Rising Female Voices in Metal
New to Me, New to You
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.
Next update: Floor Jansen Re-Vamps herself.
