When bands combine classic values with fresh ideas and paths things can be risky; it takes time, probably needs a good status in the orchestration filed, most times the final result may sound quite unbalanced and enough case have shown you try to please both eras but fail to gather good feedback even from one. Greece's AFTER DUSK thankfully show a good profile in their third work, "Hybris", and show the have the nerve to create some fuzz regarding their name.

The Athenian quintet cut its teeth quite early in their formation, with a couple of self-released worx in the the mid-00s. "Hybris" is their third creation initially released in 2008 but now it gets a license for a wider European distribution, remastered for circulation via Casket Music. AFTER DUSK shows a good level of labor for this release, and the outcome seems to be quite rewarding: you can call them a Prog Metal band, a modern-Heavy-meets-technical-Thrash outfit or you can just focus on the music spread in the disc's 52 minutes. This is not my cup of tea in general, so the description may be quite brief not omitting from the album's value anyway.

The variety in speeds and tempos is visible, the rhythm section seems confident and the guitars work - even if demanding - takes no prisoners. Not forgetting classic constituents of Metal music as heard in the golden 70s/80s, AFTER DUSK bring on a fresh combination of early Heavy, technical Thrash, somehow horror/gloomy, even Doom, and surely complex blend with songs not willing to follow the commercial couple-refrain-etc pattern but efficiently work on longer compositions merging different emotions and models in the making. The keyboards may sound a little bit of a backing organ but some trained ears will probably confirm their crucial contribution to slower or more bizarre bridges and parts.

The vocals surely need some extra work in order to sound 'professional' and the guitars sound is quite flat at times, bringing to mind cases where equipment (and its knowledge) are of crucial importance when you want to fit virtually everything in place. If you desperately need names to shape your own images, that's not an easy task: we're talking 'bout a range spanning from early BLACK SABBATH and DEATH SS to fusion-istic Rock and then to MEKONG DELTA or MORGANA LEFAY and then CRADLE OF FILTH and 'artistic' PANTERA or 'modern' METALLICA or even late TROUBLE and PENTAGRAM. Go figure...

"Hybris" is an album belonging to the 'multiform' category. If you have a wide range in music you'll digest this CD and feel comfortable for your purchase, since the songs sound fine and - audition after audition - you'll get familiar with the not-so-complex-in-the-end-of-the-day stuff AFTER DUSK presents. More data to be given is quite a peril.