THELEMITE is a heavy metal band from Greece that formed in 2010 and released their debut album three years later "Slave to Desire" and for reasons unknown waited eight years before unleashing album number two "Thelemism" mixing classic NWOBHM with some dips of hair metal, prog, and even a little thrash. "Survival of the Fittest" is the bands third and most recent effort released on July 7, 2023. Now, the first thing you'll notice about this album is the uncanny resemblance of their cover artwork to Defenders of the Faith" by the legendary JUDAS PRIEST, so I'm not sure if they're paying homage to one of the greatest metal bands of all time, and most likely one of their musical influences or are they making a bold statement and putting themselves in the team photo, I guess we'll find out soon. There have been a shit load of hard rock and metal bands born and raised in Greece, but none have really climbed to the top of the metal mountain, so maybe it's time and maybe THELEMITE will be the one. Again, we'll find out very soon as I get ready to drop the needle (God, I love saying that).

The album starts off lean and mean with absolutely no question of what this band is all about on "Night of the Wolf" with an immediate feel of "Crazy Train" with raspy Ozzy-esque wailing vocals compete with his signature laugh tossed in. "Black Hearted" continues on with speedy melodic riffs and shredding leads in a classic throw back to NWOBHM, the problem with both opening tracks appears in the production, the vocals are buried and almost lost within the music. Out of the gates fast and furious on "Bad for You" is an anthem laced, catchy chorus with more deep vocals than the previous songs, highlighted by the slamming guitar duo of Manopoulos and Kotsikis demonstrating a little JUDAS PRIEST influence (only a matter of time before that showed up). Just one thing to say about the sappy ballad "Living without You" is we could have lived without it, know your strengths guys, and this ain't one of 'em. "In a Damaged Brain" is one bad ass song title and has that "psycho" feel and texture, with wall rattling riffs, dark melodic tempo, and a great tuned-down guitar lick. "Making Love" is ironically a twin of "War Machine" by KISS, (get it, make love not war) musically and vocally. The album ends strongly with "Visions from the Past" with a hard hitting and passionate combination, delivering a riveting assault of guitar dominance over profound vocal structure.

What stands out the most with "Survival of the Fittest" is the vocal diversity of John Manopoulos, he never sounded the same on any two songs, which is good but each song has a familiarity of a different hard rock or metal band (JUDAS PRIEST, SAVATAGE, SAXON, ACCEPT) etc....etc....etc, which is bad because they never developed or defined their own sound. There are some excellent guitar solos, some excellent riffs, some fist pumping, and some head banging, but the overall production was weak and lacking. All in all, it's a good rocking album but for me, I've heard it all before.