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Greece’s most prolific rocker is at it again! Stavros delivers album after album with various projects and bands. Super Vintage hears him rock out in riff rock land. “Guardians Of Tradition” is his sixth album with Super Vintage. The album kicks off with the groovy sleazy blues rocker “Southern Ride”, which leaves off to the Blackfoot sounding “Indian Soul” with some nice classic southern rock guitar solos. “Hero” starts out soft and nice, but kicks in some heavy guitars and turns into a nice southern rock style semi-power-ballad. “Rolling Thunder” kicks it into gear and also features some cool slide guitar. A really nice and very dynamic song with lots of different layers. “Down Down” starts off kinda familiar with a slide guitar but moves into a different direction with some cool finger picking, to again move it up a notch and transform into a cool bluesy southern rock number, with some cool dirty slide and solo work from Stavros. “T For Tennessee” brings it into up-tempo mode and do get a vibe of vintage Blackfoot here as well. Think “Marauder” or “Tomcattin”. “Naked Truth” continues the hard and heavy rocker mode and this one really hits home with me. Powerful and sleazy! All in all, a kick ass album!

Janne Stark / Stark Music Reviews (December 2022)
 

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Super Vintage's latest album is one of those albums that you shouldn't waste too many words on. A waste of your time because you can use that time better to purchase the album and listen to it several times! This is a magnificent sixth album by the Greek band Super Vintage. A band from the town of Kavala, consisting of Stavros Papadopoulos (vocals, guitar), Panagiotis Zabourlis (guitar), Jim Moralis (bass) and Chris Lagios (drums).

The album also proves that Southern Rock doesn't just come from the States these days! The sound of Super Vintage contains the best features from the Southern Rock past (think Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Outlaws) with the occasional funky Black Crowes sound mixed in. Take the album's opening track, "Southern Ride". A tough Southern Rocker in which the ghost of Led Zeppelin also haunts. The coarse-grained bluesy vocals of Stavros Papadopoulos sound great here in a heavy grooving song with excellent guitar work. "Indian Soul" goes more in the Skynyrd direction in a song full of howling guitar duels. "Hero" is an angular rocker with great polyphonic vocals, followed by the pumping Southern rock of "Rolling Thunder". Sweltering abrasive slide guitar playing opens the Southern Rock ballad "Down Down". Then "T For Tennessee" rocks in a fiery way. A boogie with razor-sharp guitar skills from Stavros Papadopoulos and Panagiotis Zabourlis. With the melancholy "Pieces Of My Broken Heart", the band returns to the Lynyrd Skynyrd sound. "Rise And Fall" is then a wistful ballad of a “Free Bird” (Skynyrd)-like class. The album ends excitingly energetic rocking with the raw "Guardians Of Tradition". An absolute must from this Greek Southern Rock band! The South Of Europe's gonna rise!

Peter Marinus / Bluestown Music (December 2022)
 

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One of the most underrated bands in the genre and one of the most prolific. Stavros Papadopoulos musical child, SUPER VINTAGE is exactly what the name says. Hard rock with its roots in the 70s and the blues with a great Southern scent. Riffs outta the book of Frank Marino, Leslie West and Billy Gibbons and Rossigton/Collins. The band consists of Stavros Papadopoulos (guitars-vocals), Panagiotis Zabourlis (rhythm guitar), Jim Moralis (Bass Guitar) & Chris Lagios (drums). They're what their name says, just listen to the opening of "Indian Soul", a song that Ricky Medlock would be proud to have written, straight out the early BLACKFOOT days. Modern Southern Rock with some great countrified harmonies at the chorus at "Hero" and the tradition keep up the good work. SUPER VINTAGE ain't no retro rock band. They live and breath the 70s in their sound and have them deep in their DNA. So their sound comes natural, unbiased and the songs sound like they're from the vaults of one of the legendary bands of the time, but are contemporary and have the SV mark all over them. Not a hint of imitation or other kind of flattering, just pure signs of musical excellence and inspiration.

"Rolling Thunder" has the Ted Nugnet riffs storming the song and the Van Zandt soaked vocals sound, delivering the goods, Papadopoulos slide guitar enter the scenery as it opnes for "Down Down" a song straight out of the "Street Survivors" album. "T For Tennessee" is a rocking number with strong references to the 70s and also to a small band from Jacksonville. "End Of The Road" is a more in your face rocking number while "Pieces Of My Broken Heart" is the more mainstream song of the album with a frenzied lead solo. "Rise And Fall" is a fitting trbute to "Free Bird" with its main riff and the slide guitar, an a nod to the mighty SKYNYRD. The closing 8 minute "Guardians Of Tradition" is the bands own masterpiece, anthemic, strong and proud 70s influenced, guitar driven hard rock with the confederate flag waving high, mighty and proud, a closing fitting to an album with no fillers. It is a pity and a shame that bands like BLACKBERRY SMOKE, WHISKEY MYERS, BLACKSTONE CHERRY are all over the Southern press and the rock press as the Southern rock apostles & revivalists and Papadopoulos and crew don't get the recognition they rightfully deserve. If you're into 70s Southern rock and hard rock and you like some fresh approach and original compositions do yourself a favor and check out this album.

