INFOS : webzine@femmemetalwebzine.net
Webzine dedicated to the metal band fronted by girls. We also like ambient,darkwave,rock & electronic music.
INFOS : webzine@femmemetalwebzine.net
Webzine dedicated to the metal band fronted by girls. We also like ambient,darkwave,rock & electronic music.
If you love the long epic stories about battles and Co. (I know that the first band that pops up is Rhapsody of Fire but we’re aeons distant from that style), you should for sure check out French symphonic/power/progressive metal band ADRANA - Opera Metal for sure you won’t be disapponted! Adrana is not only the band’s name but also is the title of the fictional character who’s a princess - some hints about it:” There are many battles, betrayals, murders and unmentionable secrets that punctuate the epic story of Adrana. Adrana talks about the difficulty of bringing people together in their diversity, and the difficulty to win the trust of others. Adrana shows us that very often we find ourselves alone with our destiny”. Singer Anaé also talks with open heart to our editor Alessandra about her love for about music and singing and how you never stop to learn from it. I won’t spoil the whole chat .. so head over @ (via INTERVIEW: Anaé – Adrana « Femme Metal Webzine) and enjoy this interview!
Interview by Connie Bach
Bel o Kan has an interesting combination of elements. There is the romance of symphony, an eighties flare created by the guitars, and a folk element Over it all.
Hello, Sarah.
Hello!! I’m happy to answer this interview.
Sarah, what is the story behind “Birth of a Queen”? How do you relate to it?
This album includes songs written a long time ago (“Dark and Light”, “Utopia”, “Salem”) and the other composites a little bit before the recording (“Children Call”, “Blowin’”, “Ten Thousand Milliard”). The band is created in 2001, so when I took the singer place in 2005, some songs were already composed, we chose our 11 favorite song between the 18 we had. There are different songs in this album, for example, “Blowin’ the Wind” is very different from “Six Men” or “Too Late”. I wrote the lyrics of “Too Late” and it was easier to record it because it’s my words and my feelings I sung. It was difficult for me to record this album because it was my first time in a studio, I was afraid and I think you can hear it when you listen to the album.
Can you tell me, with some detail, how the album came together?
We recored guitars, drums, bass and keyboard in a different studio than the voices. The voices were recorded in Dedy studio with André Bermudez who made the mix and we made the mastering in Alto studio…a funny detail when I recorded voices it that André was always hurting me for fun with a little paper book when I told him that I couldn’t sing anything or anything else…
The name Bel o Kan seems to have something to do with ant society, according to your Myspace. Can you elaborate?
Bel o Kan is the name of the ant hill in the book “Les Fourmis” (ants) of Bernard Werber.
Our first drummer Lionel who created the band chose this name because “Les Fourmis” is one of his favorite books. Bernard Werber has our album and he likes “Too Late”.
Different people describe an artist’s sound different ways. How would your perception, as Bel o Kan’s singer, differ from mine (introduction) ? It is interesting to compare perceptions, and the reasons why they differ.
Each person has his perception of our music, I could read that we played, symphonic metal, heavy, prog, power, celtic…. in my opinion, we play heavy metal melodic. Denis (bass), Fox and Khrys (guitars) like Iron Maiden, I love Epica, After Forever, Doro…even in the band we’ve many different sources of inspiration. So we compose a music varied of our different style.
Where does your musical experience come from, (I.e. your background as a singer)?
Links
Label : Brennus Music
Review by Tony Cannella
France’s Symphonic Power Metal maestros Wildpath return with their 3rd round of inspired, classical tinged symphony laced metal with “Underneath”. While “Nyx Secrets” and “Non Omnis Moriar” were both solid in their own right, “Underneath” has the potential to land Wildpath in the upper echelon of symphonic metal. The orchestral intro “Seeds of a Dream” segues into the powerful, up-tempo, melodicism of “Unearthed”. This song has a great big chorus featuring a choir that really adds a lot to the song. Right away it is apparent that Wildpath has something cool to offer. Next up is “Dive” which starts off orchestral before breaking into some serious speed riffing and the strong operatic vocals of Marjolaine Bernard come in. The next song “Reviver” is a bit of a change of pace from the other material and has a bit of a jazzy vibe, showing that Wildpath are not bound by restrictions. Other highlights include: “The Craft”, “Anchored”, “Buried Moon”, “Frozen” and the 7-minute instrumental “Underneath”. The whole “Underneath” album takes the listener on a surreal journey whilst playing with different nuances, tempos and styles, yet also managing to produce a coherent metal masterpiece. Disc 2 features orchestral versions of “Underneath”, similar to what Nightwish did on “Dark Passion Play”. These are interesting, alternate versions of some already great music. Wildpath has continued to grow and progress from album-to-album and “Underneath” is no exception. Far be it for me to say that this is their best album, since everyone will have their own opinions on the matter, but this just may be. Of course comparisons are sure to be made to Nightwish (particularly the “Century Child” and “Once” eras), and there are some similarities, but Wildpath continues to break out of the mold and walk their own… um, path.
