BLIND SUN ~ UNDER THEM STONES

We at Desert Psychlist have championed the Greek underground rock scene ever since we chanced upon Greek stoner rock legends Nightstalker's very first EP "Side FX", while searching for something new to hear on YouTube, that was back in 2002 and it wasn't long after that we discovered that Nightstalker were just the spearhead behind which a whole phalanx of like minded Greek bands were honing their weaponry hoping to unleash their grooves on an unexpecting international market. There have been times since then that we have felt a little like the legendary messenger Pheidippides, who ran the 40km from Marathon to Athens to tell the Athenians of Greek victory over the Persians, only with our message having to travel a little further and wider. Hopefully we don't suffer the same fate as Pheidippides, who after imparting his news dropped down dead at the end of his journey, and we can carry on bringing you more bands like Blind Sun, the subject of this review.

Blind Sun hail from Athens and consist of  Marios Kassianos (vocals/lead guitar), Kostas Kotsiras (vocals, rhythm guitar), Nick Tountas (bass), Xanthippi Papadopoulou (lead vocals) and Antonis Aspropoulos (drums), they are a a collective with a sound that has its roots set in a wide variety of genres and who cite their influences as ranging "from Black Sabbath to Pink Floyd, from Soundgarden to Tool", influences they utilise to great effect on their debut release "Under Them Stones"

Opening song "Freedom In Hell" belies its doomic title by jamming a heavy blues groove replete with chugging guitar riffs and scorching solo's over which lead vocalist Xanthippi Papadopoulos tells a tale of finding her own kind of freedom in a barren desert wasteland, singing of "silent plains and burning dust" in powerful tones drenched in bluesy gravitas. "Stoned Godess" follows and finds the band shifting up and down the gears on a song that is part a lament and part a heavy blues torch song with jazzy chord progressions overlapping crunching riffs over an undulating rhythmic backdrop that explodes and smoulders with unerring regularity and a vocal that shifts from a roar to a whisper as and when the groove dictates. The next two tracks, "These Blues" and "Ghosts of Revolutions Past"  both stick very much to a blues rock formula with the former having a more traditional feel and the latter bringing a little stoner(ish) stridency into play. These two songs are followed by "I Am" and "Turn" songs that find the band throwing not only elements of funkishness into the mix but also more than a modicum of metallic progishness too, a direction we at Desert Psychlist would very much like to see the band follow with any future endeavours they may undertake. "Mariners" is as the perfect vehicle for Papadopoulos to show off  her full vocal range, her voice having an almost symphonic floating quality in the songs quieter sections rising to a blues drenched holler when the song shifts into heavier territories. Title song "Under Them Stones" brings things to a close and is a song that amalgamates all the elements explored on the albums previous tracks into one piece, a stunning finale packed full with  powerful vocal performances, crunching refrains, deep throbbing bass lines, swirling guitar solos and a mix of thunderous and restrained drumming.

A feature of many of the underground bands (not by any means all) coming out of Greece is that they tend to lean towards a more classic/hard rock sound as opposed to the more doomic and metallic sounds that seems to originate from countries, with an equally thriving underground scene, like Sweden and Poland. In this respect Blind Sun or no different from many of their homeland contemporaries, their sound is one steeped in heavy bluesy swagger and classic rock polish and they are a band who understand both the art of song structure and the value of a good melody, elements of which are present throughout the eight songs that make up "Under Them Stones".

Check it out ....... 

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