My good buddy Todd Severin of Ripple! He’s a top notch ophthalmologist. He also, along with his buddy Pope, established Ripple Music & has been an icon in the heavy/doom/stoner/metal genre since 2010. But he also has a very unique hobby at which no one can match wits with him. He is capable of turning me on to band after band that 1) I’ve never heard before AND 2) blow me the hell away. He also has developed an even more specialized interest in hitting me, close to the end of the year, with bands that cause havoc with my AOTY listings. Last year it was Finland’s TERROMANIA.
The latest of the entries into the “Let’s Kick Ray’s Ass Sweepstakes” is 1000MODS from the beautiful country of Greece, where apparently they are gigantic! They take their name from a pun on the name of their home town, Chiliomodi. Apparently “a thousand” is pronounced “chillia” in Greek, so therefore…well, you get it. 😂
The crazy thing is that this band formed in 2006 and has since done 3 EP’s and 4 albums before arriving at this, “Cheat Death,” their 5th long player. And, until the packet with the bright yellow digipak arrived in my mailbox, it was all Greek to me! Well, once I shoved this baby in and hit play, I was schooled yet again by Dr. Todd!
At once, “Cheat Death” had thrown me a red herring with the aforementioned striking cover. At first glance, the comic book style art had me thinking of a mid 80’s crossover metal/hardcore band like D.R.I. Then the first massive chords hit and I’m transported to Sabbath-land. 30 seconds later and an infectious mid-paced riff hits, accompanied by a vocal melody that is simply to-die-for catchy. At 2:40, one of those abrupt-but-fitting rhythm shifts slams in and it’s off to the races with an off-time speedy section laced with cool guitar leads. Back & forth we go until the 4:50 mark brings a sterling coda. Upward spiral the vocals & guitar aboard a sweet Budgie/Maidenesque gallop and I wield my air axe until close to 8-minutes. What an epic, and that’s just the first song!
Up next is “The One That Keeps Me Down” and it’s more like the one that keeps me fired up. A pumping, aggressive rhythm is married to melodic vocal melodies and guitar action out of the Murray/Smith/Gers playbook.
What is a “Götzen Hammer?” Churning, seething, boiling heaviness wrapped in top-notch songwriting, that’s what it is!
And what about “Love?” For all the world I’m thinking SOUNDGARDEN’s “Fell On Black Days.” Not that it’s any kind of an ape of that classic but trust me, friends & neighbors, that’s the level of songwriting we’re talking about here.
And it goes on and on. Five more songs to go. From the ball busting MOTÖRHEAD slammer of “Speedhead” thru the Iommi-Laguna sun-up instrumental “Bluebird” all the way to the glorious 10-minute “Grey, Green Blues,” this is pure gold. The funny thing is that I’ve seen a few people online putting 1000MODS down for expanding their sound and not sticking to their “stoner” roots. LOLOLOL!!! I’m picturing some poor, sad sweaty guy in a shirt with “MOUNTAIN WITCH BONG” on it drooling on his narrow-minded vinyls. I don’t need to even hear anything else by these guys to know they stand out above the bloated genre they’re not constricted within. It gives a guy, who came up in an era with diverse & talented bands like UFO & THIN LIZZY more hope for the future.
Once again, Todd has worked his hobby of pasting Ray to the door with a plutonium-plated top-of-the-heap album & band he’s never heard before. This is the real thing, brother, and the good doctor has helped me see the light! Keep ‘em coming!!! 1000MODS RULES!!!
1000MODS:
Dani G - vox & bass
George T - guitars, vox
Labros G – drums
-Ray Dorsey
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