DrasTalk: Music

[Drasiana]

Hey hey hello friends

 

I've gathered you here today so I can talk at your face about things that I like

 

Why not just use the "what are you listening to" thread? Because that's all people posting Youtube links and not speaking to each other like some kind of depressing high school dance where everyone just listens to their iPod and sits on the bleachers. No, what I want to do is post WORDS. Words of PASSION. Words of ROMANCE. And of course... words of STEEL.

 

So I'm gonna post an awful lot of words here tonight, folks, and they will be words about music. To start this topic off right, I'll give you a not-so-brief rundown and explanation on one of my favourite bands of all time. They are the power inside, they are

 

 

wow sparkly

 

Anyway

 

Once upon a time there was a crazy German dude named Tobias Sammet. Having played with his band Edguy* since he was 14, it was time for a different side-project. The idea was to write a story about imaginationland getting screwed up by the Pope and get a bunch of famous rock stars to play on it. It was insane. He totally did it. Thus Avantasia and its first album, The Metal Opera, were born.

 

*listen to them too because they're hilarious

 

If you haven't guessed by now they're a metal band but I didn't want to say that right off the bat because when I say metal most people think of this

 

 

I got no problem with black metal but Avantasia is nowhere near that kind of subgenre so don't get scared off because mom told you metal would get you infected with Satanitis or whatever

 

They're metal, technically, but they utilize clean vocals, soaring choruses, and orchestrated bits. They even edge into Queen territory every now and then.

 

 

The People

 

So basically the idea of it is that Avantasia is a supergroup, meaning each album is literally just Tobi asking a bunch of people he thinks are cool to come sing on an album together. And dang that man has good taste. Basically a bajillion famous dudes, like Alice Cooper, Eric Singer, and more have played with them and a complete list is here take a look. I'll talk briefly about some of my favourite dudes who make continual appearances on the albums though:

 

Jørn Lande: a big burly Norwegian dude with one of the most powerful voices ever. Like, don't stand too close or you will be blown away in a torrent of amazing. Here's a gif of him in a silly hat:

 

 

André Matos: a Brazilian dude with the sweetest face and coolest duds in existence. He sings really nice high notes and is super charismatic. I don't really know what's going on this photo but I think he's asking you to marry him and you better say yes (edit: hahah oops it's a microphone not a ring box ok let's just pretend):

 

 

Bob Catley: an English rock star that's been doing his thing since before you were born. Some sources believe him to be a wizard. We cannot confirm or deny this but it is the only plausible explanation for the way he flails his arms around on stage. Also he has the warmest voice ever and everything he sings sounds like it was sung by your grandpa if he was a cosmic rock wizard.

 

 

In actuality I love everyone that has ever played with them though and I'd write a blurb for all of them but I don't want my fingers to break off so just click the above link and also BUY ALL THE ALBUMS

 

Speaking of which

 

Let us discuss

 

THE ALBUMS

 

The Metal Opera (pt I & II)

 

 

You thought I was joking about the Pope thing up there? Well the joke's on you bucko because  I was 100% serious.

 

See, the Metal Opera albums are concept albums meaning that they tell a story and, while the subsequent albums were a bit more amorphous, TMO had a pretty clear-cut story. Basically it's about a dude named Gabriel (Tobias Sammet) in the Dominican Order in 1602 AD Germany just skipping around doing god stuff when suddenly he finds out that his stepsister (Sharon den Adel) has been arrested and tried for witchcraft, which will end in her death guilty or innocent. Being all "man that's sum bullshit" our man Gabe goes snooping around and winds up also getting arrested after finding a weird old book and getting caught my his mentor Jakob (David DeFeis), then breaks out of prison with the help of a crazy old druid dude that originally owned the book. Old dude aka Lugaid Vandroiy (Michael Kiske) promises to save Anna as long as he helps him save the land of imagination which, yes, is called none other than Avantasia. So Gabriel goes to Avantasia and discovers a war has broken out and if he doesn't help save the land, with the help of the pilot elf-prince Elderane (Andre Matos) and a dwarf named Regrin (Kai Hansen) then basically everyone's fucked. Also the Pope (Oliver Hartmann) shows up along with a Bishop dude (Rob Rock) and they unwittingly assist the being locked in the tower at the center of Avantasia which they believe to be God but is in fact some evil-ass warlock-type motherfucker (Timo Tolkki). There's also the Tree of Knowledge (Bob Catley) and the crazy baliff Falk who gets cursed by a witch and he's also a villain. He's voiced by Ralf Zdiarstek who doesn't seem to exist outside of one photo on the internet so I don't know what the fuck.

