Greek band POTERGEIST is based out of Athens, Greece ever since they were formed back in 2004. They made their debut as recording artists with the album “Southwards” in 2007 and have since released a further three full length productions. “Crocodile Tears” is the most recent of these, and was issued through Greek label Garden of Dreams in 2015.
Potergeist is a self-described Swamp Metal band, presumably seeing some ties in their music that can be stretched back to the honky-tonk laden swamp pop that appeared back in the 1950’s sometime that later developed into swamp rock. One might expect their music to be liberally flavored with southern rock details due to that, but at least in this case I didn’t hear all that many features of that kind. They do have a few compositions with more of a distinct blues-oriented sound though, and there are some occasional guitar details that will sound familiar to those with a taste for southern rock, but at least from what I can tell these features are not dominating aspects of the music explored on this album.
What we do get is a tight run through an album that fits quite nicely into grunge territories however, one to be sorted not too far away from a band like Soundgarden, at least in terms of mood and atmosphere. Potergeist generally have slower paced compositions than the aforementioned legendary grunge band though, but in terms of intensity and sound comparisons can be made in that general direction. Certain similarities in other words, but a bit removed in terms of detailed style and execution.
Potergeist tends to favor either chugging riff structures with impact riffs or melodic overlays for the verse passages or quirkier start and stop sequences with pauses between compact riff barrages, and the vocals for the verse parts of their songs tends to be of the gruffy kind. For the verse sequences the vocals tend to be used in more of a clean and melodic manner, the guitars are used in more of a smooth and elegant manner, using drawn out riffs creating a flowing motion or a more dominant guitar solo overlay to add an organic flow emphasis to the chorus while also combining quite nicely with the lead vocals to add a greater feeling of melody and harmony here. This use of subtly contrasting structural features between verse and chorus functions rather well too, adding life and vitality to compositions that would otherwise feel just a bit too repetitive.
When that is said, this isn’t an album that will go down in history as a diverse production either, and while not being one-dimensional as such at least those who don’t listen to music of this exact kind on a regular basis will, I suspect, find this disc to be just a touch too heavy handed in terms of the material appearing to be just a bit too similar in scope. In addition I’ll note that not all of the start and stop effects used for dramatic impact throughout the album works as well as was probably intended, although that particular aspect probably comes down to personal taste first and foremost. In the latter department is also my chosen track from this disc, concluding track Last Punk Standing, and then mainly due to a compelling underlying riff structure used for the instrumental section halfways that elevated a good and compelling composition onto a slightly higher plane of entertainment, with both the riff construction explored as well as the added structural scope it gave this track the details I found alluring.
If you tend to enjoy bands generally described as grunge or stoner metal, Potergeist comes across as a band that merits an inspection. Personally I’d suggest those who appreciate bands similar to Soundgarden to have a go at this album, and then in particular if you enjoy bands of that kind when they stay mainly within midpaced territories.
My rating: 76/100
