Band:	Bios
Album:	Theater Control Law
Style:	Melodic death metal
Release date:	2005

01. Theater Control
02. Cause Of Political Disease
03. Eternal Suffering
04. Balance

Note: when I received this demo a few months ago, the band was called Damnation (original, isn't it?). While I was trying to write this, they decided to switch to Bios, which means God knows what but at least doesn't sound cliché. So we shall call them Bios from now on. Thanks for your attention.

So Bios is a young Greek band formed in 1999. It is one of those interesting new Greek bands (I'm also thinking about Progressive Death Procedure) that mix most of the death and thrash metal they've been fed with and regurgitate it all wrapped up in a kind of typical Greek plasma - ok that was a crap analogy, will you please excuse me.

So all along these four songs and twelve minutes, I can hear some Gothenburg metal (thanks At The Gates), some modern thrash (Darkane obviously influenced some structures and the vocals), and some more old-school groovy Swedish DM like Grave, Entombed or Dismember (mainly for the breaks and bridges).

But please don't believe they're just Scandinavian worshippers like thousands of other bands. I also see the influence of Bay Area thrash in the solos and the melodic aspect of the songs. And of course their national scene brought in this mid-paced eeriness, this kind of melodic coolness that you find in about all the Greek DM acts. And what does this recipe give us? You may not believe it, but "Theater Control law" does sound like a personal album. There are so many twists and turns and layers and interesting parts that you wittingly go with the flow, greedily waiting for the next surprise. You hear the influences but this is all so well done, the musicianship is so good and the production as well that I defy anyone to say they are rip-offs. This is for sure a great demo.

To cut it short, I don't know what is with all these new Greek bands, but they undoubtedly have a very, very strong personality. It's not easy, in the case of Bios, to gather such a huge amount of information and still be able to propose a personal, thoughtful, original product. They've made it for my greatest pleasure, now I'm craving for more!

Highlights: Theater Control - check it out on MS January compilation