Sakis Prekas: Vocals / Guitar
Hel Pyre: Vocals / Bass / Keys
Alex Despotidis: Guitar
Babis Kapageridis: Bass
Vasilis Nanos: Drums
W.E.B.'s music has earned high praise for its "drama, extremity and bloodthirst in equal parts… energetic and unhinged." The formidable symphonic extreme metal lineup is best experienced at one of the quartet's many crushing live gigs. Enter Darkness Alive, the lineup's first-ever live album, recorded in W.E.B.'s hometown of Athens on September 22, 2024.
"We shared the stage that night with Dark Funeral, and since we were making changes within the band that had us excited, we made the decision to mark this day with a special release, hence our first official live album," says singer/guitarist Sakis Prekas.
Picking the nine songs for Darkness Alive was simple: "We can tell almost immediately which songs work for a concert and we always keep the audience in mind," Prekas explains. "We want the people who come to see W.E.B. perform to have a good time, to get our message, to grasp them and make a damn memorable metal show, as it should be."
With the singles including "Dark Web," intense melodic death and modern metal off their 2021 Colosseum LP, Darkness Alive captures the band at the top of their game. Other standout tracks are "Dragona," blasting black metal with an epic finale that forever will be a staple in W.E.B.'s live setlist, while "Into Hell Fire We Burn" is a "thunderous marriage of black and heavy metal with a chorus that "literally orders you to sing along," Prekas says.
W.E.B., a band born of the necessity to scream, blast, and create emotions and get on stage to exchange them with an audience, adds Darkness Alive to five previous studio albums. Colosseum, released in 2021, was their first for Metal Blade. Captured at a moment of transition, the upcoming live album documents the band featuring Sakis Prekas (guitar & vocals), Hel Pyre (bass & vocals), and newly joined drummer Vasilis Nanos. Following the recording, the band expanded its sound and solidified its current lineup with the addition of lead guitarist Alex Despotidis and second bassist Babis Kapageridis.
The quartet is excited for Darkness Alive to take its place alongside stellar heavy live albums that were formative listens. A personal favorite for Prekas is Iron Maiden's A Real Live/Dead One. "I know many would choose Live After Death, but the first live album I got was a tape with a compilation of those two albums and it just blew me away."
He also cites Metallica's Liveshit, that album revealing to the singer/guitars how "a thrash metal band can make people have the time of their lives. The energy that goes back and forth is pure magick." Slayer's Decade of Aggression and Slipknot's Disasterpieces are other live LP favorites for their pure insanity and power.
Darkness Alive finds W.E.B. at their live best, and the band are currently writing their next full-length album that will see them hitting the road again. "It is by far the best material we ever had on a record. I intend to keep the promise to myself regarding W.E.B. that all new material must be better material, otherwise there is no reason to release it," Prekas concludes. "Stay Dark."
