I want to start 2009 bringing new stuff to Hard Blast so I decided to write this article about some artists and bands that have called my attention during 2008. Searching for a good criteria while choosing bands, I decided to use myspace as a tool and during 4 days I listened to around 600 bands, all those who have added me to be more specific.
I chose the 20 bands due to their talent, good music and, of course, my personal taste since without it I could never write about them. The only rule I followed was to select only those who have recorded with no support of big majors. These artists are unsigned.
From death metal to heavy, progressive, hard and even modern rock I tried to gather all styles I am familiar with and I apologize in case you do not agree with the way I classified the bands. As Toni Martin said to me once: “at first everything was rock”. Within the years and many changes we had in the world, life, society and everything, music, just like every type of art, passed through an “earthquake” that made divisions necessary to make them at least a little understandable since they are so shaky. As an old school rocker I´d say it´s difficult to me to put a label on bands but I have to assume that it makes my job a little more understandable and yours a little easier cause you can go through your favorite style to check out these artists although you should check all of them out. I know it takes time to be done but I´m sure you will find some good stuff in the middle of things you would never expect...
I hope you like it, I wish luck and success to these bands.
Stay Rock!
Obs. There is no preference order on this list.
METAL
3 INCHES OF BLOOD (Canada)
The Canadian band 3 Inches of Blood makes real metal based on the most traditional influences you can imagine. We feel in their music the essence of great stuff such as Iron Maiden, Helloween, Judas Priest (specially the Painkiller phase) and King Diamond but you can also get a lot of the old school Thrash Metal feeling.
The fast drumming and guitar solos make us feel like banging our heads as soon as the music starts. The band´s line-up counts on Cam Pipes (v), Justin Hagberg (g ), Shane Clark (g), Nick Cates b), Ash Pearson (d).
This is a great band. The music is quite heavy and very melodic. There is something dark in the band´s atmosphere and it makes them even better. It would be a huge mistake to say they sound Gothic but there is some of it in the shadow of Death Pilot´s music. You see a lot of Pantera, Metallica, thrash metal influences but it´s more to metal. The singing style goes from melodic to aggressive in seconds and I got really impressed with the instrumental which is excellent. The pictures were performed turning the band members into military characters and the line-up is: Col. Midian (v), L.T. Col. Diamond Z. (d), Maj. Ares (b), Capt. “?” (k, v), 1st. L.T. Johnny Death (g), 2nd. L.T. Matt Thrash (g).
The first thing that will probably call your attention when listening to Syren is the similarity between Luiz Syren´s and Bruce Dickinson´s voices. It´s really amazing and gets even more when you realize clearly that this is not made on purpose. The guy was born with this gift and that´s it. A very important thing to say, though, is that Syren´s music does not sound like Iron Maiden. It goes from aggressive to melodic, always with a lot of power in the vocals, drumming and specially the guitar which is just perfect. A fusion between old and new metal full of very heavy riffs. Syren´s line-up counts on Luiz Syren (v), Alex Macedo (g), Carlos Lösch (g), Bruno Coe (b) and B.A. (d).
TS is the project of the Swedish musician Egon “Ehom” Lundberg. A first quality traditional heavy metal work with no specific line-up but a huge set of special guests from all over the world doing an excellent job. Egon´s inspiration comes from Rainbow, Dio, Iron Maiden, King Diamond, Black Sabbath, Bach, Vivaldi, Beethoven etc. TS guests are musicians with a speechless resume such as Tracy G (Dio), Bobby Rondinelli (Dio, Black Sabbath), Fabrizio Muratori (NhorizoN).
Maga Sina´s music is a great mix of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. The great differential I see in their style is the vintage feeling connected to a modern sound and, of course, the strong and beautiful voice of the singer Mariana Gouvêa who has a very particular personality. I wouldn´t compare them to any other “female singing” heavy band. Their influences are wide from blues and classic rock ´n roll to hard rock and heavy metal. The current line-up is: Mariana Gouvêa (v), Arnaldo Ferradosa (g), Victor Montalvão (g), Daniel White (b) and Erick Rhamnusia (d).