 

*DEEP BREATH*

 

A summation: Vatican conspiracies, elves flying planes, talking trees, and really fucking awesome music.

 

Go listen to: The Seven Angels. Seriously. It's a 15 minute song of four distinct movements but it is like liquid orgasms to be applied directly into your ears. If you don't want to listen to 15 minute songs (SHAME), try Serpents in Paradise for a fast song, Sign of the Cross for a generally awesome song, and In Quest For for a ballad. Then buy the albums.

 

The Wicked Trilogy

 

 

These are three albums consisting of The Scarecrow, The Wicked Symphony and Angel of Babylon. They're also concept albums but they don't really have a distinct story and Tobi's continually obtuse about them so they're just kinda up for personal interpretation. They sound quite a bit different from the Metal Opera series though in that they're a bit brighter and not quite as power metal-ish, though I'm not entirely sure what I'd categorize them as, and I kinda like that. They have a really similar vocal lineup to the Metal Opera only minus Rob Rock, Kai Hansen, and Timo Tolkki and add Roy Khan, Jorn Lande, Jon Oliva, Amanda Somerville, Alice Cooper, Klaus Meine, Cloudy Yang and Tim "Ripper" Owens.

 

That's a lot of awesome people but being that there's not a lot of story to comment on in this one I'll just skip right to the LISTEN TO THIS SHIT bit

 

Listen to this shit: The Scarecrow, Journey to Arcadia (long song), Forever is a Long Time, States of Matter (fast songs), Death is Just a Feeling (theatrical and awesome), Blowing Out the Flame, What Kind of Love (ballads aw yis) basically just buy all the albums ok

 

They also made a live tour DVD called The Flying Opera and it's really awesome and everyone in the touring group perfectly alternates between badass and adorable on stage and they're just all precious babies and I want to hug them all

 

 

I'm making gifsets out of the show as compensation for being completely unlikely to ever see them in person but here they are if you wanna see

 

The Future

 

So what's next? Tobias Sammet has this habit of saying "Avantasia is done we were just doing a couple albums seeya guys" and then releasing another album like a year later and that's basically what's happening now. The Mystery of Time, another concept album of course, is set for release THIS MARCH. Wow! A few guest stars have been announced so far like Arjen Lucasson, the guy in charge of a similar group called Ayreon that the media tried to play up a rivalry with that ended in them working together. Ha, suck it, THE MAN. Another guest star is Eric Martin from Mr. Big, who along with being super famous and a good singer also seems to have discovered the secret to aging backwards because he's the only 52 year old I know that looks younger than I do (seriously he's 52). They're supposed to be touring too but let's be real here kids they're a mostly-European supergroup and I live on the West Coast of Canada, the best I can do is eat ice cream while watching the Flying Opera over and over again, sob, and gently caress the screen as I tenderly whisper "one day you'll all be mine".

 

Closing Statements

 

So I've talked about the music and I could probably talk more about the music but that would probably be boring to the grand majority of you outside of the bare bones GO LISTEN TO THIS SHIT and honestly you probably could have listened to an entire album by the time you're finished reading this post. Regardless I want to talk about a big part of why I'm wasting two hours of my life telling an obscure video game forum about my love of obscure metal bands.

