History & Biography Attika is the centre of Greece and the region wherein Athens lies. Attika is also the monicker for a power metal band from Melbourne, Florida, USA which was formed in 1986.
The band was formed in 1986 by vocalist/bassist Robert VanWar, guitarist Joe Longobardi and drummer Jeff Patelski. The Motherlods demo was recorded in the same year. The band appeared on a local compilation and recruited bassist Dan Rubel. A self-titled debut was released in 1988 on the band's own Prison Records (Attica is a prison in New York, USA) which went on to be issued in Europe two years later.
1989 brought the replacement of Dan Rubel by Scott Miller. Oddly enough several other bassists came and went. In 1990 Attika won the Florida Jammy Award for Best Metal Band. A year later the band independently released the When Heroes Fall album. This album was licensed and released by Massacre Records in Germany and Metal Mania in Japan. A video for the song The Shame was also shot for this album.
Attika contemplated the re-release of When Heroes Fall and The Shame video a decade later. The band's debut was re-released in late 2002 by Cult Metal Classics on both CD and LP. The band was inactive for years. The next release was all the way in 2021. The band’s drummer and singer had outlasted the years. The band had played at 2018’s Up The Hammers festival in Greece and the Pure Steel Metal Fest in 2019. Six strings-for-hire Nikolay Atanasov joined in 2022. He replaced guitarist Chris Westfall (Ruthless also of Pure Steel Records) who had lasted less than a year. Bill Krajewski had retired from concerts, but would still compose with the band. Van War was the singer on Onward’s return album Of Epoch And Inferno in 2022 as well. He was in his own act Van War as of 2024.
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