Hand of Fate – Messengers Of Hope
Album Review By Rainer Kerber
The release date is already a while back, in January of last year. But the promo invitation was also quite late. Hand of Fate from the Greek port of Thessaloniki were founded in December 2014. The debut album “Messengers Of Hope” was released on its own. Shortly thereafter, the singer and drummer left the band and were replaced by Elena Bella and Teo Koutsos. Thus, the album debut is to a certain extent also a one-and-a-half-year-old time testimony of the band.
Oh, the Greeks rock at “No Plaything” kicking off on it. And with Alexandra Anagnostopoulou they have a great singer in their ranks. Her powerful voice can easily keep up with the powerful rhythm section. That’s hard rock / melodic metal with heavy riffs and short, concise guitar solos. Subsequent subtle symphonic passages are interspersed. Despite all this, the harder sound (“Enchanted”, “Touched By An Angel”) predominates here. An epic power ballad is “Messengers Of Hope”. The singer convinces with her pleasant dark timbre. Memories of the early years of Tarja come here. This impression is reinforced by “Temptation”. The second ballad “The Gift” can convince all around. With the mostly acoustic ballad “A Time I Was Free” Hand of Fate finish their album debut. Nightwish Feeling comes up for the last time.
“Messengers of Hope” is a respectable debut. In many places you can hear the early Nightwish, but less hard and less bombastic. Thus, Hand of Fate skillfully avoid using massive epic and symphonic bombast. The mostly mid-tempo songs sound very pleasant in the ear of the listener. On the further development you can be quite curious. Let’s hope that the new singer Elena Bella can follow in the footsteps of her predecessor.
Hand of Fate – Messengers of Hope: https://youtu.be/YogRkdP6D3k
Lineup:
Album
Alexandra Anagnostopoulou – Vocals, Lyrics
John Hatzidimos – Lead Guitar, Programming
Tasos Gerasimou – Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vocals
Sotos Sofidis – Bass
Dimitris Kounatiadis – Drums
Current
Elena Bella – Vocals
John Hatzidimos – Lead Guitar, Programming
Tasos Gerasimou – Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vocals
Sotos Sofidis – Bass
Teo Koutsos – Drums
Label: Self-released
Out: January 14th 2018
Playing time: 40:44
Track list:
- No Plaything
- Enchanted
- Messengers Of Hope
- Temptation
- Touched By An Angel
- The Gift
- Fading Dreams
- A Time I Was Free
Rating : 8/10
MHF Magazine/Rainer Kerber
