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.
Independent Release
Review by Luisa Mercier
ElfenWald are an Italian duo who delivers us a very interesting self-released debut album. “Part I” blends industrial, ambient and neoclassical music with the dark and beautiful voice of Prinzessin Simhild. Though self-produced, the record does not suffer many flaws and it seems to be well crafted in every detail. The songs shift from German to English and Italian language with an equally effective result. For instance, “Wo Ist Meine Welt” is more industrial-oriented while “Gelide Notti” is closer to neoclassical style with its keyboards and strings, creating a Romantic atmosphere. “Darkness” is a soaring, creepy track, mostly instrumental and only graced by some vocalization of Prinzessin Simhild. “Alone” is the longest song on the album and during its seven minuts it explores various musical landscapes: from neoclassical, to dark cabaret, to a gloomy industrial sound. “Lilith (The Garden of the Damned)” closes “Part I” and it’s a track which showcases a fearsome atmosphere with some choruses all over which surround the beautiful voice of Simhild. Being self-produced, this album is overall a very good release and I hope they’ll soon find a label for their following works!
Rating - 80/100
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Interview by NocturnalConcerto
Are you ready to join the world of Rajna? They will brought yuo to unknows and mystical worlds, made of new feelings. I’m really proud to unveiled one of the interviews (I hope a long series!) where I’ll present new particular acts of the ambient scene. Franch Ambient duo Rajna are publishing albums since 1998 and their peculiarity is playing and collecting instruments for all the parts of the world. But let’s give the word to Jeanne, the singer of the duo.
First of all welcome Jeanne, how are you and thanks for accept my interview! For all the people out there that loves ambient/ethereal music can you summarize Rajna’s history band?
Rajna was born in 1998, after an encounter with another musician playing the yang T’chin called Gérard Chambellant. Our passion for music and for collecting various ethnic instruments was a common point and this was the beginning of our history. We began the project in 1998 and our first album, “Ishati”, was released on the label Prikosnovenie. Then, we changed label and worked with Holy Records. Our second album, “Yahili” and third album “The Heady Wine of Praise” were made also with Gérard Chambellant. They were mostly based on Indian and Tibetan music. We released “The Door of Serenity”, a very appreciated album among our fans. And then, we released “Hidden Temple”, after a journey we had made in Egypt. Then, we released “Black Tears” :an anthology dedicated to our first 4 albums + unreleased tracks. Our our royalties went for building a school in Tibet. Then, we released “Otherwise” which was rather different from all we had ever done before. It was essentially based on guitars and the mood was more occidental. Then,we released “Duality”, a transition album between ”Otherwise” and the ancient albums of Rajna. Then, we released “Offering”: it was our last album on Equilibrium Music. It is our most acclaimed album and includes very strong and emotive songs.
Well, after this introduction we can start to ask you some questions about “Offering”, your latest album out on Equilibrium Music. How’s born and when you written the first lyric for this album?
The only tracks with texts are “Neverland” and “Quiet Hour”.The second text has been written by C.J. Dennis and arranged by Aret Madilian from Deleyaman. For the other tracks, I do not sing “real” words, just an imaginative language, as does Lisa Gerrard from Dead Can Dance.
If we compare “Duality” to “Offering” what are the main differences that come into your mind?
“Duality” was much more inde-pop with an electronic touch but with “Offering” we have abandonned electronics to give place to much more organic, acoustic instruments. Concerning the voice, there were moree texts and “real” lyrics on “Duality” that on “Offering”.
The previous album was published by Holy Records, why you have changed label?
We wanted a new start and after so many albums on Holy Records, we needed to see something new. “Offering” is like a renewal.
Rajna is well-known for use Ethic instruments in their albums, doing some research I’ve found that particularly you use two instruments called Santoor and Yang T’chin, can you give some infos or curiosity about these instruments and what is the emotion that Fabrice feel when he plays them?
Fabrice plays the santour and the Yang T’Chin from the beginning of Rajna. We bought our santour in Istambul and it comes from Iran. It’s a very nice instrument made of 95 strings. We bought our Yang’T’Chin in China. The sound is different from the santour. We also have an Indian santour and another one that comes from Switzeland. They all sound different. Fabrice loves playing the Iranian santour for its particular sound.
