FORBIDDEN MYTH

After Methexis, Verbal Delirium, Naxatras and Residuos Mentales, here's Forbidden Myth, another interesting current prog band from Greece, with an epic rock project by Greek songwriter and keyboardist Antonis Adelfidis. The story of their album is entitled Zantea Chronicles : The Dream Dominator, based upon the fantasy world created by Myrto Gregoriadi. The music features 8 vocalists who take up the roles of the protagonists, and is dominated by keyboards, without guitars. The album contains 2 CD's with both 10 tracks, between 3 and 9 minutes.

The musical climates in the 20 tastefully arranged tracks shift between dreamy and slow rhythms to mid-tempo beats and sumptuous outbursts, and range from symphonic rock to melodic rock and Heavy Prog, but the sound is more bombastic than heavy, due to the omnipresent powerful vintage keyboards layers, and the absence of guitars.

The colouring with a variety of vintage keyboards delights me, from Morish sounding in Sirin Ablaze (Vintage Keyboard Heaven) to omnipresent Mellotrons (lots of choirs, along the violin and flute section)) and spectacular Minimoog flights (with strong Rick Wakeman hints in The Exlied), pretty overwhelming, wow! But also the Wurlitzer piano, Vox Continental organ (The Doors flavour in Rotting King), and even the distinctive sounds of a Theremin (exciting blend of synthesizers, Theremin and Mellotron choirs in the final part of Epilogue of Forgiveness) and the beautiful sound of the vibradoneon in The Revelation Of Truth. He is fuelled by The Swede his drum beats, often powerful and dynamic.

Although there is no guitarplay on this album in some tracks I hear guitar riffs, I asked Antonis about that, he answered "I have no guitars in the record. I played the rhythm parts with a Hammond through Marshall and Leslie amps." Interesting! And: "the most beautiful parts of the record (pianos, vibradoneon, Theremin, Minimoog and combo organ solos) are played by my friend and teacher, George Katsanos. He is a classical trained pianist and he was graduate from Berklee college of music. He is one of the best multi-instrumentalists out there and he plays in the new album too!"

The 8 singers of the Forbidden Myth project sound at least decent but in a few tracks some male singers lack a bit expression, while the female singers are good to very good. But to me this doesn't sound disturbing, mainly due to prime mover Antonis Adelfidis his writing skills and overwhelming keyboard work, in collaboration with George Katsanos, what a masters, from majestic Mellotron choirs and tender Grand piano to sensational Minimoog flights with pitchbend or a swinging electric piano solo, really impressive. A strong debut, what's next?

My rating: 3,5 star.

An epic album with many singers, a prog metal album more than prog metal with synthetic ambiances, piano thanks to the presence of Antonis Adelfidi, the mastermind of this double album. A concept album in fact telling a heroic-fantasy story, a singular sound which therefore gives pride of place to keyboards, various organs from the 70s and other more aggressive 80s; note the absence of guitars which can disturb the listening flow. On 'The Prophecy' a nice ballad it goes well, on 'The Spell of Fakeness' for example, it can be sorely lacking, the proguous metallic being used to his little 6-string solo. The titles follow one another pleasantly, the keyboards are well provided but do not replace the long-awaited electric side; the voices enhance the atmosphere. Those who love the keyboard atmospheres of the 70s will be greatly satisfied with this theatrical musical moment, in 2020 we could also expect a little more, the duration being a potential obstacle. (2.75)

Review #158!

I find this album here to be a very interesting take on music as a whole. Every genre this album tries to emulate ends up being contradicted with the unusual set of instruments being used here. But that's really not a bad thing, at least to me! The hard rock feel is altered with the overuse of synthesizers and lack of guitars. The prog feel is overridden with the small range of instruments actually in play. The rock opera idea and an emphasis on vocals falls short, since not only are there not a whole lot of vocals, but those vocals are not always great! The lyrics prove too poetic to allow the whole story to be shown without additional context or lyric book (which I believe exists for this album, so check that out).But the instrumentation really is a hail-mary for this album. I actually really like the synthesized bass and drums and everything else. It gives Tangerine Dream And Residents vibes. But no matter the quality (which is high enough in this case) of any new artist's work, as long as good, benevolent intentions are in their minds, I'm all for supporting their musical journey. I hope that this rock opera series continues, so I can watch bands like these grow better (and utilize more guitar)! Prog on.

Led by Antonis Adelfidis, Forbidden Myth tells in their debut album, "Zantea Chronicles : The Dream Dominator", an epic story about the eternal struggle between good (the young Sirin) and the hidden forces of evil (Vosar). An extensive work that in more than a hundred minutes is imaginatively divided into two great phases, gloomy for the most part and hopeful towards the end. Without guitars or bass as part of their musical proposal, the Greeks manage to round off a conceptual album sustained by a wide range of keyboards, from classical piano to digital synthesizers, with a great variety of vocal registers given the eight singers summoned for the occasion, and a very good percussion performance.

Right at the beginning of the first part, the intriguing "Overture of Loss" and its airs of the most experimental moments of Porcupine Tree, plunges into a tense and disturbing atmosphere full of sonic elements, always in the hand of synthesizers that trace the path that will be maintained throughout the album, framed by a persistent melancholic character even in its most intense developments. Moments of deep darkness run as with "Light's Predominance", or in the revealing "The Luminescent Girl" whose keyboards resemble the sounds of guitar riffs, or with the mid-tempos of the tempting "The Puppeteer", the initial hammond of the stabbing "Rotting King", or with the accelerated and changing "City of Decay", one of the most forceful pieces.

