When you celebrate an anniversary with your 'other half', you wanna be with him_her exclusively, right? When you wanna celebrate your name's day/birthday, you choose from a close list of friends. Well, Greek Metal warriors INNERWISH decided to proceed to an 'open invitation' for the 10th anniversary of their Waiting For The Dawn debut CD release with lots of friends at An Club, Athens. And...thankfully, lots of friends does this notable Heavy_Power Metal act has, as witnessed by a good-packed venue on a hot pre-summer night.

INNERWISH started out in 1995 and - now, in year 2008 - have surely accomplished lots of things in their career. First of all, they carry on playing great Metal music from the heart. Secondly, all three albums the band has released so far - Wating For The Dawn (1998), Silent Faces (2004) and Inner Strength (2006) - deliver high-class dozes of semi-European_semi-US Metal with 'elusive' Hard Rock influences, widely recognized by the Metal Press and fans worldwide. Third (promotion-wise, haha!) INNERWISH is one of the few Greek bands having inked deal with a premier Metal label (LMP). Not bad enough, right?

To the event: 'lurking' rapidly in An Club, would not be that lucky catching up with opening act CHAOSMOS, whose last track did I manage to glimpse a little; a mediocre cover of METALLICA's For Whom The Bell Tolls, with less-than-good sound making me anxious if this status would carry on during the whole gig. Then - as fellow Athenian Epic Metal heroes VALOR took command of the stage - things did become better, and I was ready to grab a beer and take a closer look on them. I had VALOR (so far) 'belonging' to the semi-barbaric side of Epic Metal, via their previous live appearances plus their The Nameless One MCD release in 2004. With a brand new album just coming out earlier this spring, I had the chance to witness a great 'upgrade' in the band's songwriting plus their lineup 'growth' (now two guitarists, plus a keyboard player). Things have now turned up to be more 'harmonic', but with no compromise in their songwriting beliefs.

Hence: thirty minutes of 'filling' Power_Epic Metal the 'old' way did the band present, with respectable vocals by Vaggelis Krouskas and g-r-e-a-t 'backup' fills by bassist Chris Remoundos. The sound was not excellent, but the band presented such a 'spirit' that more than 100 metalheads rewarded them with a big applause to the hearing of impressive songs, mostly from their new album - e.g. the Evil In Your Mind opener, No Flowers On My Grave and Into The Night. Not to forget, the take on ACCEPT's The King ballad was awesome!!! And the cover version was not a ballad, haha! VALOR created a 'marching on' mid-pace MANOWAR-like take of their own with striking results! Really looking forward to see this cover version 'printed' on CD.

Looking forward to the main act, the reason why more that 150 metallers were now gathered starving for the 'march', I was eager to chat a little bit with various friends, asking what was their judgement on INNERWISH's recognition. Two things summarize the 'survey' and make it to one award: INNERWISH is a band with low profile and high class. Nuff said...
INNERWISH was touched by the response of the crowed, as quickly as they entered the stage! I was happy to see the sound standing in adequate level, letting the sextet unveil their virtuosity in full mode. With half a doze of songs off their two latest albums (plus one new track from their forthcoming CD), including notable takes of e.g. If I Could Turn Back Time and Inner Strength, we witnessed the voice of Babis Alexandropoulos standing in high standards, with much of melody and passion combined with enthusiasm and some anniversary stress(!). The Tsigos / Krikos guitar duo did crossfire with astonishing energy and the party had just begun. It was impressive to see half the venue singing to the lyrics, confirming the loyalty Greek fans have surrounded INNERWISH with.

And then...it was time for the Waiting For The Dawn saga to re-write history. Playing the entire album track by track, we were all touched to see original members Yiannis Papanikolaou (vocals), Pavlos Balatsoukas (drums) and Alexis Levenderis (bass) taking over in half the songs. From the first notes of Space Runner to the outro of Waiting For The Dawn, the venue was filled with tons of passion, 'touched' fans, unique melodies, great Heavy_Power Metal music and petite requirements...everything was there and the aim was sacred. I would talk forever on e.g. Papanikolaou's astonishing performance on Last Thing I Remember or Balatsoukas' pounding on Carry The Cross or the twin guitar melodies on the same-titled monumental track...

With the Waiting for The Dawn session wrapping up, and under a thunderous applause, INNERWISH carried on with a set of songs from their rest discography. With all cuts bearing the same quality, I was carried away by Feel The Magic's vibe and Gates Of Fire's epos, while Silent Faces did include a sing-along intermezzo with the remaining spectators (since many had left in prior to catchy a night bus_train) crying out ...the silent faces, they are calling through the night.... A proper ending for the gig, tons of applause for current INNERWISH members, a storming applause for the rest of the 1998 lineup (spread among the crowd, with a wide smile on their faces) and a feeling of spiritual freedom captured in an honest gig.

Epilogue? None need. Just to repeat: INNER WISH is a band with low profile and high class. A pride of our country's Metal scene...