This is the debut release from this Greek punk band whose style covers a variety of influences from the melodic and lighthearted to some slightly heavier (but never metallic) playing that's a little more aggressive.? The songs contained herein were written from 2000 - 2002 and recorded from 2002 - 2004, the end result including the 15 songs from their first demo and 13 newer songs for more than an hour of music.? It's definitely too long for this kind of thing, but I can totally understand that here because the band is basically doing everything themselves and documenting their work.? The only English text in the entire package is a xeroxed translation of the liner notes, which talk about the CD being entirely self-released - recorded, mixed, mastered, and pressed by the band.? They're also selling the disc for as low a cost as possible in order to reimburse their production costs without making any profit.? For the most part the songs are melodic and traditional punk rock with a catchy disposition, occasionally hitting on some light ska influences or something.? They never get too fast, so it's mainly just moderately paced chord progressions and a couple of slightly faster tracks bringing in more of a hardcore edge.? On rare occasion there's a hint of metal too, especially in the seventh track, which is slower and chunkier and has a NYHC thing happening!?? I definitely like the fact that four of the band members handle the vocal duties, which adds a lot of energy to the songwriting.? A couple of the members aren't very good singers, but the one female member has a great voice for this style of punk, and the guy who handles some of the more aggressive yelling is also really good.? It's mainly the backing vocals that irritate me sometimes because they're mixed too loud, and the more lighthearted/fun sounding vocal work comes across as a little cheesy to me.? The recording's rough around the edges but considering the circumstances it sounds pretty good.? The guitar tone is a little too distant, but it's surprisingly thick and heavy as well, which adds a different element to their sound.? The rhythm section sounds a little thin, notably since the bass tone is extremely defined, but I can live with that.? The vocals sound alright as well, I just think the mix ought to keep the vocals back in with the instruments a little more.? But remembering that they recorded this in a home studio with borrowed equipment you've pretty much gotta respect the end result they've achieved, because it sounds very competent.? Also worth noting is how consistent all of the songs sound considering they were recorded over the course of two years, because that's no small feat!? At the end of the disc there are two live tracks added on as a bonus, but the mix is mostly vocals so they're a little harder to make out as far as the instrumentation goes.? The layout's all done in black and white and includes a few simple little illustrations and all of the lyrics... in Greek, so I have no idea what any of the content deals with!? I'm guessing due to the musical variety herein that the songs are dealing with a mixture of content that's both fun as well as serious, but whether or not it's socio-political kind of stuff or personal issues is a complete mystery to me.? I wish I had translations of the song titles so I could single out a few more tracks and explain in more detail some of the nuances to their sound, but since everything's in Greek my hands are kind of tied there!? There are some really catchy songs here, however, so I commend the band for the efforts they've made.? If they continue to grow within the D.I.Y. resources they've built for themselves I think they'll really be able to release some stronger quality records in the future, too.
[self-released]
Running time - 66:00 (approximately), Tracks: 30
[Notable tracks: all of the song titles are in Greek]
The Parkinsons - [email protected]