 

See, I started listening to these guys in grade nine. It was a coincidence, I was click-surfing related videos on Youtube, and then I stumbled onto "Twisted Mind", which guest starred one of my OTHER favourite musicians of all time (we'll get to him in another post). I've been listening to them and getting stupidly emotional about them ever since. Listening to good music is one thing, and there are just as many bands I haven't mentioned that I've been listening to as long as if not longer than Avantasia. The primary difference here lies in the way that the music happens to resonate with me. Personal, subjective things, yes, but let's give one last shout-out to what makes Avantasia what it is.

 

 

That's the man, Tobias Sammet himself.

 

Probably the longest I've spent on this post was trying to find a picture of him to use because there are bazillions of photos of him and every single one of them captures a different angle of his rather unique personality. He might be the goofball responsible for such songs as Lavatory Love Machine and Rise of the Morning Glory (it's about boners), but he's also one of the big reasons that Avantasia happened, and the way he made it happen will always inspire me.

 

He just did it.

 

He wanted to be on stage with the musicians he grew up listening to, he wanted to create a story and music that people would love. And he did it.

 

Some people seem to consider him arrogant, and the only reason I can imagine that is because they either a) don't understand his very obviously tongue-in-cheek humor or b) they aren't paying attention to the things he says and does. In concerts, he introduces everyone as a "lead" something. If you are a backup vocalist, you are a LEAD backing vocalist. He speaks kindly of everyone he works with and openly denounces the sectors of the music industry and music criticism that become so focused on the negative that they forget what it is that they loved to begin with. He's a talented musician and storyteller, but if all the interviews and whatnot are any indication, he's a damn good person too. And that is so incredibly important.

 

edit: I forgot to mention this earlier somehow but I'm just gonna add "badass" to the things that make him awesome. Dude was playing at the Bang Your Head festival, fell off the stage, broke his nose, fucked up his ribs, hips and back...and got up and finished the show. Yeah. Metal as fuck.

 

Anyway, I seem to have gotten that out of my system so I'll leave you with this giant loving wall of text and a music video. Featuring Klaus Meine of the Scorpions, off the album The Wicked Symphony, this is Dying for an Angel:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quH_vUCdy2o

 

I hope I've converted at least one of you.

[DoctorAllosaurus]

And off to spotify I go, been looking for something new to listen to for a while and this hits the spot. Is this just a one off thing or do you have more you'd like to tell us about?

[Drasiana]

I'm probably going to do other posts about other bands in the future but I'll wait to see if there are many other responses to this one too.

 

This topic has 28 views and 1 reply. POST, YOU BASTARDS, I CAN SEE YOU

[Snys93]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEL6_SuQCu8

 

My all time favorite metal song.

[Drasiana]

It's a neat song but I really can't listen to Metallica without thinking about how much of a dickhead Dave Mustaine is

[Snys93]

Didn't Dave leave the band in pursuit of his dickheadish dreams?

[Ala1n-J]

Yay! My mum ordered the Metal Opera albums pt1 and 2 (as a kind of payment for an illustration she commissionned me), can't wait to listen to these wonders!

Also, I think that somewhere you asked people about discovering some metal bands, with female singers (if I'm not mistaken). I discovered two awesome bands :

- Battle Beast, a really recent metal band playing loud, cheesy but damn-it's-freaking- awesome heavy metal with an enthusiam I rarely felt in an album before. Right now they've only got one album called "Steel". Yes, simply "Steel". The sad thing is that the lead singer left the band for personal reasons so we don't know much what the future will reserve;

- Seven Kingdoms, a power metal band with a touch of hard-rock/traditionnal heavy. In their last album "The fire is mine", some of their stuff is Game of Thrones themed, like "After the fall" and "The King in the North" , and I'm pretty sure there is a Skyrim song called "In the twisted twilight".

Will post links another time.

