Whenever I’ve thought of Blues music, my mind always immediately takes me to places like Chicago, Memphis & Detroit. Greece would never have even registered to me as a place where high-quality Blues rock music could be found & heard… but oh how wrong I was, after stumbling across a wonderful ten-track self-produced debut album from Greek psychedelic Blues-Rock trio Bag of Nails. ‘The Wolf Inside Me’ was released through Berlin-based Nasoni Records back in December 2019 and oozes riffs & sounds of the seventies with hints of Hendrix, Jethro Tull, The Doors & ZZ Top amongst others. It’s an album that needs to be turned up to really appreciate the rawness of their sound. Hailing from Athens, Bag of Nails are led by guitarist & vocalist Panos Katsikogiannis, Giorgos Antoniadis on bass & backing vocals and Agis Gkritzios on drums & percussion.
The album opens with the rather unusual, part-spoken ‘The Wolf Inside Me Part 1’ but once past that you discover a collection of fantastic tracks to get you moving & rocking leaving a real feel good factor, beginning with ‘Daddy’s Blues’. ‘In the Shadows’ takes it back to a slower more ballad-like feel before Panos unleashes his tidy & tireless guitarwork with a chorus that creates a powerful crescendo.
‘Dangerous Love’ could almost be from the songbook of Jim Morrison himself but with a nice slide-guitar subtle solo – another winner. ‘The Wolf Inside Me Part 2’ is a short track loaded with distortion & reverb before ‘The Wolf Inside Me Part 3’ takes us through peaks & troughs with a changing tempo throughout, once again lead by powerful slide-guitar work from Panos and backed by the tight rythmn section of Antoniadis & Gkritzios.
‘Ain’t Gonna Wait’ is one of the highlights of this collection for me with it’s Bonham-like drums and even though this is one of the slower tracks on the album it still powers along nicely. ‘There’s A Devil After Me’ reminds me a bit of ‘Break on Through to The Other Side’ in places with that wonderful sound produced by The Doors but also has it’s very own Bag of Nails feel. The album closer is another fine example of how Bag of Nails can still ease their foot off the gas pedal but still create a real blues-shuffle with substance, as ‘Blue Moon’s Blues’ end this impressive & enjoyable collection.
‘The Wolf Inside Me’ was recorded live by Simon Bloom and mixed & mastered by Vasilis N. Korres at Shakti Studios back in 2018. The album’s artwork was designed by Nasia Tentolouri (MrsHydeSign).
On the strength of this album, The Rockpit are hoping to tee up some talk time with Bag of Nails to find out about the Blues scene in Greece & the surrounding countries and also to see what the trio have lined up for the future. This is as much fun to listen to as it is impressive musically. Extremely enjoyable.
9/10
TRACKLIST
The Wolf Inside Me (pt. I)
Daddy’s Blues
In The Shadows
Endless Boogie
Dangerous Love
The Wolf Inside Me (pt. II)
The Wolf Inside Me (pt. III)
Ain’t Gonna Wait
There’s A Devil After Me
Blue Moon’s Blues