Two short years seems to be all it has taken for Phase Reverse to get from their formation to their first full-length album, playing live constantly in the meantime and recording their self-titled debut with no label support. The result is something for fans of crushing southern rock.
Every track combines Down‘s heavy groove with Zakk Wylde’s solos (note John Stergiou’s solo in the breathtaking second half of the ballad High Hopes) and Molly Hatchet‘s acute sense of building a catchy song around muscular riffs. Much like Wylde achieved with his much-missed Pride & Glory outfit, in actual fact. Some tracks take on a mean groove (Long Gone) while others follow a Lynyrd Skynyrd melody without losing the heaviness of their Down influences.
In short, everything here is pure rock, or “ROCK” as the trio themselves put it. Vocalist (also bassist) Tas Ioannidis’ voice is both gritty and melodic, stopping short of Phil Anselmo’s growl at one end and country rock at the other. He can bark over Alex Alexiou’s pummelling drums on the heavy tracks, and hit every note on the softer moments, sounding at home doing both.
And the band’s own production is a perfect middle ground between polished and rough – ideal for this kind of rock. This record can’t fail to appeal to any fan of heavy, southern rock/metal, and doesn’t put a foot wrong for its full hour length.