[Drasiana]

@Snes: I think so, but it's still one of those things I can't really shake. Part of the reason I stopped listening to Nightwish was because their frontman/keyboardist is a huge jerkoff too. As good as music can be it becomes tainted for me if I begin to associate it with the assholishness behind those who make it happen. It's just one of my weird things, I guess, but I connect to people through their art and if I don't like what I'm getting from that connection I bail. If that makes sense. It's all the more reason why I love bands like Avantasia because survey seems to say that they're wonderful human beings as well as musicians.

 

@Ala1n: Mwahah yes my child, yes...obtain the albums. And cool! I'll definitely have to check out those bands at some point. Some power metal bleeds into itself for me but giving a listen couldn't hurt.

 

I was indeed looking for female vocals but there's a distinct kind of vocal I was looking for. Most female vocalists seem to go the Nightwishy Hot Topic route of pristine soprano and, while they may be technically proficient, I'm just a little bored of hearing the same vocal style in women over and over. Kimberly Goss of Sinergy is really the only woman who ranks in my top vocalists, and it's because she has a strong voice and gives 'er when she needs to. She sounds like Bruce Dickinson sometimes. I love it.

 

Avantasia released the tracklist for The Mystery of Time today. I'm so stoked and will probably have copious fanart once it's out. Based on the song titles alone I'm super excited to experience the story:

 

 

...and the tracklist reads as follows: Spectres, The Watchmakers’ Dream, Black Orchid, Where Clock Hands Freeze, Sleepwalking, Savior In The Clockwork, Invoke The Machine, What’s Left Of Me, Dweller In A Dream and The Great Mystery.

 

 

aaaaaaaaa

[Drasiana]

Since I already mentioned them in the OP I might as well do another mini-feature thing on Edguy.

 

Cough, sorry, I meant

 

 

Founded in Fulda, Germany when Tobi up there was 14, and named after one of their math teachers (yes), they're currently comprised of vocalist Tobias Sammet, guitarists Jens Ludwig and Dirk Sauer, drummer Felix Bohnke, and bassist Tobias "Eggi" Exxel, who can be witnessed here trying to jump on a goose:

 

 

Oh Eggi, that was never going to end well.

 

All of them except Felix have been around since the band's formation, and Felix fits right in. They go way back and you can tell, with the cohesive way they work. Good vibes ahoy.

 

 

I want to be all of them when I grow up

 

Despite sharing personnel with Avantasia they're quite different, especially the way later albums have evolved a bit of a hard rock sound to them. I'm not complaining, however; power metal has a way of drying out after a while and Edguy keeps it fresh. They are also, uh, a little more R-rated in terms of lyrical content, meaning sex jokes and words that your mom would make you wash your mouth with soap for. Not excessively, but then again, if you've seen the way I talk then I might not be the best judge of that. However, they DO have a very diverse lyrical repository, containing lyrics and style that range from serious, deadpan metal, to intelligent-but-humorous satire, to emotional ballads, to straight-up comedy:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdUS2N5ZDzY

 

Also let's not forget the ridiculously awesome glam influences. If you haven't clicked any of those links, you better goddamn click this one.

 

Unlike Avantasia, there actually IS a chance in hell that I'll be able to see them, as they occasionally show up in North America. I'm still butthurt that I missed them when they were in Alberta though; I was too young to attend that show at the time. Revenge will be mine. On that note, I've heard nothing but good things about their live shows, because of course the music is great and also in that Tobi is a crazy dude with crazy fashion sense and is incredibly entertaining to watch:

 

 

Album-wise, personally, I think their three strongest were Hellfire Club, Rocket Ride and Tinnitus Sanctus, but there are gems to be found on all their albums and EPs so you should just buy them all because I said so

 

Now I leave you with the best music video ever, courtesy of Edguy. This is Robin Hood, off their latest album, Age of the Joker:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmTLa7te7fc

[Harlow]

l'm weird when it comes to music. I'm like a garbage can; if I like the sound of it, I'll get it.  There are very few genres I disregard 100%

I can be into metal, then pop, then techno, then other things depending my mood.

 

There are very few artists I follow. For instance, I can't wait for David Draiman (Disturbed) project to get out in April.

