My Endless Search: A time-line based collection of songs I've come to love in a multitude of genres including:
Symphonic Metal, Gothic Metal, Progressive Metal, Power Metal, Folk Metal, Industrial, & Underground
The news had broke on Oct 1, 2012. Nightwishousts current vocalist, Annete Olzen, dumping her mid-tour in the States and without even a breath of panic or admission of anything rather out of the ordinary, announce within the same breath that they are happy to inform their fans that they would be continuing the rest of their North American tour with Floor Jansen. Me, being the major fan of Floor that I am, but not such the fan of Nightwish, immediately jumped to the bands' tour page to see that they were coming to my city within 2 weeks! It was absolutely crazy for me, it was actually beyond words. I jumped on those tickets with a quickness, and eagerly awaited the show as I monitored the Fans of Nightwish, go absolutely bonkers.
When I started writing this blog, It was quite evident to me that most of these bands do not tour the States very often, knowing of Epica, Sonata Artica and very few others to have toured. After Forever, had toured a rather small tour in the States, only to have broken up shortly after, to which I figured Id never get the chance to see Floor sing live, since her just brand-new band ReVamp was barely a blip on the radar over here, I figured it would take a festival of some kind that I would probably have to fly to another state, just to get to, if that would EVER even happen.... But the news on that faithful day brought to me my Queen. The whole experience was one of sheer joy, happiness, and smiles ear to ear wide. Even if I am not a fan of Nightwish.
The following clip is from the actual concert I went to, taken only a few feet from me. The song was among the many stand outs but it was her delivery of the last final note, as to the audience began to bellow and scream in sheer delight, she then raised her output WELL ABOVE the volume of the crowd in a glorious moment which simply left the whole crowd astonished and in disbelief. It gave me goosebumps, tears in my eyes, and an estatic feeling that comes back to me whenever I watch it, and re-live it. Thankfully, as we all now know, she has signed on with Nightwish as their singer, and will continue on with her own project, ReVamp. Which will join a tour with Sabaton and Iced Earth in the States in 2014! You bet I wont miss it!
Rising Female Voices in Metal New to Me, New to You
Songs 95-97
On my way to 100 I do have a few gems of great songs from bands I hardly know of. Some are relatively new. Every time I come across one of these they become New To Me. Instantly, its as if a whole new world of possibilities are opened. This happened to me countless times with my Pandora Player. At some point, it's almost impossible to keep up with these possibilities- you just hope that along the way some of it sticks.
My cataloging, my sequencing of these moments truly solidifies just that; when something is good it Does Stick - it stands out, it withstands re-listens, it passes the test of time. I understand that by writing this blog, in essence, a year or so behind-time it seems as if I am just now discovering these bands. The following choices in this update are not completely brand new bands, but they are definitely newer than the majority of the artists I feature here. Its a great thing sometimes, to recommend to other people brand-spanking new music. But just because it was released a mere 35 days ago, or hasn't yet been released doesn't immediately make it great. So what you get is a lot of this... "My friend gave me a list of 10 new metal bands / new releases I need to check out... but I play about a minute or so and lose interest by number 2 or 3 on the list." Here is where reading my blog has its advantages. You get the instant gratification of hearing the song contained within the link, and a small bio of relative info accordingly, but most of all, you are getting to hear what I have bookmarked for myself. Songs I listen to regularly, songs I do not grow tired of. I don't leave you off to fend for yourself. Just click, sift through my dialog, and lose yourself. Somewhere along the line, you will be finding songs to add to your everyday listening- Be it from last year or from 15 years ago. But they could be New To You. One of the best qualities of Metal is how it can take so many forms. The majority of my links are from Female-Fronted bands. One the side-effects of Symphonic Metal being so heavily tied to the upper vocal range of more Operatic singers, is that most of the bands have female vocals. As I've looked more and more deeper into my own personal influences, I realized at a very young age I was very accepting of Female Vocals in heavier music. Taking Blondie as my 1st example may not totally suit my needs but Ive been revisiting those old albums I listened to when I was 10 yrs old recently, and heard a lot of what I have included below: Variety.Blondie was a band capable of bending rules and still maintaining an edge. Her range and delivery did not limit the band - it made them more limitless.
