Band:	1000mods
Album:	Cheat Death
Style:	Psychedelic rock, Stoner metal
Release date:	November 08, 2024
A review by:	AndyMetalFreak

01. Overthrown
02. The One Who Keeps Me Down
03. Götzen Hammer
04. Astral Odor
05. Love
06. Speedhead
07. Misery
08. Bluebird
09. Cheat Death
10. Grey, Green Blues

Do you really need 1000mods of psychedelic rock and stoner to Cheat Death? We'll see.

If you're familiar with the Greek stoner scene, then it's more than likely you've stumbled across 1000mods. After all, they've been one of the biggest names on the scene since their establishment back in 2006. The band is primarily rooted in stoner metal but have psychedelic and desert rock tendencies, with main influences including Black Sabbath, Kyuss, Red Fang, and MC5. They set the ground rolling in 2011 with a super full-length debut effort in Super Van Vacation and have retained that fine form since. The band consisted of their original founding foursome up until early 2024 when guitarist Giannis S. departed for personal reasons. So, now they come into their latest and 5th full-length release Cheat Death as a trio featuring Dani G (vocals/bass), Giorgos T. (guitars), and Labros G. (drums).

2024 has been quite a productive year for the Greek stoner scene with Planet Of Zeus, Khirki, Acid Mammoth, and Under The Sun all churning out with material. Some albums were stronger than others, though, I might add, with Khirki's outstanding sophomore Κυκεώνας being my personal pick of the bunch. Now comes the turn of 1000mods, and how does their latest effort Cheat Death fair? The theme focuses on an encouraging story inspired by the myth of Sisyphus (a symbol of the human experience and life as a whole) of acceptance and strife through the struggles and battles of everyday life. Its message is clear: your true freedom lies in understanding that there is no grand meaning in life, and, with that, your spirit will be peaceful and content. This is quite a hefty record at just over an hour in length, and the music throughout its 10 tracks reflects on the theme being uplifting, energizing, and hopefully spiritually memorable too.

"Overthrown" starts things off, this being a lengthy song at just shy of 8 minutes. It's mostly structured on heavy traditional doom riffs with a powerful tone, accompanied by classic bluesy solos, which is then carried by a repetitive, stylish, groovy rhythm section. The mellow singing with a catchy chorus along with infectious hooks makes this quite a solid and memorable opener, and the production quality allows you to hear the striking groovy bass lines clearly, an element which remains one of the highlights throughout. The album proceeds with psychedelic jams, stoner grooves, and a strong dose of traditional heavy metal. Minus a few filler materials, the songwriting retains quite a high level of consistency, but nothing really matches the quality of the opener, until you are met with the 6th track in "Speedhead". This short, rapid-paced, energetic song really catches you off guard with a striking combination of 80s classic heavy metal and 90s stoner rock in the vein of Motörhead-meets-Kyuss, to be precise. The following track "Misery" is the first song to really give a hint of psychedelia, mostly from the distorted, trippy, soothing vocals.

The main highlight for me, however, is the title track "Cheat Death". Here is one of the few instances where the band's great songwriting abilities come into their own. The chorus is hooky and memorable, and main riff equally so. The solos are very well crafted and performed, and the overall sound strongly indicates a line drawn between 90s stoner, grunge, and classic hard rock. This stand-out song comes before the 10-minute closer "Grey, Green Blues", which, I have to say, I was quite disappointed in. This is mostly a mellow, psychedelic rock song with influences of stoner, and the heavy metal elements don't really feature at all until the final stages. The most striking element of all here is of course the trippy keys. This is what gives the 60s psychedelia effect, and, with the softer instrumentation, it almost resembles a not-so-great Grateful Dead.

Have 1000mods lived up to the high expectations set by their countrymen and produced another top quality album that'll be placed in a high position on the Greek stoner scene of 2024? Well, I don't believe Cheat Death quite lives up to the standards or memorability of Planet Of Zeus and Khirki, but it's still an undeniably good effort, even if it doesn't hold a candle to some of the band's earlier material. Maybe holding back on the length and cutting back on those few filler moments would have helped this album a great deal.