Prodigal Earth was formed around 1990 under the name Gangland in the island of Cyprus. Most of the members participated in the legendary Autocrash formed around 1989. Ganglands original members were Socratis Leptos, Nicholas Philippou and Antonis Mavrou. At first, vocals were performed by Socratis but it was obvious that the band needed a singer so that Socratis could concentrate on the guitar. Thats when Nicholas Leptos (Socratis brother) singer with Autocrash (Autocrash and Gangland co-existed for a period of 2 years approximately) stepped in. Bass was performed by either Socratis or Antonis. Gangland started by covering famous Iron Maiden songs and then moved on to trying Ozzy, Deep Purple and Metallica covers. In time, they began writing their own tunes. The main song-writer at the time was 14-year-old Socratis! (Some of the tunes he wrote then, made it to the first Prodigal Earth album!). The band gave many concerts around the city and it was obvious that the chemistry was there from the beginning. Of course when most of the band members turned 18 they had to complete their army duties. Thats when the band was put on ice. The army and studies were the basic reason why the bands activities were suspended but not before they managed to record their first demo Will to live. It was a very straight-forward melodic metal demo that showed that the band can write good songs and make itself known to the underground scene. This break went on for about 10 years!! In 2006 Nicholas Philippou and Nicholas Leptos decided to call Antonis and see whether there was ground for re-forming the band. Antonis was keen and so was Socratis. Long-time friend and music associate Paris Lambrou who was at the time playing in another band with Nicholas (the singer) joined the band as the official bass player. So the band began rehearsing again, started writing new songs and changed the name to Prodigal Earth. After 2, 5 years of rehearsing, the band finally released its debut album Zenith II Zero. It contained most of the songs from the 96 demo, plus some great newer and more modern songs. This combination of the older classics (rejuvenated and rearranged to fit the modern traits) and the new tunes is what gave Zenith II zero its own unique character. Ranging from classic heavy metal to power and from power to heavy rock, Prodigal Earth are the masters in finding the right melodies, both in music or vocals. Songs like Broken world, Crossroads, Young ones and Lonely Gods are already fan-favorites.
At the moment, Prodigal Earth is in the song-writing period for their sophomore effort. All the members of Prodigal earth have their own side projects, a fact that shows their endless creativity and love for music and their need to satisfy their thirst to explore every aspect of the music world, parallel to Prodigal Earth. They have matured as song-writers and as musicians and the second album is expected to lift them to the top and establish their name as one of the best acts of the island.
True Epic Metal All the way from Cyprus from the label who brought us
Diphtheria. Prodigal Earth are a Cyprus epic metal band, their album Zenith II ZERO deserves your attention. the epic intro song
prepares the listener for a great set of songs. as suddenly a wind
effect provides a before the battle effect. and yes the marching begins
with the song disaster! Poweful,
Melodic, with memorable main riff and melodic solos, Hail, Hail, fast
and epical!!
Followed by the the Broken World, an interesting piece of metal about
kings and kings and queens and a Great CLOSING (liked the effect the
keyboard create) and Chrorus,
liked the chorus a lot, the lonely gods song is the one which reveals
how important is BASS to a Metal band, (base was neglected a bit int he
previous songs). Lonely gods starts with Drums and Base, a mid -tempo
song, moving to the next one the Once upon a Crime which begins with an
intro of acoustic guitar and keyboards some effects on vocals here and
keyboard provide differentiate the song a bit from the rest of the
album. Crossroards
starts with the guitar plugged in in an interesting pedal effect, this
song is melodic, rhythmical with melodic guitar fills, and in my
opinion one of the best moments of this album, liked the change in the
tempo after the 2.30, where the lead guitar takes control!!!for more
than 1.30 minutes! Gods Children starts with a voice talking, IRON
MAIDEN style! another good moment of the album a fast, epic and power
song! thumbs up! the young ones is the next track on the album, (the
vocalist screams are something worth mentioning, fast tempo song, with a
good riff, WILL to LIVE, No Epic Metal is complete without a ballad,
will to live serve its purpose for the album, (check the song at 2.20
and after the ballad leaves its acoustic side and takes a heavier
path!!) the END is close and the song THE END a perfect closing song, Majectic
and Epic! the album closes with an alternative to the intro song.
The
Highlights of the Album are
1) Broken Worlds
2)Crossroads
3)
Gods Children
4)will to live
and lets not forget the excellent
cover art by Thomas Ewerhard
to sum up the review , production is good, the vocalists is
Excellent and certainly deserves your attention, nice background effects
in the album, well played guitars. what i will like to listen more was
to emphasize more on the keyboards, and also the Bass i believed it
deserved better in this album, overall a very good epic metal from
Cyprus. complements to Prodigal Earth and their Label Pitch Black
Records, Cyprus True Metal Label.
