Greek modern metallers NEED releases their second album Siamese God on their own, only licensed to Venerate Industries. I wonder if this is the way real music will be released in the future, on independent labels or even by the bands themselves. In general this is a very nice record, 9 songs with a structure and red thread straight through still with enough variation to not get boring. The thing that differs NEED from many other bands in the genre is that this feels true, completely from the heart. The elements of Prog, emo, grunge and aggro is very beautifully mixed with the Nu-Metal parts without feeling pretentious or put together to suite the mainstream. The album absolutely has a modern sound without loosing the roots in the classic Metal.
There's no doubt that this band has skills; the album contains a bunch of really interesting tunes though it's a little bit too easy to draw references to NEVERMORE, especially for the first half of the album. Not that it's a bad thing, rather the opposite. It's not easy to keep up with Jeff Loomis and the album is absolutely not a NEVERMORE rip-off but the song arrangements, the vocal lines and overall feeling is very much alike the Seattle bunch, still there's no real rip-offs. Of course it's OK to get inspiration from other bands and when it's done like NEED does it (deliberate or not) to me that's perfectly OK, even if more of their own identity would have been more interesting. Halfway through the album there's a change though, with the title track Siamese God the most obvious references are gone, it's a lot harder to pinpoint direct influences but the excellence is still there. This is where it really starts to sound NEED, when it starts to sound unique and personal.  
I can't say I'm familiar with NEED's earlier releases but my first thought about the album when I listened to it was that the production felt quite cheap, a little demo perhaps. After a few listenings that doesn't disturb me at all. The garage feeling just makes the album more interesting and real, like nothing is hidden in a fancy production.
I must say my favorite parts are the more melancholic songs like Lie Before You Sleep, the title track Siamese God or Inbetween which shows that Jon is an excellent singer with a wide range and a lot of soul. That the rest isn't as interesting is more a question of taste rather than anything negative about the band. It's just that the heavier and more aggressive parts sound more like other bands than the individual style the rest of this album has. Perhaps it's not so much Nu-Metal influences on the album at all. The heavy guitars sound is very much copied from KORN and such bands rather than the style and it is more that what creates the feeling of modern mainstream aggro bands.
This is definitely an album that takes a few listenings to get into, at first it can seem a bit anonymous and I came out with different impressions after each spin. The only common thing between them all was that I liked the album more and more each time. There's so much in there to explore, details pop up and the coloration done with the guitar and vocal harmonies makes it a really strong and interesting album.