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.
Label : AFM Records
Review by Tony Cannella
Fans of Progressive Power Metal rejoice! The new project from Virus IV guitarist Samuel Arkan is here and he is joined by an outstanding array of talented musicians for the debut of Epysode titled “Obsessions”. For 14-songs, totaling about an hour’s worth of music, the listener is drawn into a conceptual story (which sounds like it would make a killer movie) with each singer playing a role as the story unfolds throughout the album. After the opening intro of “File 4180-1” the next track “Silences of Dawn (Poetry)” is a beautiful minute-and-a-half piano peace featuring the vocals of Valentine and Dial frontwoman Liselotte Hegt as this segues into the majestic “First Blood”. This is a multi-faceted dramatic track featuring some cool interplay between all of the vocalists on the album, Kelly Sundown Carpenter (Beyond Twilight), Oddleif Stensland (Communic), Magali Luyten (Virus IV), Hegt and Rick Altzi (At Vance, Thunderstone) all turn in epic performances. From there the album moves forward with a lot of momentum on the equally awesome “Obsessions” featuring some more great vocal work performed by Carpenter and Luyten. “Invisible Nations” is next and features a melodic up-tempo atmosphere with Carpenter and Altzi once again taking the lead role in the vocal department. I must say, the chemistry between the two is breathtaking. This song also includes a pretty cool prog rock style keyboard section in the middle. The next track “Gemini Syndrome” – with Liselotte Hegt and Kelly Sundown taking the lead – is a beautiful piano dominated ballad that allows the listener to catch their breath before the crushing riff of “Fallen’s Portrait” should get those heads banging once again. Other highlights: “Season of Redemption”, “The Other Side”, “One Chance” , “Divine Whispers” but I could on. There is no doubt that Samuel Arkan from Virus IV is the creative force behind this project; he wrote the music, lyrics, story and produced, but he has also surrounded himself with some top-notch talent who also put their unique stamps on “Obsessions”. Doing a concept album on this grand a scale can be quite risky and the possibility exists that it could be viewed as hokey or cheesy, but thankfully Samuel Arkan and the rest of the stellar cast put a lot of care, effort and thought into Epysode. For a concept album this ambitious, “Obsessions” never comes off as overblown or overdone, it strikes the right balance between music and drama which is one of the best things about it.
Rating - 90/100
Tracklist
Line Up
The Cast
Musicians
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Review Gig & Photo by Tony Cannella
You have to give it up for Doro and her band. It doesn’t matter the size of the venue or the size of the audience, one thing you can always be certain of is that the band will give a maximum effort always. You know that if you buy a ticket for a Doro show, you are going to come away having experienced a great performance. Whether it be in front of 80,000 metal maniacs at Wacken or a club size crowd like tonight’s performance at the Webster Theater Underground in Hartford, Connecticut, you won’t be disappointed - and I can safely assume that on this night, no one was. Support came from two very impressive bands. The first of which was the newly signed to Metal Blade Records Ravage from Boston, Massachutess. They performed songs from their impressive debut CD “The End of Tomorrow”. Their style is traditional power metal with thrash elements and it was quite energetic - they even played a cover of the Judas Priest tune “Nightcrawler” that really went down well. They were followed by the all female band Jaded also from Boston. Both bands did such a great job in getting the audience amped up for Doro - I definitely wouldn’t mind checking out either band again some time in the future. Good stuff! After a brief intermission, it was indeed time for the metal queen to take the stage. After a short intro, the band absolutely attacked the stage with opener “I Rule the Ruins”. This is a song that band use quite often to open their shows and it is easy to see why. It is just a great adrenaline fueled number that always manages to set the right atmosphere. The band followed that up with an energetic version of the classic Warlock track “Burning the Witches” which of course went down awesome with the fans in attendance singing word-for-word. “You’re My Family” from the underrated “Warrior Soul” was next and this song has the potential to be a fan favorite for a long, long time to come and a staple of her live sets, judging by the overwhelming reaction of the audience. From there the classics kept coming in the form of “True as Steel” and “Fight for Rock” with “Night of the Warlock” from the great new release “Fear No Evil” sand-witched in between.