There will be so many guests: (Serj Tankian, Tom Morello, Glenn Hughes) and the style he says he aims for sounds interesting.

[Drasiana]

Not a big Disturbed fan but that is an interesting guest line up for sure. Might be worth checking out, actually, with that crew on board. I'm generally like you in terms of genre: I don't like restricting myself too much; I'm generally drawn to symphonic metal, and that'll be the bulk of my featured bands on here, but there are gems to be found in every genre under the sun. I'm a little tired of seeing people go LOL I LOVE ALL MUSIC EXCEPT RAP AND COUNTRY because half the time they don't really have any exposure to either of those genres. These are typically just bands that I have something of a personal attachment to, but I definitely listen to and like more than what I'll be posting in here. Speaking of which, here's another feature.

 

This is a Big One, and I might as well get it out of the way while I wait for them to announce tourdates and for my special edition package to get here. Alluded to in the first post, this is one of my favourite bands of all time:

 

 

Founded by guitarist Thomas Youngblood (yes, that's his real name) and former drummer Richard Warner in 1991, Florida, they didn't really hit their stride until they did some lineup rearrangement. Feeling the band was getting too large for them, Warner and former singer Mark Vanderbilt left the band. That is when shit hit the fan in the best way possible. Not only was Warner replaced by badass drummer Casey Grillo, but they introduced to their lineup a vocalist who is really a god amongst men: Despite being a trained opera singer from Norway, his audition was to go skydiving with the band. He did it. And thus Roy Khan was inducted to the Kamelot legacy. The only thing cooler than his voice is, possibly, his jackets:

 

 

Anyway, despite being classified as "power metal" sometimes, Kamelot is one of the bands that does it right. Here, have a live video that shows them being awesome, including Khan's ridiculous vocal range and their great use of orchestration:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBLaiCF23iI

 

A couple albums after Khan and Casey joined the band, they were joined by German/Hungarian keyboardist Oliver Palotai, who not only is a fantastic musician, but is also responsible for one of the best reaction images I've ever seen in my life:

 

 

Thank you, Oliver. Thank you so much.

 

It's a bit difficult to focus on albums here because, honestly, I think everything from The Fourth Legacy onward is brilliant. They always have a real nice balance between faster-paced songs, ballads and epic sagas. I will make a note of Epica and The Black Halo, which are a series of concept albums retelling the story of Faust, in which Khan plays both the protagonist and the sinister Mephisto. The way he plays both characters separately is fascinating. Ghost Opera came next, which actually might be my favourite album due to the sheer diversity of the album and the utilization of orchestration.

 

 

It was between the release of Ghost Opera and their next album, Poetry for the Poisoned, that I had the opportunity to see them live on a fluke trip to London. It was an amazing show and they literally cured my sinus infection with the power of METAL. Just as good live as they are recorded and the atmosphere at the show was phenomenal.

 

Shortly after this, bassist Glen Barry left, only to be replaced by the original bassist, Sean Tibbets, who has sweet dreadlocks. But then another lineup change occurred.

 

Sadly, in 2010, it was announced that after suffering from a massive burnout, both physically and mentally, Khan had left the band, and later, left the music industry entirely. This was tragic in both the sense that he was one of the best vocalists I'd ever heard, but that he'd suffered like that. Though followups from Khan and Thomas affirmed that after leaving, he was happy and getting his health back in order, it put the band and its fandom into a world of uncertainty: those were very, very big shoes to fill, and if Nightwish was any sort of example, it was extremely easy to fuck up decisions on a new vocalist.

 

For over a year things were tense. The band completed scheduled tours with a host of guest stars and even announced a new album, but it wasn't until the summer of 2012 that they made their announcement: the new singer for Kamelot was Tommy Karevik.

 

They couldn't have possibly made a better choice.