Explore the possibilities, relish in variety and imagine the limitless these 3 bands represent. This is New Blood.
Beautiful Sin - Spark of Ignition(Germany, PowerMetal 2006)
This gem I found about the same time as the next two - although its not as new - and was apparently a single release from the Helloween's Uli Kusch along with other members of Pagan's Mind. Bringing along the raspy and yet tonal vocals of Magali Luyten who doesn't sound like most gothic / operatic singers.
Full production gives this song tons of power, matched by the strong performance by Magali. A little reminiscent of Doro Pesch, there is some male barking vocals chirping in. Powermetal-esque, there is some interesting breaks and swiping effects snuggled in. But its her voice which carries through. Although its a one-off I would assume its a decent listen all throughout. Maybe there is a room for more female vocals in this range within these genres. It would serve as a break from all the vocal gymnasts.
Benighted Soul - Start from Scratch(France, Symphonic Metal 2011)
Broken arpeggio intro followed by the scattered, syncopated rhythm, almost wandering lines which only hint to the randomness ahead. The song is about as unpredictable as one Ive come across in quite some time. There is double bass-double stops with pads of choirs. Slower, chugging sections and then long smooth progressive styled parts. This is all pretty much within the first half of the song. Regarding her voice, Geraldine Gadaut has quite a range and good control slipping between the
chromatic and the soaring parts. Even a quite breakdown with piano and harmonized vocal lines does not allow for her to stumble.
Its quite a chaotic ride and a little all over the place, but the piece as a whole moves effortlessly, feeling as if you are getting pummelled with wave after wave of the heavy, the pounding and then the small, quick sections of piano breaks. At the best point, just as the song is about to end, it all seems to slide upwards to a choir of semi-barking operatics and then it softly places you back down for the ending. Benighted Soul shows quite a bit of promise, along with the vocal presence of Geraldine and the near-mental songwriting, I don't think a Start from Scratch is really all that necessary.
Aperion - Black Flies(Slovania, Symphonic Folk Metal 2010)
One of my favorites for quite awhile, finally got a music video, which I am happy about since 90% of what I include are not official videos. So enjoy this one as you count up to 8 members in this band from Slovenia. This one though was very difficult for me to search for since the band's name is difficult to search if you mess up the spelling at all. I had a link from a previous release, a song called Shine in my listings but was lost and i couldnt find the bands name anywhere.
Luckily I kept on and discovered their latest release "Act of Hybris" and its a great one. Multiple sounds and instruments, a folk influence is there, not in melody but in sounds and the female vocals led by Zala Hodnik are very good.
The song starts with - you guessed it - a didgeridoo! So right away it sounds unique, a bit tribal even. the quick pace starts right off, all the instrumentation in unision. A vareity of cellos, violins, flutes and who knows what else. Meanwhile the vocals do question-and-answer with the violins in between and the dropped tuning guitars murk away powerful thumping riffs. Zala softly displays a clear voice as the violins and the semi-building breakdown all but stops. Then my favorite part creeps in, a dueting vocal including male and female vocal which brings it all back in at full force. Its a hyper thing, bouncy and full of texture and its an earful. Limits completely thrown out the door.
As I research my back links into a cohesive timeline, one that tells the story of how I arrived to this point in time in which I chronicle my journey of discovery through the sub genres of metal, I do on occasion come across a stumbling block. I had taken a 4 month break from writing my blog, mostly to spend more time researching and falling in love with newer material. But another reason why I took the time off was because the songs that fall next into my timeline weren't songs that really were in playlists anymore. The main reason is rarity, some songs disappear from resources like youtube and even some bands become stagnant on last.fm. So I had a little restructuring to do to my list, and even strengthen the list for my upcoming year. So my list will continue to become even better. I do promise that after song 100 I will continually bring outstanding songs to share.
Now approaching songs 92-94, I discovered a large amount of Folk Metal in my lists, mostly due to the fact I had buried myself deep into researching Metal from Finland, and keeping bands like Enisferum and Elluvietie in my listings, and even on my Pandora Player, I kept bumping into very notable Folk Metal entries. Folk metal takes you on a journey to other worlds, just as Gothic and Symphonic Metal do. The main difference is there is regionalism attached to it. In some cases, the regionalism is fiction. If a band sings about conquering worlds on the high seas, there is very little chance the band are actually viking nomads, who play in a metal band just for kicks. Or if a band seems a little obsessed with the world of Tolkien, and write about Orcs, Faeries and Elves, its not that the band comes from a land where these things exist. But through listening and immersing yourself into the bands' mythos and folk-stories, you in turn become a part of it and can attach yourself to, as if a member of, this regional tribe.
