From all the times I have spoken to the guys from HERTA I have understood that they ar willing to work hard, in a fully professional way, they run many things on their own and they have self-confidence and faith. But even so, I am not sure that they themselves would have expected what eventually happened on Sunday, December 21st in Kyttaro… I think the mood of the evening is described by something that Arsenios Chalkiopoulos (drums) said to someone… “Fuck, it’s full”.
It was almost full almost from the beginning since the metalocore metallers EYESEVER were already playing in front of quite a crowd, many of whom were their age, a fact in itself encouraging for the future of Metal in our country. EYESEVER were only formed in 2024 but already in early 2025 they have released a three-song EP entitled “Genesis Untold”. As expected, their sound is quite modern and rather US-oriented. Also, the really young guys playing in the band confirm what the older metalheads say that the new generation is way better than the older ones at least at this age. Especially the drummer, Alex Georgoulas, really destroyed his drums playing something that requires speed, skill and great concentration since it doesn’t let you relax at all. Another thing that stood out was the enormous passion that was reflected in the expressions of the singer, Nikos Komselis, although especially at the beginning of his set some problems with the sound buried his voice. Nevertheless, no one seemed to care and early on we had the first small but dynamic pits. In their setlist, as expected, they also included two covers of WAGE WAR and THY ART IS MURDER, perhaps seeking in this way to introduce themselves to us by highlighting some of their influences. What is certain is that the future is ahead of them…
Setlist
- Before Rebirth
- Garden of Eden
- Eternal Shadows
- Stitch (WAGE WAR cover)
- To Hell and Beyond
After about half an hour and a necessary break, the stage was taken by the Athenian NONLINEAR, another new band with more experienced musicians than EYESEVER though. Their music moves along similar Progressive Metalcore paths but with several melodic passages and two voices that complement each other in clean and growl vocals. NONLINEAR have also released an EP titled “The Longing Night” and it seems that they are preparing new material for their first full-length album since the setlist also included some unreleased songs. What stood out to me about their performance were the parts that had a more post metal aesthetic, with the speeds dropping and Konstantinos Hytas’ clean vocals reminding me of Eeckhout from AMENRA. I guess it’s not something that NONLINEAR is aiming for since they move into other genres of Metal, but the mind sometimes makes strange connections. Finally, we had the first guest of the evening, Aris Efstathiou from TRIPNOTE, accompanying them on stage on the song “Reflections”. Taking HERTA out of the equation, NONLINEAR’s performance was the one that caught my attention the most as their music moves closer to my personal tastes.
Setlist
- Monochrome Chamber
- Memory Stasis (ακυκλοφόρητο)
- Reflections ft. Aris Efstathiou (TRIPNOTE)
- Panopticon (ακυκλοφόρητο)
- The Longing Light
- Fractured (ακυκλοφόρητο)
- Daydreaming
The next act was the experienced PSYANIDE from Katerini who, after thanking us for the hospitality and warm welcome, unleashed a barrage of melodic Death Metal with many groove elements. They already have 2 studio albums in their discography as well as an EP with which they introduced themselves to the scene back in 2014, so there was plenty of material available. However, they focused on their latest album “Vertigo” which was released in 2024, but they reserved the best for the only song from “I Declare War”, “Step By Step”, for which the one and only Marios Iliopoulos of NIGHTRAGE took to the stage. And of course, he easily proved that he is one of the most important guitarists we have in our country. PSYANIDE caused a lot of chaos and the pits grew bigger and bigger. The two guitarists, Giorgos Karazois and Kostas Albanos, who recently replaced Magnus Soderman in the NIGHTRAGE line-up and proved his worth, were excellent, as was the singer Dionysis Klokas who left no stage spot untouched.
Setlist
- Inertia
- Empires Down
- Vertigo
- Fading
- Step by Step ft. Marios Iliopoulos (NIGHTRAGE)
- Future Tense
- Present Perfect
- Human Republic
I had read in an interview with HERTA a few days ago (credits to RockOverdose) that what they want is to be at the forefront of the scene. Also, in the conversation we had on behalf of Metalwar, Konstantinos Tongas had mentioned that a main reason for doing this live is to thank all the people who helped them get started. And I think they achieved both goals. On the one hand, the response of the crowd and the general success of the show moved them forward many steps in the Greek Metal scene and I think they will soon reach exactly where they deserve to be. On the other hand, the presence of all these legends of the Greek scene confirmed that the circumstances may have strengthened their effort but they really deserved everything good that droped in their path.
Thefirst loud applaude began before they even went on stage when the banner at the back of the stage appeared. However, their entrance to the sounds of “Eyes Of Sorrow” was triumphant since we are already talking about one of their most beautiful songs (with an amazing video clip, by the way). In “The Snake Devours The Wolf” I suddenly realized that the crowd around me had thinned out and I barely managed to avoid being squeezed in the mosh pit, which has hardly ever closed since then. Their first guest, Fotis Benardo, appeared on stage to accompany them on “Labyrinth” sharing vocals with Togas, while Sakis Tolis followed on “Monolith”, conveying the social message of the evening which was to support the Greek scene, as well as George Prokopiou of MOTHER OF MILLIONS with his wonderful vocals for “River To The Abyss”. Togas gave the impression that the stage was not big enough him due to the passion and intensity he was radiating. Chalkiopoulos was awesome on drums with his jockey and the black and white glasses and the Kotzias brothers were also amazing as they alternated on guitar solos. Moreover, Togas thanked us a lot of times and proved that besides a good singer, he is also a good performer. Of course, we listened to the entire “Crossing The Illusion” debut album which easily passed the most difficult test which is the impression an album makes on stage but also its live performance by the band itself.
Setlist
- Intro
- Eyes of Sorrow
- The Snake Devours The Wolf
- Labyrinth feat Fotis Benardo
- Beyond The Dead
- Monolith feat Sakis Tolis
- My Demise
- River to the Abyss feat George Prokopiou
- The Path
- Incarnation
- Control
HERTA will live a unique experience during the first half of 2026 due to the European tour that they will do travelling with a tour van and over 25-30 stops in total. Before that, of course, PSYANIDE will return the hospitality on January 24 in Thessaloniki while the next day they will make another stop in Larissa. February will be full of the first stops of the tour in Central and Eastern Europe. The live in Kyttaro Music Club gave them the necessary boost to move on to the next steps and it was a bet that was triumphantly won. The most important thing is that people enjoyed it, had a great time and headblanged like hell.
Mission accomplished!