 

Utilizing vocals much different from the typical style he uses in his other band, Seventh Wonder, at times Tommy is virtually indistinguishable from Khan himself--and has even earned the former singer's praise. To Kamelot, Tommy fit like a glove, and their latest album, Silverthorn, was leagues stronger than anyone would figure for an album recorded in such tumultuous times: the entire thing is a testament to the talent and dedication of every single one of the band members.

 

 

Now they just need to announce their tourdates, so I can see if there's a chance of seeing them again.

 

Here's their latest video, Sacrimony (Angel of Afterlife). There's another video on the way, and stay tuned for updates from their official Tumblr. Also, buy all their albums.

 

 

edit: I forgot song recommendations so here: Center of the Universe, March of Mephisto, The Human Stain (music video), Elizabeth (I, II and III), Love You To Death, Nights of Arabia, and The Zodiac (guest-starring Jon Oliva).

[Harlow]

After Disturbed going into hiatus in late 2011, frontman David Draiman announced a new side-project, Device, in May 2012^. He revealed that he would be working with Geno Lenardo, former guitarist for Filter for their Title of Record and Amalgamut albums, in the new sideproject. Draiman revealed his intention to do a project with more of an electronic sound, but in an industrial metal type way, sounding similar to Nine Inch Nails or Ministry, not dubstep.

 

That means only him and Geno Lenardo are the only constant members of Device.

So we may get a huge range of sounds and possibilities from Draiman (a favorite vocalist). Can't. Freaking. Wait.

 

Talking of symphonic metal, this might represent Norway in Eurovision. It got first place on its semifinal. Even though I feel it can get more polished, I really liked this one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f1O_5Bh97I

 

Even
though this is more of the "What are you listening now?" I felt that,
since we're on the topic of music, it won't hurt to put some of the
stuff I've been listening to these last days.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hnC6T3cOzo

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxxnY-QTUGU

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAVEDh6C8VM

[Drasiana]

I'd say let's refrain from posting lots of "what are you listening to" stuff because that's what the other topic is there for This is definitely more of a discussion topic.

 

I saw that Eurovision entry and I'm still not entirely sure what to think. I mean, I like it in many regards and the clean vocalist is excellent, but it got really repetitive after a while.  So I could certainly agree with a need for it to be more polished. I do really like that these metal bands are getting a decent way into the Eurovision contests though, it can be a very musically complex and intelligent genre and it's nice seeing it earning that sort of respect.

 

edit: I cant figure out for the life of me how they're shooting that video and it's freaking me the hell out

[Faisul]

The eurovision song really needs to cut down on the clean vocals singing the same stuff over and over. I think the playoff between the clean and growl vocals is a neat idea but it kinda falls flat when there's no real weight or power behind either of the performances.

 

Avantasia rocks! Dras is holding a gun to my head.

[Drasiana]

^ Yeah, that's exactly it. The song started fairly strong but then they like, ran out of ideas for what to do with the rest of it so they just kind of walked in circles forever. Also I listened to some of those things you posted Harlow; electronic isn't really my thing usually but the video for that second one was really cool.

Anyway, I have another feature. I was planning on spreading these out a bit more but fuck it, I'm on a crazy music kick NOW so I might as well just get these over with and hope I've properly forced my musical tastes onto you.

Now this one is gonna be a bit different, because I'm not focusing on a specific band, but rather a single singer and all the stuff he's done. Also featuring mass regret on my part because, for some reason, it took me until recently to actually start listening to all his stuff. As introduced in the first post, I am of course talking about Brazilian musical juggernaut, the metal maestro, André Matos!

 

 

Picture chosen because I want that outfit

First introduced to me, like most good bands, through Avantasia, he's renown for his crystal-clear high-pitched vocal range and has often been likened to Bruce Dickinson in some regards...which is why his bandmates, in his original band Viper, pushed him out to the forefront as the vocalist when he'd previously just been the pianist. I'm rather glad that they did because now he's one of my favourite vocalists: Though he played brilliant roles with Avantasia as Elderane and Acedia, in the Metal Opera and Wicked Trilogy respectively, there are extensive numbers of treasures to be found in his previous and solo work.