The band exists since 2006 and their music is pure hard/heavy metal full of melody, speed drumming and very good guitars. Except for the drummer Alan Marques, Temple of Sin brings a curious line-up for a Brazilian band with the Finnish guitarist Timo Kaarkoski, Ricky Wychovaniec (v) and Ricardo Wychovaniec (b). I don´t know if they are from Brazil but they really don´t look Brazilians. I got curious when I saw the line-up and it was great because after listening to Temple of Sin´s music I became a fan. It´s very good and well done with high vocals and great rock atmosphere.
I liked this band at the first minute I heard them. Formed in late 2003 the band´s line-up is: Richard Goss (v & g), Pete Hawthorne (g), Joel Jordan (b) and James Davenport (d). Warpath's songs have been requested and aired on radio stations in over 60 countries. Their last release Damnation, from 2008, received excellent critical from magazines and fans across the globe, scoring higher marks than Metallica, Testament and Judas Priest´s new albums in several magazines. Copies in Japan were sold out within two days and all UK copies in under fourteen days. Recently they´ve got a distribution deal with Code 7 & Plastic Head and Damnation album has being stocked by all major retail stores . The band has no contract with any major though.
American great thrash metal the way fans expect to hear when they remember all good things USA gave to us in the 80´s and beginning of the 90´s and whenever we see bands from the Bay Area of California. Influenced by bands like Pantera, Metallica and Slayer, Almost Dead music is brutal and fucking awesome! The line-up is formed by Tony Rolandelli (v), Ian Barbus (b), Nick Orsi (g), Ivan Ganchev (d) and the music is explosive from the first to the last minute. They bet a lot on creativity too and on their page at myspace we can see the trailer of a movie being produced by Rolandelli and his brother.
Being around since 1999 under the name Savant, I´d say they are 100% an old school Thrash Metal band. The influences are clear when you think of Slayer, Exodus, Kreator and Sepultura. In 2007 they released “No Hope” with total independent resources and since then the band has been working real hard to get good deals, gigs and tours. The line-up is Antonio Vargas (v & g), Marcelo Fishy (g), Rafael Bonnal (b) and Raniery Pontes (d). They deserve your support cause this is a band that could really improve if having a good chance.
This is not a band, it´s a guy! A 17-year-old very talented boy who made all songs and played all instruments (except drums) on this record. Influenced by Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver, Motley Crüe, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Skid Row and great hard rock and metal bands he makes an aggressive hard rock that deserves to be heard.
This work is result of 8 hard working months and great opportunities and you should check out his profile at myspace www.myspace.com/poupiam and website www.poupiam.com
ROCK IGNITION (Germany)
If you listen to this band you will find pure hard rock influenced by melodic bands from the 80´s such as Bon Jovi, Skid Row, Kiss, Mr. Big, Def Leppard, Vixen, Motley Crue, Aerosmith and so on. It´s music to have fun sung by a woman of great voice. The vocalist Heather Shockley is also background singer for the US-metal band Kamelot and musical artist in shows such as Jesus Christ Superstar“ and "We Will Rock You“. Rock Ignition´s line-up is Heather Shockley (v), Jürgen Steinmetz (b), Fabian Dummerz (g) and Niko Chatziathanasiou (d).
The Swedish band Dirty Passion has been on since 2003 playing hard rock influenced by the 70´s and 80´s scene. The voice is melodic and there is something of Joey Tempest on the singing but the instrumental is a big mix of a great rock and hard rock music passing by all divisions in the hard rock essence including AOR and Sleaze. They´ve been playing a lot and their independent record is very good, well played, very well sung and almost raw. You can really feel the playing by itself since it almost sounds live, specially the drums. I liked very much the simple but very good recording quality. The current line-up is Emil Ekbladh (v), Christopher Olsson (g), Björn Wilander (b), Christoffer Braman (d). They kick ass.
Spectrum is a Progressive-Hard Rock/Metal band influenced by the 70's classic, progressive rock, 80's hard rock, jazz-fusion, Greek folk music and clearly in many moments, by the guitar master Jimi Hendrix. Everything they´ve done, including the built of a studio and the entire production of the album came by their own expenses and I have to say it´s really high quality. Virtuous without being boring. It isn´t an eccentric work and neither an ego competition to show who plays better. It´s a direct progressive rock. The band members are Antonio Marini (v), Denis Kalogerias (g), Vaggos Petratos (k), Nick Lenis (b) and Theo Tsoulos (d).
