Piranha – Arise From The Shadows: The boys are back!

However many years go by. The best proof of this comes from Piranha, who are making a dynamic return to the music scene after a whole 22 years! The Metal band from Greece unveiled their second album, titled 'Arise From The Shadows’.

The boys are back in town!

I love comebacks! They show willpower and love for what you want to do. They reveal a desire to keep going and to stand more firmly on your feet. To be stronger. More ready to face hardships. And since right now, quite naturally, some of our readers are probably wondering about the history of Piranha, let's share a few things about them.

The band is one of the oldest death / thrash metal outfits in Greece. Formed back in 1987, they released two demos, while their first EP titled "Worlds Grave" came a little later, in 1992. In 1998 they released their debut full length album titled "Reborn". At this point, you'd say things were going great for the metalheads.

Right around then, the universe and circumstances conspired to put the band on pause and, by extension, into obscurity. Everything pointed to a withdrawal from music for Piranha, a fact that saddened their fans up to that point.

Fast forward several years later

And while Piranha had been filed away in the archives of history, a particularly interesting development took place in 2017. The band came out of the freezer! Giannis (guitar/vocals), Kostas (bass), Denis (guitar) and Andreas (drums) brought the metal band back to life.

Pick yourself up, dust yourself off!

Having picked up momentum, and after 3 years of songwriting, Piranha decided there was only one proper way to seal their strong comeback. A new record! And so, 'Arise From The Shadows' was born.Arise From The Shadows' was born. The record is the band's second full length album and was released by the German label 7Hard.

The change is evident. The band sticks to their familiar death / thrash style, without lacking in fresh ideas. Credit of course must also go to the man who produced the record, Savvas Betinis. Known for his presence in Acid Death, Savvas served as the band's 'third eye', bringing in many interesting new elements to their sound.

On the music

The first impression we get of Piranha's music is that we have in our hands a band with elements of Death and Thrash Metal. The tempo of the tracks and the vocal lines certainly give that away.

Bass and Drums

Starting with the rhythm section, the drums come first. Here, Andreas puts his own stamp on things. The drums have a unique bite. The blast beats fly by like a storm cloud and the rhythm takes off! At this point, I'd like to give credit to the mix as well. Every hit is completely distinct. Wrapping up on percussion, I'd like to point out that the volume and dynamics shift significantly. This 

is noticeable both from track to track, and within the same song. An example of this is 'Endless Dream', where the drums use their dynamics to define the different sections of the track.

Rounding out the 'holy duo' of rhythm, on bass we have Kostas. As the genre demands, the bass always plays a very distinct role in the tracks. I'd like to dwell, though, on the weight it gives to the record as a whole. The dimension the bass adds to the sound is truly impressive.

Guitars and Vocals

Moving on to the guitars, Denis and Giannis cover each other brilliantly. Riffs straight out of the pages of thrash, the kind that end up stuck in your head! One of the most interesting elements is that there's very little repetition in the melodies. This means that listening to a track, you won't see the same riff repeated over and over. You'll hear either variations of it, or entirely new melodies. From this point of view, the music of Piranhahas elements of Iron Maiden (yes, I know! Different style of music, Maiden. But I'm clearly referring to the shifts and progression of the tracks).

Wrapping up, we come to Giannis and the vocal parts. I'd say things are much clearer here. The Piranha frontman has a distinctive death vocal. The growls he delivers, along with his handling of the low frequencies, give the tracks a special flavor. Of course, cleaner vocal lines aren't missing either, featured on certain tracks as backing vocal (as in 'Dead Boat’).

On the subject matter

We're talking about music that conjures dark images from the very first listens. The subject matter certainly isn't cheerful. Beyond the lyrics though, I'd rather talk about the feelings the tracks stir up in me. I'd say the images that come to my mind are from Scandinavian mythology. Eerie monsters and heroes drinking ale from animal horns.

Editor's Choice: Rotten Mind

In my opinion, 'Rotten Mind' is one of the most interesting tracks on 'Arise From The Shadows'. Starting out very forcefully, it never stays still. It keeps changing, offering different tonal colors. During the track, one of the undeniable highlights is the section with the clean riff and the atmospheric female vocals. And let's not forget to mention the epic, harmonics-laden solo that closes the track.

In conclusion

'Arise From The Shadows' is a fairly dark record. Although it has many characteristics of thrash metal, in my opinion it leans more toward death. The one certain thing is that Piranha have dynamically added fresh elements to their music. All while keeping their core style unchanged. They do seem to have entered a new era for their music though, laying solid foundations for their upcoming compositions. As for us, they definitely reawakened that old passion for thrash metal!