Review by JD on September 11, 2013.

For many years, it seems that Greece is pumping out metal like crazy (On Thorns I Lay, Rotting Christ, etc.). Some of it is pounding heavy and simply amazing - and sometimes the music is basically confusing and barely measures up to being metal. Where on this you land, is not my job, I only write about the album I am charged to do. Let’s see what my blood crazed metallic mind has in store for this act from Greece.

From the country that brought us all Gyros and Ouzo… comes a Darkened Symphonic Metal band called Tales Of The Old. With lyrics that are taken from medieval times, and a varied musical pallet jumping from Symphonic Power Metal to Progressive and even an odd style of attack reminiscent of older Black Metal - Tales Of The Old seem to try to give you a virtual potpourri of metal packaged up neatly on a three song EP.

With just those three songs on this EP, it’s hard to get a decent feel for this band and their music. On the surface, they seem like pretty standard Power Metal with some variations into different genres of metal throughout… it kind of gets confusing though. They are good musicians and the vocals seem to be pretty good as well, but the confusion factor blots that right out and you just have this lump of music with very little heart to it. With more thought and less over-trying this could have been good.

I see so much promise in Tales Of The Old, but the band needs to focus their efforts completely on their take on Power Metal. The other smatterings of styles they have injected are interesting and adds some colour to their music, but when Tales Of The Old do the Power Metal thing straight out and never hides that side of themselves, it is so clear what musical direction they need to go into.

Seeing the purity of Tales Of The Old’s incredible talent seething and building just under the surface of every song, it is clear that they are not firing on all cylinders. The band needs a serious tune-up ASAP.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 6
Production: 7
Originality: 5
Overall: 7.5

Rating: 6.9 out of 10