Usually when the subject is metal and Norway we tend to imagine Death and Black Metal but this band is one of the most curious and cool I´ve heard recently and their music has absolutely nothing to do with the mentioned styles or does it? Actually I have no idea of how to classify them. I´d say they are extremely experimental and their music goes through extremes such as funk music and thrash metal. It´s very curious and we can see immediately the influences of Frank Zappa and Mr. Bungle. There is a lot of rock ´n roll and metal and even progressive in their music too and these guys really deserve to be checked cause they are doing something very different, curious and good! I felt like going to their concert after listening to the songs. Line-up: Pool Source (v), Oyuind Bjöndaekmo (b), Christian Berg (d), Erik Lindberg (g), Ola Hookon Suendsen (g).
Death Metal is a particular style to me. I don´t listen to many bands but I really like a few of them having some as my real life favorites This band deserves attention cause they explore melody very well and make deep music with deep lyrics. Solacide worked under the name Dim Moonlight from 1996 until late 2004. During its first 3 years the band worked hard to find a musical direction going through several line-up changes. The current members are Sami Tikkanen (b), Joonas Vanhalakka (g), Kimmo Korhonen (g, v and synth), Gökhan Korkmaz (v) and Matti Jauhola (d). The band´s influences are Akercocke, Devin Townsend/SYL, Emperor, Iron Maiden, Keep Of Kalessin, Meshuggah, Morbid Angel, Opeth, Sentenced and Symphony X and the discography has 3 demos.
White Silence is a melodic death metal band from California that officially exists since January 2008. Their style is a bit like Children of Bodom, one of my favorite bands at the moment, although it isn´t exactly like this. Their first demo was released in December 2007 and since then they´ve been working very hard on new tracks to close a full album soon. The band´s line-up counts on Brandon Reifinger (g), Brogen Tomasick (d), Adam Bender (g), Quinn Rodriguez (v) and Chase Sapp (b).
These boys from Denmark really impressed me. I wasn´t expecting the kind of music I heard when I typed the “enter” on my computer. It´s modern metal but heavy, good and aggressive. The present line-up exists since 2006 with Jens (v), Paddy (g), Kalle (b), Anders (g) and Chris (d). In less than two years they have toured in England four times. Their songs "Infidels" and "Traitor" have been voted ”Track of the day” on www.garageband.com, the first EP received 5 stars in the largest Danish music magazine Gaffa, and they have also been announced as band of the week on mymusic.dk which is the largest Danish music site. First thing we realize while listening to their music is a very heavy influence of Thrash Metal and bands like Pantera and System of a Down. John Dolyman, from SOD has even played with them at a jam and the video is available on their page at myspace.
I´ve known this band for a while and every year their music is getting better and heavier. Being around since 2004 their influences come from styles like thrash metal, death metal, industrial, modern metal, electronic and whatever. The music is dense and aggressive. I really like it.
They´ve been playing all over Brazil and the audience grows up everyday. Embrioma has warmed up very important concerts such as Biohazard, Sepultura, Suicidal Tendencies and Misfits. The present line-up counts on Denis Azevedo (b), Dektri (keys, synth, samples and prog), Scream S. (v), Bob Smith (d), Leandro Figliolia (g) and Luiz Portinari (g and v).
Black Temple is not actually a band. It´s the solo project of the Thai/Finn guitarist and singer Tang. His music is very modern and it´s a kind of “new” metal I really like. Tai calls it Kung-Fu Metal and I like the term. It´s heavy, the voice is very deep and it reminds us a bit of White Zombie and Ramstein but there is also something of Black Label Society. The music is more direct, though and there aren´t so many electronic elements which I think is an advantage. It´s very well played. I´m curious to listen to some more. The line-up that is recording the full length cd is Janne Parviainen (d), Vesa Wahlroos (g), Joel Attila (b), Alexi Parviainen (backing vocals) and Tang (g and vocals).
Karen Stever´s music sounds like deep modern rock, a mix of alternative, rock and metal with strong lyrics, heavy music, something pop but not sold and a lot of guts. She wrote her songs and recorded Playground Isolator as a transparent way to talk about her real life with no problems. Great rough and scratched voice, very good interpretation, you can see a bit of many things in her music such as Garbage, Alice Cooper, Joan Jett, heavy guitars and a lot of hard work to put it up. She is really talented and creative.
