Sirius – A Quest For Life

Sirius
A Quest For Life
Label: Wormholedeath
Out: July 26^th, 2024
Playing time: 42:50

I almost couldn’t believe it. Seventeen years after the band was founded, their debut album was released. I’m talking about the Greek Heavy Metal band Sirius and their first album ‘A Quest For Life’. Could it be due to various line-up changes? Only band founder, singer and guitarist Dimitris Napas seems to have been with the band from the very beginning. Before that, only the EP ‘Wings Of Fire’ (2017) was released. The album is enhanced by two high-calibre guest musicians. Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens (KK’s Priest, ex-Judas Priest, ex-Iced Earth) and Derek Sherinian (Black Country Communion, Whom Gods Destroy, ex-Dream Theater).

‘Unbound The Scream’ starts with banging riffs, followed by a hard guitar melody. After this short introduction, riffs dominate, literally pounding out of the speakers. The guest vocalist here is Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens, who delivers a unique vocal performance. ‘Beyond The Sands Of Time’ starts more calmly. The vocals also sound very contemplative. Later, there are again heavy riffs, but these are in the mid-tempo range. The song is characterised by beautiful melodies. Even ‘Desdichado’ is essentially mid-tempo, even though the hard riffs can be heard. With ‘Edge Of The World’, the Greeks celebrate a great Metal anthem. ‘Fragment’ is a quiet instrumental guitar-orientated interlude. The guitars seem to literally take over a vocal part. It is probably intended as an introduction to the following ‘Lostlight’. And that really gets going. This is Heavy Metal in its purest form. The guitars gallop ahead and sweep all the musicians along. A huge guitar solo is the highlight of this song. And almost as if the musicians had to take a little break after this elemental force, there is a ballad-like passage in the second half. The guitars also drive ‘Land Of Swords’. And of course there is also a guitar solo, some of which is ‘shredded’. A big chorus rounds off the whole thing. The finale sounds like a battlefield brawl where you can hear horses neighing and pattering. The bouncer ‘Among The Heavens’ is an extremely epic song that starts quietly with clear guitar sounds. But it doesn’t stay so ballad-like. Later, heavy riffs alternate with beautiful melodic arcs. From around the middle, the song picks up speed and becomes much heavier. However, the band could have done without the long fade-out that follows the furious final section.

‘A Quest For Life’ is an extremely successful debut album. The question is, of course, why did we have to wait so long for it? This is how Heavy Metal should sound in the here and now. We can only hope that Sirius won’t make us fans wait so long again before the follow-up is released.

Sirius – Desdichado: https://youtu.be/q-hs3qZ8opI?si=dxYPwizMNtg_Ord2

Lineup:

Dimitris Napas – Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitars
Dimitris Stathopoulos – Rhythm Guitars
Dimitris Simiakos – Bass
Nick “Yngve” Samios – Drums

Track list:

• Unbound The Scream
• Beyond The Sands Of Time
• Desdichado
• Edge Of The World
• Fragment
• Lostlight
• Land Of Swords
• Among The Heavens