Greece's THIRTY FATES are a bit of an oddity. Born from the ashes of late '80s act METAL INVADERS the band soon changed their name to BLACK FATE, releasing three demos over the next decade before finally producing a full length offering in 2002. Another three would follow over the course of the next twenty years culminating in 2020's "Ithaca".  Now stripped back to a simple trio of brothers Elias and Nikos Tzintzilonis taking care of the instrumental duties and rejoined by original vocalist Stelios Papakostas, they have once more changed name to THIRTY FATES and unleashed a celebratory release which pays tribute to the band's storied career, consisting of rerecorded and reworked material from the band's history. Musically the album is NWOBHM driven classic Heavy Metal, with lashings of the modern Power Metal sound you might hear from a band like BEAST IN BLACK thrown in there to really set it off.

The album kicks off with a nice atmospheric introduction to get the juices flowing, before launching into "Indifferent People" which features some impressive guest backing vocals from popular and ultra-talented Metal singer Angel Wolf Black who manages to take the place of an entire choir. I am assuming Elias Tsintzilonis is covering bass duties under the banner of "guitars," but even so the band packs a big punch for a three-piece. The track is a pedestrian Melodic Metal affair, buoyed massively by the exciting layered choral contributions from Black, although the rather splendid guitar solo is a good showcase for Tsintzilonis' technical wizardry. Stelios Papakostas' own vocals deserve a mention of their own, his voice has a natural sounding timbre which can handle booming lows as well as sky-splitting highs, it's not surprising to learn he has forged a very successful career as a Pop singer in the years between his involvement with THIRTY FATES.

As with the previous track "The Pretender" is a rerecorded version of a song that first appeared on BLACK FATE'S original four track demo from 1991, there's nothing particularly wrong  with this one, comfortably passing an entertaining 4 minutes, but it isn't until we reach "Just For A Little" that the song writing begins to really shine, sporting an infectiously catchy chorus that will invade your brain and have you singing along after a couple of listens. Nikos Tsintzilonis' drums are pumping out a thumping groove while a wild instrumental section with crazed keyboards evokes the whole circus of madness theme of the album.

"Sign of Rebellion" continues the grooving drums but this time with far more sludgy discordant guitars, adding another element to the impressive diversity on show already. If you can get over Stelios Papakostas' bizarre pronunciation of "rebellion" on the very hooky chorus, this is a highlight of the album. They slow things down a little for "The Edge of Destiny" which almost approaches ballad territory with its effective piano backing, but not quite.

A very famous name enters the arena for "Be Free," in the form of none other than Tim "Ripper" Owens, one time PRIEST and ICED EARTH vocalist. This track is the only new composition on the album and is more crisp and urgent sounding than the rest of the album, the guitars are driving, Ripper is on great form letting out a bloodcurdling scream to announce his arrival. Ironically, this track sounds a lot more like Rob Halford's hard rocking side project FIGHT than it does PRIEST or any of Ripper's own projects.

We have a downbeat, but thoughtful and measured piece in penultimate track "Depression" which paves the way for the acoustic led closer "Because We Fly" which is the nearest thing you are going to find to a ballad here. The drums are a standout here, as they play a delicate and precise percussive pattern that intertwines beautifully with a picked guitar part, in perfect equilibrium.

Ultimately this is an unspectacular but darned solid collection of tunes, clearly the music means a lot to the band for them to have come back and revisited it so many years down the line. The fact that much of the LP was written 30 years ago lends the material a real old-school authenticity, but the quality modern production values bring it squarely into the 21st century.