Listening to the album, I notice an important fact: you sing something that is close to a vocalize. Are lyrics written in an unknown language or are totally invented by you? In the ambient scene we aren’t aware of this since someone called Lisa Gerrard use this “method” in the Dead Can Dance albums..
As I told you in a previous question,I do not use a real language. It’s something as Lisa does: it’s the same method Lisa uses. You are totally right!
We already know that your primary influences are Dead Can Dance and [quoting from Equilibrium Press Release] “the mysteries of the Orient and a true passion for travelling and collecting instruments from all parts of the World”. Now I ask you what is the Middle East mystery that fascinates you and your favourite Ethnic instrument?
Our favourite Ethnic instrument is definitely the Santour, especially the Iranian one. We are fascinated by the culture and music of these Middle Eastern countries. We travelled a lot in thses countries and brought back many Ethnic instruments from these countries, especially when we were in Istanbul which is a fantastic and incredible city, full of mysteries and history.
Who’s Cléomene that you sing on the song “The Dance of Cléomene”? And what are the meaning of this titles : “Eleusis”, “Illa Saldé”, “Epidauros”?
Some of the titles are pure invention. They sound nice to me and I like the sound that they have and they make me travel when I think of them. Cléomene was the king of Sparta, Eleusis was an antique Greek city, Epidauros was an antique theater in Greece, Illa Saldé is pure invention.
If I’m not wrong Rajna’s music was featured into a French TV documentary called “A la recherche du tombeau de Jésus”, what was talking about this documentary and how happened that the TV used your music?
Yes, you are right. One of our fans has contacted us and told us that he had heard a few minutes from “Hidden Temple” into the French documentary “A la recherche du tombeau de Jésus”. So we contacted the TV broadcast and they told us it was right. They had decided to use a few minutes of our music because one of the person working for this programm knew us already and loved our work, so we have been chosen for this documentary. It was very good for us !!
Now talking about live gigs, in your idea what would be the ideal place for playing a Rajna gig? And you have any gigs going on?
The best place for a Rajna gig is in a church.The sound and the atmosphere that comes from the place is perfect for us. We have played lastly in Nijmegen church, in Holland in May 2010. We have no live shows in preparation for the moment.
So now I ask you this question, mainly my webzine promote metal bands, so really distant from your music genre but in some ways close in matter of ideas. If you should advice 5 ambient album to a beginner, in your opinion what they are?
My top 5 would be :
Well, Jeanne thatnks so really much for replying at my questions hope you like them!
I hope you’ll enjoy my interview. Thank you for promoting our music. All the best, Jeanne
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Label : Alfa Matrix
Review by Luisa Mercier
After several years, the Belgian duo Aiboforcen finally releases their 5th studio album. In “Dédale” various genres of electronic music are explored: you can find harsh industrial beats but also some synthpop, trip-hop and EBM. The elements of the different styles are mixed quite well and the vocals of Ayria contribute to make everything flow together. The overall mood is quite dark and gloomy, disturbing; but now and then there is a ray of light for example “Time & Space” is a nice catchy electro pop song. There are also some guests vocalists on the album. Laether S. lends “Poem of Life” a hard industrial sound, the same happens with amGod in the song “Parasthesia”. While on the U2 cover of “New Year’s Day” we find Ayria who graces the song with her light, soaring vocals. Last but not the least, Donna of Ego Likeness on “The World Below”, which sounds much more grounded than the other songs on the album. Overall, it’s a very solid release and can also be considered a nice starting point to check the band back catalogue.
Rating - 80/100
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Label : Alfa Matrix
Review by Luisa Mercier
After several years, the Belgian duo Aiboforcen finally releases their 5th studio album. In “Dédale” various genres of electronic music are explored: you can find harsh industrial beats but also some synthpop, trip-hop and EBM. The elements of the different styles are mixed quite well and the vocals of Ayria contribute to make everything flow together. The overall mood is quite dark and gloomy, disturbing; but now and then there is a ray of light for example “Time & Space” is a nice catchy electro pop song. There are also some guests vocalists on the album. Laether S. lends “Poem of Life” a hard industrial sound, the same happens with amGod in the song “Parasthesia”. While on the U2 cover of “New Year’s Day” we find Ayria who graces the song with her light, soaring vocals. Last but not the least, Donna of Ego Likeness on “The World Below”, which sounds much more grounded than the other songs on the album. Overall, it’s a very solid release and can also be considered a nice starting point to check the band back catalogue.
