Band:	Sarissa
Album:	Masters Of Sins
Style:	Power metal, Progressive metal
Release date:	July 2004

01. Bleed (Till The End)
02. To These Powers (I Swear)
03. The Ancient Land Falls
04. Masters Of Sins
05. Envious Critics
06. Nemesis
07. Starvation [Socrates Drank The Conium cover]
08. Deathdance
09. The Struggle
10. Hypocrisy Crusade

Sarissa is one of the oldest band from Greece, but unfortunately one of the most unknown and underrated too. And it's a shame because they really deserve to be more in the front of the Metal scene, because they are in my opinion one of the best Progressive metal combo in the vein of bands like Symphony X. After a lot of problems with their line-up and a first album in 1987 a 2nd one in 1994, they come finally with their first official release, trough Black Lotus Records, "Masters Of Sins".

The music of Sarissa is maybe a not a revolution in the Power/Prog metal scene, but one thing is sure, this band knows how to play this kind of music perfectly. The fact is that the three members of the bands are? three great musicians. Bill Kanakakis for the drums is excellent and all the parts of the drums don't have any problems, that's same for the leader of the band Jim A.D. Selmazidis who really knows how to find great guitars riffs and to play great guitars solos, but my preference goes to Nick Iglezos, who is the perfect singer. His voice is fantastic really, and it can be powerful or beautiful, each time that's perfect. I listen to a lot of bands and believe me that we can't find this kind of singer every days?.
And what about the music of this album? Well in fact I can say that it's pure Power/Prog Metal a la Symphony X [the difference come from the keyboards which are not very present]. A lot of time the songs are really catchy with great strong riffs, and great solo, [and with great lyrics too] but the originality come from the fact that the melody in a lot of songs sound sometime oriental, and of course you can imagine that it's really good and original. On the other hand the music of the band is classic in the style, but it's well done then I don't see any problem with that.
The production of this album is also perfect the sound of the cd is clean and it's really easy to hear all the variations in the voice of the singer for example. It's more than promising for this band which must have the recognition that it deserves.

I'm not afraid to say it, "Masters Of Sins" is a must have for all the fans of strong powerful Progressive music. With this new album, they show us directly that they are in the top list of this kind of music, and if I don't give them a better rating, it's just because I hope [I'm sure of it in fact] that we could have a real masterpiece in the upcoming years. A band to follow without any doubts.