Rating - 90/100
Tracklist
CD 1
Line Up
Links
Label : Brennus Music/Muséa
Review by Tony Cannella
The band name PYG is actually short for Project: Yvan Guillevic, the founder of this project. The band hails from France are mostly considered progressive metal but I also hear some classic metal style influences present on their debut album “End of the World”. PYG has two lead vocalists, a female (Nelly Le Quilliec) and male (Morgan Marlet) and both receive equal opportunity to show off their talents. The opening track “Prisoners of the World” is a mid-tempo opener with a great classic metal style guitar riff and the two vocalists putting forth their best efforts to make this one of the very best songs on this 58-minute album. The band shifts effortlessly from Progressive Rock to Melodic Hard Rock to Classic Heavy Metal, which helps to make this an enjoyable debut. The second track “Mother Earth – Part 1 – From the Darkness” is a beautiful track that starts off with piano and then is joined by some Gary Moore style guitar work, before the vocals come in with Morgan taking the lead and Nelly offering background melody stuff. This is really a hauntingly beautiful track that leads us into “Mass Consumption – Part 1 – Television” and then “Mass Consumption – Part 2 – New Stuff”. The second part in particular really gained my attention thanks to the classic rock opening guitar riff and some cool interplay between the guitars and keyboards. Other highlights include: “Rain Dance”, “Time of Exodus” and “New Hope” which ends the CD on a note of optimism. Guitarist Yvan Guillevic is certainly an accomplished musician and with his new project PYG he has surrounded himself with a talented array of musicians who all do their part to make “End of the World” a creative success.
Rating - 76/100
Tracklist
Line Up
Links
Label : Brennus Music
Review By Tony Cannella
Some times less is more. Take, for example the French band Heavy Duty and their debut album “What We’ve Been Through”. Their style and songs aren’t flashy; they don’t have an operatic singer performing vocal gymnastics. The songs are pretty much straight-forward, heavy and are about as subtle as a punch to the gut. Lead vocalist Michaelle has a throaty, raspy singing style that relies more on heart and passion than technicality. Heavy Duty plays Black Sabbath, Sevendust influenced metal. All of the songs are punctuated by instantly powerful guitar riffs and melodies. From the opener of “Protective Son” and the second track “Bloody Mary”, Heavy Duty shows what they’re capable of; these are my two favorite songs on this 47-minute disc. Heavy Duty does not let up for a second as they plow through “Fake”, “Ashamed” and “Aftertaste”. Other highlights include: “Get Drunk”, “Sowing The Seeds” and “Meaningless”. “What We’ve Been Through” is a powerful debut from Heavy Duty. This band definitely lives up to their name.
Rating – 78/100
Tracklist
Line Up
Links
Label : Brennus Music
Review By Tony Cannella
Yotangor are a melodic, progressive/symphonic metal band from France. The band is a rather large musical ensemble featuring seven members in its current line-up (3 females and 4 males). Their recently issued debut is titled “King of the Universe” and it is a fairly complex concept album spread out over two CDs and 26-songs. For such a young band to take this route on their debut must take courage and confidence in their abilities. After listening to “King of the Universe”, that confidence is well placed.Starting with the intro track “Speech”, the story is set for “King of the Universe”. It is a very cool beginning to the CD and it leads into the ultra-symphonic track “Ouverture”. This is a big sounding track with plenty of bombastic elements and the great vocals of Yngrid Alliéres are highlighted along with the fantastic musicianship that the band displays. The instrumental track “Silent Words” is next and it features a heavy, grinding guitar riff combined with a big symphony-like feel to it. “Try Again” is the first song on the CD that really stands out. It has a killer melody and just a catchy chorus that really sticks with you. I am hesitant to use the word “commercial” in describing this song, but it seems to me that it may have that kind of appeal. The next track “About Love” is the song that the band filmed a video (you can view it on their my space profile), and after listening to the song it is a solid choice for the bands first video. “All We Are” has the feel of a real anthemic song with a big chorus. The beautiful piano ballad “Motherless Child” brings the first disc to its conclusion. The songs are classy and extremely well crafted. Other highlights from the first disc are: “Hangin’ On”, “Another Place” and “Feeling Down”. In my opinion the first disc is slightly better than the second, but taken as a whole body of work this is a pretty cool debut. Some of the best moments from disc 2 include: “The Only Way”, “What Are You Made For”, “Power”, “Shadows” and the closing number “Fly Away”.“King of the Universe” is an ambitious release that is sure to get people in the media and the metal community to sit up and take notice. For a young band to record a debut of this magnitude, they are just opening themselves up for criticism but after listening to “King of the Universe”, even the the most elitist of music fans would have to be impressed. Just a thoroughly enjoyable release that I am sure fans of progressive metal with conceptual overtones will love.
Rating - 90/100
Tracklist
Disc 1
Disc 2
Line Up
Links
MySpace * ReverbNation * Facebook * Twitter
Label : Brennus Music
Review by Tony Cannella
Rating - 80/100
Tracklist
Line Up
Links