Basically he's been a billion bands. It would take a million years to go through the history so just read the Wiki article and I will shut the fuck up and show you some music, which will range from power metal to more classic-rock-ish-sounding-stuff and to beautiful ballads. Judging by those links it might be evident my favourite band of his was Angra.

One of the things I love most about him though is that he has the best stage presence ever, as you will see in this video of Shaman's Fairy Tale, taken from their live DVD:

 

The music is great, sure, but the way he plays with the audience is so endearing. Which is especially impressive considering he's sitting at a piano for the bulk of the song. Not only is he a brilliant singer and pianist but he plays a bunch of other instruments when he needs to (click for footage/songs):

 

Like these drum things

 

The tambourine sure why not

 

Panflutes what (nice kawaii keyboard btw)

 

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE

Here's a great song with a cool weird music video:

I wish I could find more English or at least English-subtitled interviews with him, as I am an uncultured heathen and cannot understand Portuguese. But the gist of it is that he's also a gigantic sweetie and I think the only reason he looks so serious in all his promo images is because humanity is not ready for the world peace that would strike us if more people were exposed to his smile.

 

noooooooooooo it's too much

Did I also mention that he's kind of a total babe

Because

 

yeah

anyway

Go support him and buy everything listed here (through iTunes unless you want to spend a billion dollars on import fees)

And I'll just be over here crying if he isn't on the next Avantasia album and otherwise eagerly awaiting whatever he does next

[Harlow]

Never I have witnessed such an ovary 'splosion of such magnitude before. You're still alive?

 

Well, all the stuff you posted is definetly worth checking out, I'll make sure I'll do that.

 

I kinda feel like a mental midget saying this after all the operatic/symphonic brilliance you posted... But here's another band I follow closely. Five Figner Death Punch.

Their singer has a golden rock/metal voice. It's just this deep force of nature, his vocal cords... The band plays in B standard and leads in drop D. That's how low they play.

Their image is hardhitting and kinda jerky, but I haven't heard they're actual jerks and they haven't done jerky things, that I heard of.

 

They mostly sing hard-hitting metalcore songs, but when they slow down, they do amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G8QItjTSDA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBMT3OMEPwk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH3yF7zJ-aY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNHlVo0cPa8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ldwDw27Pkg

Also, their live shows seem so awesome and epic... I need to see one before I die, I swear.

 

[Drasiana]

Not bad! The chill ones are definitely nice things to work to, that's for sure. I'll have to check them out some more once my internet starts working properly again.

 

In the meantime, the album art for The Mystery of Time just dropped and:

 

 

Atmospherically this is exactly what I wanted and expected and like usual, it was delivered. Look! Clocks! And owls! And snow! And weird little gremlin witch dudes! Can it be April yet?

 

Here's a list of future features for me to eventually post on, once my internet returns from the aether that it seems to have been sucked into:

 

Therion

Conception

Sinergy

Vocalist Feature: Jørn Lande

Amaranthe

Vocalist Feature: Amanda Somerville

Sonata Arctica (potentially; I don't listen to them as much anymore but they're adorable)

Perhaps a Nightwish introspective, if I feel masochistic

Various currently undecided folk metal bands

 

Also,

 

 

Never I have witnessed such an ovary 'splosion of such magnitude before. You're still alive?

 

Barely. It's really easy to overdose on tight leather pants! Your ovaries would have exploded too, if you'd had any See tag for details

[Harlow]

That artwork sure seems all things ImprobableCarny. It's definetly your style.

Most of 5FDP's songs are scream metal. Lyrics aren't as deep and more "I'm tough n' rough", so don't think you'll like it. Here are the most popular anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDShDPbhHmM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLk75fFXqH4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuQGx1H1Qh8 <- Mostly live show footage.

 

 

Anyway, I'll guess I'll make a local feature. I'm not a fan of bands here (no one really hogging my iPod's space), but there's one worthy of mention. Caramelos de Cianuro (Cyanide Candy)

Mainly alternative rock, various themes and a very unusual lead voice.

