Hybrid Gr - The Will To Create (CD)

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Let's go back to 1999, a year when guitarist John Barbagiannis had a band under the name DEATHWISH. With this vehicle, they done some covers on METALLICA, MEGADETH, ICED EARTH and NEVERMORE. These bands, and basically the last one, we can say that determined The Will To Create. After the entrance of Tassos Krokodilos and the renaming of the band (CRYING ANTHEM), with the release (of the insides) of some promo material, we are arriving in the beginning of 2000; the rebirth as HYBRID GR. With this name now they released two demos, the first one Pain Is Pleasure and the other one Into The Deep - this time with the absence of Tassos. From 2004 they were trying to record this album and luck was not on their side, but the little creature on their cover finally done it.
The Will To Create was recorded at Ziras studios with the help of Theodore Ziras - a great guitarist here in Greece. For this reason the guitars are like a reaping killing machine.
This album took my head and (like in football) kicked it away. I didn't believe what I was listening to. Such riffs are as if I had placed on the CD player the Forbidden Evil album from FORBIDDEN. They have great guitars that build their songs, high-tension parts that are combined with other more calm/sophisticated. Include to all these the major influence of NEVERMORE. Releasing The Insides and Broken, Denied But Finaly Strong looks like hidden tracks of these Americans. The vocal lines are very close to Dane's ones and that is really amazing.
On the other hand, we are listening to songs like Ruins Of Mine or Still Return that are more esoteric, with a painful aura and other ultra metal thrashing hymns like the self-titled. This difference between their songs turns their album into a real masterpiece. But it's not only this.
HYBRID GR shows us that they have excellent songwriting skills plus really inspired ideas. Their refrains cannot be ignored, they are staying to your brain and after you sing them, too. The solos are excellent, vindicating their existence with the brilliant work that has been done upon them. The vocals also (without being something terrific) are fitting together with the music in a fine way.
To tell you the truth, the only thing I would like to be different would be some more 'power' in the production. HYBRID GR is the best band I have listened from Greece the last years in the non-extreme area, together with INNER WISH. I need to listen to a new album now. I have suffered overdose from this one since I have heard it more than one hundred times.