Rating - 80/100
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Label : ProgRock Records
Review by Tony Cannella
On their 3rd album Portugal’s Progressive/Gothic metal duo known as Factory of Dreams decided to take a different tact than on their previous two. Not so much musically (although the band continues to progress with each album), but lyrically their new album “Melotronical” is a concept album, revolving around the evolution of an electronic molecule into a living, breathing entity. Wow! That is certainly a unique idea for a concept album and one that I am willing to bet hasn’t been tried before. On “Melotronical”, the complexity of the music matches the intricacy of the lyrics perfectly. The songs feature some cool orchestration and moody passages compliments the story as it develops. Jessica Lehto really pushes herself to new heights vocally and multi-instrumentalist Hugo Flores is also there to help out in the vocal department when needed, to give the songs a more aggressive feel when called upon. The 13-song opus begins with two very strong tracks, “Enter Nucleon” and “Melotronical” kicks things off in strong fashion and showcases the duel vocals of Jessica and Hugo. The spacy vibe of “Taste of Paradise” is up next and features Jessica exclusively on vocals. This song starts with a slower tempo that steadily builds as the song progresses. “Protonic Stream” is next and at 8-minutes, this is the longest song featured here and is divided into two parts, part 1 is “The Illusion” and part 2 is titled “Protonic Matter”, Jessica’s vocal work is simply breathtaking throughout the album, but especially on this epic number and the melody really enriches this tune. Other highlights include: “Into Oblivion”, “Obsessical”, “Dimension Crusher” and the finale “Reprogramming”. Okay, so I like Factory of Dreams and have a great appreciation and admiration for what they do. Having said (or wrote) that, it is also true that “Melotronical” may be a bit much to take in all at once. There certainly is a lot going on here, on both the music and lyrical side of things. Still, “Melotronical” is a huge accomplishment for this Portuguese band and just may possibly be their best, involved and most complete work to date.
Rating - 90/100
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Label : Echozone/Intergroove
Review by Tony Cannella
Reactive Black is a duo from Germany. They play dark, Gothic metal with electronic and industrial elements. In 2007 they released their well received debut “Upcoming Evil”. Now Reactive Black returns with “A New Dawn…”.” A New Dawn…” features 11-songs and 45-minutes worth of dark, atmospheric music. Vocalist Sassy Skeleton has an interesting style that is quite unique and adds great depth to the music supplied by multi-instrumentalist Rotten. Some highlights include: “It’s Time Again” (a cool opener), “Proud”, “Only in My Dreams”, “Taste of Paradise” and “Doom”. Probably the most interesting track – and my favorite – is “Fading Away”. The lyrics to the track are spoken by Sassy Skeleton set to the backdrop of dark, ethereal music. “A New Dawn…” also includes a video for the song “Doom” and two bonus MP3’s of the songs “Days of Decay” and “Evil Is” from their debut. All-in-all it’s a pretty cool collection of material that should please all connoisseurs of dark metal.
Rating - 73/100
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Independent Release
Review by Tony Cannella
From New Jersey comes the symphonic metal duo Infinitus Mortus. Judging by the sounds coming from their debut “2012”, it is hard to believe that there are only two members in the band. The lead vocalist is Tara and she is joined by the multi-instrumentalist Steve who pretty much does everything else. As you could probably decipher given the album’s title, “2012” is an ambitious concept album, based around the Mayan prophecy that the world will end in 2012. Dark, Epic and Melodic are three good words to describe “2012”. In front Lady Tara, you have a truly talented vocalist with an expressive operatic style. Steve completes the dark vision with his many talents. The intro “The Dark Rift” gives way to the rapid fire riffing of “The Next Atlantis”. “Worst Plague Of All… Love” begins with some nice piano and then settles nicely into a mid-tempo, heavy, melodic groove. My only complaint – and it is a small one – is that perhaps Tara’s vocals are a little low in the mix. Besides that minor complaint, “2012” is really loaded with good metal riffs and songs. Highlights include: “Blood Lust”, the symphonic ally beautiful ballad “My Apocalypse”, “The 10th Planet” and the albums closer “A Golden Age”. For those who love conceptual metal, then Infinitus Mortus is a band well worth checking out and “2012” I’m sure is only the beginning for this Jersey band.