 

Fanservice, why not?

 

Sadly, Youtube's short of translations, so deal with it.  enjoy as much as you can. Google translate, you may.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PIGimK-jvc <-- Traduction bonus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4iNbFYA0lg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EO1DvZXI44 <-- "Before you leave me, we should screw"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU1rqH4njXk <-- Not a fav, but it has traduction bonus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbBddPc8f6Q

[Drasiana]

Augh sorry Harlow I haven't listened to these yet because I've been away D: Soon though!

 

In other news this might have just happened:

 

 

So, ahem.

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[sam grebe]

hey  hey  dras talk ya  know  what  music  i  do   like they  are: eric  claption  - laya!!!  greenday  walk  alone  &  micron  wake  me  up  /  bring me  to  life.  those  are  my  favoute  music songs 

[Drasiana]

Whoa dude chill, don't triple post.

 

Eric Clapton is cool. I'm not big on Green Day. Evanescence was my "metal gateway" drug though so to speak, I assume that's who you were referring to with "Wake Me Up/Bring Me To Life"? Realtalk once in grade seven my roommate and I sung an Evanescence song for a talent show and it was really awkward.

 

I haven't listened to them in ages though.

[Drasiana]

Okay I'm annoyed by people on Youtube so let's have a new, proper feature

 

From Sweden and Denmark we bring you a band that defies the seven billion subgenres of metal,

 

 

Of all the bands I'm likely to feature this one by far was the most recent discovery. Partially due to singer Elize Ryd's role on the latest Kamelot album, partially due to the way Tumblr was freaking out over the newest music video, I decided to humour myself and check them out.

 

Pleasant surprise followed.

 

 

So Amaranthe is weird and pretty much unlike anything else I listen to, and I'll do my best to explain what they sound like: melodeath synthpop metalcore. That's like six in one, which is funny, because there are six members of the band. Three of them are vocalists, that being Elize Ryd (clean female), Jake E (clean male) and Andreas Solveström (dirty vocals). Then there's Olof Mörck on guitar & keys, Morten Løwe Sørensen on drums and Johan Andreassen on bass. The three singers all have wildly different voices but they're blended extremely well, which is something you can say when you can get me to like something that I can categorize as fucking synthpop.

 

Please disregard anyone calling them a Nightwish ripoff because those people are idiots and the only similarity between the two is "contains woman".

 

 

This much woman, in fact.

 

So at this point I bet you're itching to figure out what the hell melodeath synthpop metalcore sounds like so I ought to cut to the chase. I will mention that they only have one album out at this time, but they've released a single from their new album due out in March. Based on what we've heard so far, their songs do sound fairly similar to one another, but they're short, high-energy soundsplosions so I don't mind a whole lot of repetition and I'm interested to hear what their new album will sound like.

 

Check out the music video for The Nexus:

 

 

Their other videos, Amaranthine and Hunger, are also directed by Patric Ullaeus, who has done a shitton of music videos and evidently wants to direct a shitton of action movies too. He's the only music video director I know by name so take that for what it's worth.

 

So yeah check out their self-titled album Amaranthe and grab The Nexus when it comes out next month!

[Harlow]

Please disregard anyone calling them a Nightwish ripoff because those people are idiots and the only similarity between the two is "contains woman".

 

She left them.

 

^{_{Just me being a technical butt :B}}

[Drasiana]

Which one you talking about? Tarja got fired (in a public letter she was unaware of until it was posted online because Tuomas is a gigantic manbaby) and Anette left after being replaced for a single show on a tour because she got suddenly sick.

 

Basically Nightwish is 100% diva.

 

Though I might try listening to them again if Floor's the new vocalist and if Tuomas learns to write about something other than how deep he is.

[Harlow]

Anette. Pregnant.

 

The point is, right now: Amaranthe= (Sexy)lady

Nightwish= NoLady

 

I just like few songs of them. Namely Amaranth and Bye Bye Beautiful.