Breaking Silence

BREAKING SILENCE was a Progressive Heavy Metal group formed in 1992 in the city of Thessaloniki. Quite uniquely, the band’s lineup seems to have remained intact over the entirety of their career, consisting of George Baharidis (vocals –DECEPTOR), Michael Georgiadis (guitars), Tasos Vogiatzis (guitars), Petros Christodoulidis (bass – FIREWIND, OVERPOWER) and Tolis Vasiliadis (drums). For their final recording, seasoned vocalist/keyboardist John Koutselinis (DECEPTOR, GOULS, BIOMECHANICAL, etc.) contributed keyboards on a session basis.

The band’s first release – a very professional-looking, self-titled demo tape – was released in 1993. It consisted of late-1980s-sounding melodic Heavy Metal, complete with plenty of reverb and most of the clichés of the style. Then followed a lengthy hiatus, as the band members did their mandatory military service. Unlike many Greek bands of this time however, BREAKING SILENCE didn’t break up. Four years later they returned with a four-track demo-CDr called “Second Calling”, which saw the band move into more progressive territories in the vein of 1990s FATES WARNING, DREAM THEATER, QUEENSRŸCHE and the like. As with the preceding demo tape, it was very much a pro-work, featuring – in addition to the technically accomplished music – QUEENSRŸCHE-styled cover art and a CDr-format music video as well as a band biography.

Finally, in 2000 BREAKING SILENCE completed their first full-length album. “Impact” continues where “Second Calling” left off, although with more accomplished arrangements and production. Of special note is the superior re-recorded versions of three songs from the “Second Calling”-era, although one might wonder why they chose to omit the fourth and perhaps strongest track from the demo. This would be the last release by the BREAKING SILENCE to this date, and as far as we know they broke up in the early 2000s.

While primarily of interest to those who’re into post-Arch-era FATES WARNING and early DREAM THEATER rather than more trad-oriented Heavy/Power-Progressive Metal, there’s no denying that BREAKING SILENCE were good at what they were doing and stands up well to similar-sounding acts of their ilk.

Compilation appearances:
* The Sorceress [Cass, Comp, Numbered: Heavy – Rock Tapes, 1994]
* Power Feast Vol. 3 [Cass, Comp, Numbered: Self-released (Mass Dementia Zine), 1994]
* Warzone IV [CD, Comp: Metal Invader, 1998]
* Metal Animation Vol. 1 [Cass, Comp, Numbered: Self-released, ?]