Records from Friday October 11th 2024.
Links
Official | Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram
