01. Planet Of Zeus - Nervous Breakdown 02. Lord 13 - Bitter Story (B - Version) 03. Teenage Angst - My Ego's Frozen Mountains 04. Cube - Sleep Away 05. Bliss - Assemble The Temple 06. The Dive - The Field 07. Three Way Plane - My Best Friend 08. Sugah Galore - Demons 09. Echo Tattoo - Refugee 10. Fingers Crossed - A Minor 11. Gloriphon - A Land Of Thousand Yesterdays 12. Semen Of The Sun - Cats On The Roof 13. Liquidust - Nu 1 14. Engine V - Guilty Anyway 15. The Earthbound - The Chase (Live)

Spinalonga Records is an independent label from Greece that supports the local underground stoner rock/alternative scene.

This is the second compilation released by Spinalonga. So, the thing with this review is a bit complicated... you can't say or write ANYTHING, about a bunch of people who sat down together and combined ideas and their love for music, and found this label to give unknown/unsigned bands a podium to express their musical thoughts and share their point of view with the listeners… This kind of move is, especially, for the Greek scene a step on a much unexplored ground. You see, many people acknowledge something that is theirs only if it has been exported and then imported again. So by doing a move like these guys from Spinalonga, proves that there are some people who understand and dig the fact that the Greek stoner/alternative scene is alive and expanding, that the underground has a tight core of supporters. Only for that fact they are entitled to every single credit that they are given, and every word spoken against it should be considered more an act of envy!

Well, let’s talk about the content of this compilation… In Greece they say “if it comes to taste, pumpkinpie…” So I can’t be 100% objective and my opinion is formed by my own personal taste! There is actually a nice selection of tracks for every alternative oriented ear. The starter “Nervous Breakdown” by Planet Of Zeus, a band that appeared on the previous compilation as well, is a buttkick of heavy rock! This band is the next best thing in Greece. Enter Lord 13, a band very well known by the crowd with “Bitter Story”, another heavy rock cracker! Teenage Angst is the third band. They play more melodic with less distortion and more emotion according to their track “My Ego’s Frozen Mountains”. Cube comes next and along with the Dive, both on the previous comp as well, represent the Tool approach to play their rock. You’ll hear vocals that change emotions, you’ll hear riffs and rhythm changes all packed in their songs as taught by the masters. Bliss put their stone on “Assemble The Temple” with their sound that combines heavy bouncing guitars and acoustic/melodic passages. Three Way Plane’s music reminded me a bit of The Red Hot Chili Peppers. They experiment in their song “My Best Friend” with reggae/dub music and are not bad if you like this kind of music. Sugah Galore, play groovy Funky rock’n’roll, with their leg shaker “Demons”. Echo Tattoo, Fingers Crossed and Gloriphon, have a darker and sentimental sound to their songs, “Refugee”, “A minor” and “A Land Of Thousand Yesterdays”. These three tunes made me go the “pumpkin pie” way, they play probably very good music, but I have no experience in these particular sounds so I can’t tell for sure… If you like it atmospheric and moody, dark, not very lit, here it is for you. The Silence is broken by Semen Of The Sun and their song “Cats On The Roof”. Heavy Rock n Roll with bad ass attitude and cool riffing in 2.52 minutes… nuff said. Liquidust is another name that will be remembered in Greek stoner history! We are talking about one of the finest HEAVY Rock acts in Greece!!! “Nu 1” is a blaster, it will take you for a spin with its riffology, the vocals form the outer limits and the super solos!!!! Engine*V rock away in the Motorhead manner in “Guilty Anyway”, and the singer sounds a bit like Lemmy. Let it rumble! The Earthbound closes this compilation with their live performance of “The Chase” a fast and funky soul song, giving another option on how spread the borders of heavy and groovy music are…

Well, I’ve rambled enough now, so lets get this done with… As I wrote above, this compilation has a two-way point of view, one being the importance-of-this-release point, and the other being the content-of –this-release point. For the first, there is only the highest of rating as the undoubtable fact, for the second the sole and subjective rating of me, which is only the above “if it comes to taste, pumpkin pie”… Support the underground, there are diamonds in this misjudged junkyard…

www.spinalonga.net