Velocity  
Freedom    
~reviewed by Joel Steudler

Hey, it's a straight up angry hardcore punk album!  With 90% of the lyrics sung in Greek!  Thereby rendering any fist-pumping choruses or poignant social commentary unintelligible to non-Greek-speaking audiences!!  Freedom!!!!

Velocity keeps the riffs simple and repetitive, like all true and proper hardcore punks should.  Their downfall lies in the fact that true and hardcore punks are almost wholly uninteresting.  Sure, these guys are angry.  That much is clear after the first minute or so.  By about track four, though, it becomes obvious that the album is going in circles and you're pretty much going to hear the same exact thing another eight times.  Angry Greek guys yelling set to numbingly simple riffs.  Over and over.  And over.

The band adds no extra dimensions to hardcore punk.  In fact, their sound is pretty one-dimensional.  Angry, stripped down punk songs.  Guitar, bass, drums, yelling.  Vocalist Giorgos sounds like a Greek version of former Sepultura frontman Max Cavalera, which is fine for angry punk music.  In fact, Max himself did some tracks rather like this with Nailbomb.  They weren't especially good either.

If you have ever found yourself wishing you had a Pennywise album with Max Cavalera on vocals where they sing in a language you don't understand, don't play any memorable riffs, and carry on for about six songs more than they should... this is for you!  Velocity's 'Freedom' is only thirty three minutes long, but it feels more like several hours go by as the repetitious songs drag on and on.  I should probably steer clear of Greece, since these guys (judging by the album photo) could -and would- kick my ass, and probably don't take kindly to people who hate their music.  I like worthwhile punk music just fine.  My Bad Religion collection attests to that.  Velocity is no Bad Religion.  At least I never have to listen to them again now that this review is done.  Freedom at last!

Track List:
Sorry, the song titles are listed mostly in Greek script on the booklet, and I can't find a tracklist elsewhere.  I know you expect to find track numbers and names here.  I have let you down.  If I have ruined your day through my own ignorance of the Greek language, I sincerely offer my heartfelt apologies.  Can you forgive me?  I can point out that there are 12 tracks, each around 2-3 min long, if that makes up for my linguistic incompetence at all.

Velocity is:
Giorgos (Havoc) - vocals
Giannis - bass guitar
Kostas - guitar
Nikos - drums

Black Lotus Records:
http://www.black-lotus-recs.com/

The End Records (US): 
http://www.theendrecords.com 

04/15/04