Universe 217 - Familiar Places
CD Info
2011
Venerate Industries / Greece
7 Tracks
English Lyrics
To be honest, Universe 217 is not exactly what we call "a typical female-fronted band." Not at all. In their social media profiles, you won’t notice any kind of official photoshoots or any kind of public exposure. They won’t ask you to vote for them. They won’t ask you to share their news or rate their songs. Universe 217 is definitely an underground band. Their music is a mixture of pure darkness, weeping, grief, and pain. The lyrics describe the darkest side of life and give you a convincing and definite description of the world nowadays. In the album, you can find many different sounds and influences (they used a variety of wind and percussion musical instruments). I would say that the main feeling in the whole album is doomy.
The band was formed back in 2005 in Athens, Greece and consists of four members:
Tania – Vocals
Manos – Guitars
Nikos – Bass
Manos – Drums
Universe 217’s second album is entitled Familiar Places, and it was released in 2011. They describe their music as "down-tempo rock". In my opinion, Universe 217 is the kind of a band where their music consists of many different elements. Every instrument, every little detail is located in the right place to make the whole sound perfect.
The album begins with a killer track named "Sorcerer of Light," which grabs you by the face and slams you against the wall. And then here comes the darkness: "Insane." It has an obsessive rhythm section, lyrics that come straight to the point, and a vocal performance that brings goosebumps to the listener.
The two next songs are called "City" and "Seek." Those two songs are like one song separated in two parts, and the listener can certainly notice the doom influences of the band in both of them! And then there’s "TV Lovers," a quite spooky song which describes the mentality of the regular person who watches the news and gets frightened and unsure about the future. (Currently there is a certain condition in the Greek society because of the crisis.)
The sixth song of the album is my personal favorite, "Nothing". The song could be perfectly described by the expression "the calm before the storm." The song starts with very smooth vocals and a smooth tempo, and in the middle of the song the guitar riffs start off and give to the song a totally different vibe. The album closes with a song titled "Prey," which sounded kind of symbolic to my ears. It’s the perfect way to close an album like this. There are some choir vocals which are combined with the lyrics and give a quite eerie effect to the whole track.
The band made an album to give their message to the world. A coin has two sides, and Universe 217 wanted to introduce us to the dark side of the human life where grief and pain are at the forefront. After listening to this album, I felt like I travelled through the darkness and finally found the healing. I think that the band passed their message in a very clearly way: There is no healing without any pain. The only reason I give them s 9.5 and not s 10 is because the tracks were only seven, and I certainly wanted more!
9.5 / 10
Links:
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ReverbNation
Official Video of Song "Prey"