On the other hand, the final part of the album contains shades of disillusionment and hope, such as the revealing "A Ring Between Her Eyes" and its interesting piano solo, the opening chords of "Dreams` Prisoner" and its peaceful female voice, the determined "Sirin Ablaze", the trepidant "King of the World / The Eyes of a Stranger" in another of the highlights, and the conclusive and victorious "Epilogue of Forgiveness", which closes the story emotionally.

The very interesting "Zantea Chronicles: The Dream Dominator", although it would surely have gained more vitality with the combustion that the guitars generate and that the bass contribution usually underpins, shows the solid musical structure of Forbidden Myth, and its enormous potential to keep growing.

3/3,5 stars

The finest export from Greece since the Elgin Marbles first rolled up onto British shores at the turn of the 19th century - for which the Greeks have never quite forgiven us. Forbidden Myth is the brainchild of Antonis Adelfidis - Greece's answer to Rick Wakeman - ably assisted by multi-instrumentalist George Katsanos, playing together on just about every keyboard instrument they could lay their hands on, and with a cast list of supporting players almost as long as Ben Hur. It's also worth mentioning that Katsanos is a mighty fine singer too. This is the greatest partnership since Burton & Taylor, Bogey & Bacall, or Marks & Spencer. There's an old saying that you should beware of Greeks bearing gifts, but when those same Greeks come bearing gifts of prog albums, then you should welcome them with open arms and with love and kisses too. In the vast pantheon of prog, Adelfidis & Katsanos joins that long list of Greek heroes including, Theseus, Perseus, Odysseus, Vangelis, Roussos & Sideras. Okay, so the first three Greek heroes never formed a prog band as far as I'm aware, but the last three names were all in the same band. You won't find an Achilles Heel in the astounding sounds and amazing music of Forbidden Myth though, as this stunning album is a pure 100% masterpiece from beginning to end. In fact, you won't have heard such masterful keyboard wizardry as this since caped crusader Rick Wakeman first stunned us all with his acclaimed Myths & Legends album. Forbidden Myth target the listener with rip-roaring power chords with the unerring accuracy of a laser-guided Paveway missile. Zantea Chronicles: The Dream Dominator is the towering Acropolis on the Mount in terms of epic prog albums, which even surpasses all of Ayreon's magnificent masterworks. You'll find Forbidden Myth listed under Heavy Prog on ProgArchives, although they almost found their way into the Progressive Metal category, which really wouldn't have done them justice. After all, Zantea Chronicles is far better than any album I've ever heard by Dream Theater, although I can now hear howls of derision coming from DT fans. It's truly an epic album too, running at over 100 minutes long, in the true tradition of Ayreon's epic productions, making it excellent value for money. If you have the good fortune to buy this fine album, then it'll be the best 4,000 drachmas you ever spent. In the vast progosphere, Forbidden Myth are as good as it gets and Zantea Chronicles joins some of the finest European prog albums from Holland, Italy and Germany. And so, for any German prog fans out there, "Das ist Verboten Mythos. Danke schoen und gute nacht."

Amazing work really.

We can mention the huge (over a hundred minute) creation is a kind of miracle produced by FORBIDDEN MYTH founded by a Greek multi-instrumentalist / producer Antonis ADELFIDIS. His endless creativity as a lyrical composer is overflowing on this opus firmly for shaping a robust long novel. Antonius and his musical colleagues would go forward straightly as a precision manufacturer with eight storytellers ... that such tight instrumental techniques and favourable composition / production all over the album can tell. Each track is composed simply and friendly, full of catchy melody lines and non-complicated rhythmic bases. Art rock or crossover progressive rock fans could be immersed in this pop texture but quirky rock fans like avantgarde, post, or psychedelic freaks could feel something crazy is missing via this album.

"Light's Predominance" possesses quite cool pop structure. Their playings (especially Antonius' synthesizer and Swede's drumming) are had-edged but sensitive. The combination of catchiness and hard rock passion is pretty listener-friendly. On the contrary, melodic (and synthetic) instability through the first shot is another mystery. Good for us is such a melodic / atmospheric contrast. Brilliant keyboard timbre is immersive and impressive in "A Ring Between Her Eyes" or "The Luminescent Girl". One of my favourite tracks "Sirin Ablaze" involves ethnic movements and kinetic melodious madness along with deep guitar riffs and heavy strict drumming. This stuff can be called as Heavy Prog. The epilogue "Epilogue Of Forgiveness" is flooded with beautiful keyboard-based dreamy theatrical vibes and grooves, that can notify us this would go well with their last run.

This amazing work will make us full stomach. At any rate we can give the project words of praise because of such a collective of colourful sound grandeur.

This is a project of songwriter/keyboardist Antonis Adelfidis who decided to make a 100 minutes concept epic rock album with 8 vocalists and no guitar and bass. How can this music be heavy Prog? The first part of the album, it's somewhat spacey, played at a slow pace with piano and drums. We can hear the cool melodies lines of Antonis that start to emerge and the pace to pick up. "Rotting King" brings some Ray Manzarek kind of keyboard melodies. The synths show some heaviness that is strangely similar to some guitar riffs, in the song "The Exiled" for example. In this song, there is a dark atmosphere and again some nice keyboard parts. Each vocalist plays a different character in the story which brings some male and female singing. "The Spell of Freedom" is a prog metal track played at a fast pace. In "Sirin Ablaze" the heaviness comes again from the synths and Ray Manzarek's influences resurface similar to the legendary song "Light My Fire" but Antonis brings his own twist with some excellent keyboards parts. In conclusion, despite the lack of guitar and bass, this is not where this album fails to be a worthy addition to your collection but in the quality of the compositions that could improve on the next release.