Stelios Basbayiannis / Basbayiannis Music & Book Tales (December 2022)
 

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Destiny (2018) and Shining Light (2020) were the final two releases by hard rock band Super Vintage. At the beginning of September 2022, the group around Stavros Papadopoulos followed up with the album "Guardians Of Tradition". It was released on the Grooveyard Records label.There are eleven songs on this record and it was produced by the front man & Joe Romagnola as the Executive Producer. Joe Romagnola is associated with the Bluestone Company, Mountain Of Power, Bryce Janey and Tony Spinner, among other .

The songs were recorded at Freerock Recording Studio, Kavala City, Greece. Drums recorded @ Stone Groove, Athens, Greece. All the songs were written by Stavros Papadopoulos. What is there to report about the 6th studio disc of the Greek rock band Super Vintage? If you listen to the album from the first to the last track, then a relatively long breath is required, because on "Rise And Fall" the combo steps on the brake pedal and brings a beautiful ballad to the ears of the people in front of the speakers. Stavros Papadopoulos probably has a deep friendship with the bottleneck. When you get to the penultimate track, you're not at all sure if he even put it aside in any of the previous songs. With a view to relaxed parts, the final title track "Guardians Of Tradition" is a vanishing point of emotions arranged from uptempo and relaxed phases. "Down Down" should also be mentioned in this context.

Not only is Super Vintage a hard rock combo, but they also have their eye on southern rock. Right from the beginning of the disc it goes in the latter musical direction. Almost as a matter of course, Stavros Papadopoulos has activated the bottleneck and Super Vintage unleashes a well-tempered heaviness on the listener. That pleases and whets the appetite for the following numbers. The eleven tracks contain a great Super Vintage diversity, which is based on the competent songwriting of a Stavros Papadopoulos. The songs are very balanced and if you speak of a fluctuating dynamic, then definitely with this album. The twin sound that is used in phases is also great in the Southern-oriented songs, created by rhythm guitarist Panagiotis Zabourlis and bandleader Stavros Papadopoulos .

A track like the groovy "Rolling Thunder" or in a different arrangement "End Of The Road". Vocally, Stavros Papadopoulos is right up there with the song statements. He definitely knows how to please with his voice. His solos, whether with or without a bottleneck, have format, are large-scale or, in the quieter songs, also very emotional.

So you get a very positive impression after the first listen, which only gets stronger with further listening. In this respect, the Super Vintage "Guardians Of Tradition" disc is a recommendation for Southern Rock, Hard Rock or Blues Rock. Stay healthy and take time for good music as a distraction.

Joachim 'Joe' Brookes / Rock Times (September 2022)
 

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The main man of Super Vintage is guitarist/singer/producer/composer Stavros Papadopoulos who also has another band called King Mountain. With that band he released a bit earlier this year the CD ‘Tempest At The Gate’. On that record Stavros together with bass player John Christopoulos and drummer Chris Lagios plays a classic form of hard rock with a touch of metal and in real Stavros style always guitar orientated to the max. He has a few more records with King Mountain and I must say that including ‘Tempest At The Gate’ they are all very worthwhile having. Check it out on YouTube folks or even better get them on line or directly via the record label on their website.

GUARDIANS OF TRADITION
With Super Vintage Stavros together with second guitarist Panagiotis Zabourlis, bass player Jim Moralis and again Chris Lagios serves up a different rock dish. Super Vintage is much more blues rock and southern rock orientated and the band has already some five records out this far, making ‘Guardians Of Tradition’ number six. Actually, the eleven songs on this record are much more southern rock flavoured when you compare this one with the other band releases. And as Stavros has a perfect voice with no real accent to be detected, if you would have said to me that these guys come from Florida instead of Kavala in Greece I most likely would have believed you.

MELANCHOLIC CHARACTER
The album has at times a melancholic typical southern rock character with lots of ballsy guitars and a rhythm section that purely plays to serve the guitar players. Add to that that Stavros has managed to pen down a bunch of decent songs as well and you are listening to a guitar dominated quite pure and entertaining southern rock album that we do not get to hear that often these days.

"Rise And Fall", "Naked Truth", "Hero", "Indian Soul", "Rolling Thunder", "Pieces Of My Broken Heart", the title track, "Southern Ride", "Down Down" (nothing to do with Status Quo), "T For Tennessee" and "End Of The Road" are all quite traditional and certainly not too complicated to follow, but they are played from the heart and soul of a man that has become one of the most reliable and active rock merchants that Greece has to offer. If you cherish southern rock ‘Guardians Of Tradition’ is at the moment one of the best records in that genre.

Michel van de Moosdijk / Headbangers Lifestyle (September 2022)
 

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