Rating – 88/100
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Label : Black Listed Records
Review By Tony Cannella
The third – and latest – album from the Japanese Metal Maestros AREA51 is titled “Goddess” and it continues using the same approach as their previous work while still progressing. Many of the same qualities are at work here that was featured on their previous release. AREA51 continues to provide great, emotive vocalizing from Kate Cain and the guitar virtuosity of Yoichiro Ishina but besides that the band seems to have grown as musicians and songwriters. The 45-minute CD opens with the movie soundtrack-like intro “Naissance” which lead us into the blood pumping Yngwie-esque track “Nightmare”. The next track is the heavy “Regret et Larme”, which quickly became among my favorites. “Begins of Dissolution” is a huge sounding track that mixes different tempos with huge effectiveness. “Marionnette” opens with a great guitar riff which really highlights the track, which is an up-tempo blazing number. Other highlights include: “Miss You”, “VANITAS” and “Sincerity”. Overall, “Goddess” is more stripped down and raw sounding than their previous work. AREA51 are a band that seems to be firing on all cylinders now and “Goddess” is this talented band from Japan at their very best.
Rating - 92/100
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Label : Abstraktsens Productions
Review By Tony Cannella
The style of the French duo known as Life’s Decay is difficult to put a finger on. They play an eclectic mix of Dark Wave, Ambient, with one or two other influences thrown in to create an interesting sound. The band is made up of two members: Alea is the vocalist and Lykwasst does everything else. In listening to their new Cd “Dysrieuses” it is difficult to believe that there are only two members involved, but that is exactly the case. In researching this band, I was very surprised to learn that they have been in existence since 2003 and “Dysrieuses” is actually Life’s Decay’s sixth full-length release. Talk about being under the radar. The 12-songs and 45-minutes worth of music on “Dysrieuses” have a very avant-garde feel to them and I am not sure if I have ever heard a band/project such as them before. The majority of the lyrics (which are also written by Alea) are sung in French and the band incorporate some non traditional metal instruments such as accordian and trumpet, which adds to the different feeling you get on this CD. I was really interested in the melancholic nature of some of the songs, such as: “Viversie” (my favorite track), “Eabelia” and “Ambrause”.Life’s Decay are a band will be impossible to nail to one genre or one sub-genre. Even if you are not necessarily a fan of music such as this, you still have to give them their due. “Dysrieuses” can be a challenging CD to listen to at times, but this band is multi-talented and multi-faceted and if given the chance “Dysrieuses” is a Cd that can quite possibly grow on the listener.
Rating - 75/100
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Label : Lion Music Records
Review By Tony Cannella
The Swedish band Xanima were originally formed in 2007 by Pelle Handen and female vocalist Jade Ell. The band have been compared to Evanescence, Enigma and Kate Bush and have just issued their debut CD “Inside Warrior”. I have to admit that I was a bit taken aback when I first started listening to the CD, but it only took me until about halfway through the second song to realize that this is really cool. The above mentioned comparisons are pretty accurate, but the band adds their own groove and vibe to the material that is presented here.The rock solid groove of the opener “The Deed and the Damage” sets things in motion on the right foot. It’s a bit of a subdued track, but it is a good song and the high point are definitely the smooth vocal delivery of Jade Ell. “Caged” is next and it has a pop feel to it, with a harder edge - I could really see this coming out as a single, it has a definite up-tempo feel to it and this was one of the highlights for me. “Poltergeist” keeps things going and there is a dark vibe that goes with the song. Other highlights include: “In The Lens”, “Soaring”, “The Essence of Being” and “Exodus”. Xanima includes some really great vocal harmonies throughout “Inside Warrior”. The vocals of Jade Ell are very strong and at times she reminds me a bit of Shirley Manson of Garbage. Xanima are a band that came as a bit of a shock to me (in a positive way). Overall, “Inside Warrior” is a very impressive debut that is quite different from many the current crop of female fronted metal bands. The band are reportedly working on album number 2, it should be interesting to follow the progression of this promising new band. A solid debut.
Rating - 80/100
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