The next 3 songs are illustrations of that, and work for me in this sense. There is plenty of Metal bands I dont get into, there are plenty that for me, just rehash whats been done. I do try my best to focus on bands that truly take on the position of a band that does things the way they want to, with a sense of originality and true-ness. I feel my selections, song by song, are examples of excellence, no matter how well known, or unknown the band is.
So lets hoist up our flags, our spears, and keep hold tight of our women and drink, for we are about to embark on a journey, one filled with the unknown, as we cast aside our fear, as we rise above our tears, as we chase the wind, we shall claim that which awaits us. The Riches of Treasure, The Spoils of Victory and Epic WIN!
Battlelore - Doombound(Finland, Power Metal, Symphonic Folk 2011)
No surprise that some of my favorite Folk Metal comes from Finland... Battlelore is one of those great examples of bands that I like simply on the fact that they are unique in their approach, or what I see and can feel as conscience intent. They truly try to bring about a world to you as if it actually exists, being that all of Battlelore’s lyrics specifically revolve around people and events in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth. For most fantasy and sci-fi lovers its an appeal that is self-contained.
This is the title song from their 2011 release. It contains a slow, doomy progression with symphonic transitions and a mellow break down. A mixture of Male Growls (Tomi Mykkanen) and the nearly ethereal vocals of Kaisa Jouhki. They have toyed around with the line-up a few times, most Battlelore fans consider this the best one. The folk melodies run throughout and dont ever dominate the pace. Keeping their unique ambiance intact. After having this and some older songs from them in my playlist, this one - though at first listen is a bit mild, is actually well conceived and does give that feeling of embarking on an adventure. Question, does anyone have a broadsword?
Crimfall - The Writ of The Sword(Finland, Symphonic Folk / Viking 2011)
Speaking of swords.... Coming again from Finland, and another title track, Crimfall falls into the category of Viking Metal with only a select few, mixing Folk Metal sections with Symphonic choruses, led by the clear vocals of Helena Haaparanta, a touch of Power Metal and probably some blood. This song definitely goes through these paces, complete with some deathly howls in the background.
As for the musical folk sections, I hear some Amorphis influence as they alternate melodies between a variety of instruments. Another song i like from them, Son of North, also from the same release (The Writ of the Sword) There is alot of layers going on here, some straight passages also to help as breaks from all that is being thrown at you. But it is the sections with the different instruments that stand out for me, where the Folk melodies come into play, and doing so again, in a manner not like Ive heard from most of the Folk Metal genre.
Ancient Bards - Four Magic Elements(Italy, Symphonic/Power/Folk Metal 2010)
This Power Metal band hails from Italy and the 2010 release "The Alliance of The Kings" had given them quite a boost in popularity, as is easy to tell why. More leaning towards Power Metal, the quick paced guitars of Ancient Bardsare brought very much to the forefront. The clear vocal lines of Sara Squadrani, are at times multi-layered and carry for the most part the folk-melodies. Allowing the band and those heavy guitars to rifle through. There are some folk instrumentation, this song for me was a great representation of how this band and the others above do a good job, if not better than others, of keeping their sound, their direction and intent within a general focus that doesnt seem to waive or wander. There is no head-scratching going on.
I like the mixture of instrumentation, some foreign elements, the stop-and go breaks and how each instrument takes its turn in telling the story. As Sara's vocals climb higher, the band takes you along the conquest, with victorious horns and and a recalling melody breakdown starting at the center 2:34 point. It is clear the band is composed of highly talented musicians and songwriters. A furious build up, one which you probably could slay a dragon to, before the final chorus is sung, still continues with the stop and go feel. As far as Folk Metal excellence goes, this is a bit difficult to top, specially in the more PowerMetal side so its safe to have Ancient Bards at the ready, in case you would need Fire, Flames and Brimstone to defeat some Ancient Barbarians.