“Celebrate” - another new one - really got the audience going and this is another one that has the potential to be a crowd favorite. The set list featured a pretty good cross section of material from Doro’s career, like “Unholy Love” and the guitar driven classic “Metal Racer”. Other songs that were played, “We Are the Metalheads” (the official Wacken theme), “Breaking the Law” before the classic “All We Are” closed the main set and is always a highlight for any Doro performance. The band returned to the stage for the encores “Earthshaker Rock” and “Hellbound”, before bidding us good night for the final time. Long time members Nick Douglas (bass) and Johnny Dee (drums) are always reliable - they always give solid, energetic performances and are a perfect compliment to Doro’s powerful vocals. For this tour, the band is completed by two new members: Harrison Young (keyboards) and ex-After Forever guitarist Bas Maas, both proved to be great additions to the line-up. After having seen the band perform live many times, I am always amazed at the sheer ferocity the band exhibits, at each performance. They really do own the stage and it doesn’t matter - big crowd or small crowd - the audience is always going to be entertained. At this point Doro and band are such a potent live machine that I would put them up against just about any other band or artist. That’s a debate for another time, but one thing is for certain - on this night, Doro rocked the hell out of Hartford.
Links
Interview by Si Smith
From the first chord to the final drumbeat, a Crimfall album is an aural spectacle to behold. Orchestrations and sound effects only serve to focus the listener on the music that is on offer: a rich tapestry of metal and gusto that transports the observer to another world, complete with swords and battles. But if this is escapism, than it is a guilty pleasure, as this album proves. Moving on into darker more wintry territory, it proves to touch on themes closer to our hearts, but still always that firm foundation of epic folk metal. I braved the cold and sat by the campfire with Helena to discuss the band’s progress so far…
First of all thanks so much for talking to us Helena, and a warm welcome from all at Femme Metal.
Thanks! It’s my pleasure.
I understand that the band began as a one-man project of guitarist Jakke Viitala. What did the music sound like at that early stage? How did you become involved in the whole scheme?
Jakke had heard my voice in my former band, Tacere’s debut album, and he asked me to try out some vocals for the three song demo “Burning Winds”. The material was pretty much ready at that time, and when I came in, we only arranged some melodies to fit my voice better. The music itself wasn’t that far away from how it came out on our first full-length album, but of course some arrangements were made, and the overall production of “As the Path Unfolds…” sounds much richer than the first demo of the band.
“Burning Winds” was your first recorded opus - how did you feel the recording went for this early work?
I can only answer from my part, since the first evening we recorded my vocals was the first time I met Jakke, so I don’t know how the process was for the others. For me the situation was relaxed, laid back and I felt secure and appreciated. We didn’t do anything in a hurry, ‘though it only took a couple of evenings to get the demo vocals done. Jakke and his wonderful wife Heidi first welcomed me with their heart-warming manner of stuffing all their guests with delicious food and wine, and since I also loved Jakke’s music, I decided to continue working with him after he asked me to take part on a full-length album.
Two of the songs from this demo were re-recorded for the first full-length “As the Path Unfolds…”. Were these tracks changed much in transition?
The other one, “Where Waning Winds Lead”, has now a slightly different touch melody-wise, and it’s intro is completely recomposed. If I remember correctly, there weren’t such big changes for “Wildfire Season”, but if you guys really want to compare, I suggest hunting down one of our demos and checking the differences out yourselves.
There were many session musicians on the first album, including Trollhorn (Finntroll, Moonsorrow). How was it working with all these guys on the project?
Did they understand well the general idea behind what you were trying to create?I never actually saw any of our brilliant session musicians during the making of the album, nor can I tell you what exactly was Jakke’s vision behind everything. “As the Path Unfolds…” came out as it did, and I hope our dear composer is also as satisfied with it as the rest of us are.
Your voice soars on this first cd - you are clearly very versatile in your approach to the vocal lines, what is your background in singing?
The flexibility of my voice was one of the main reasons Jakke contacted me in the first place. He wanted a singer, who could awaken many different kinds of moods and feelings, without getting stuck on one style only. I’ve been singing my whole life. I’ve done classical studies with many different teachers as well as I’ve taken vocal lessons from one of the best jazz singers in Finland, Sanni Orasmaa. Of course that all has molded my voice, but no-one has ever taught me to sing heavy metal, so on the other hand I’m self-taught. Distortion for example.. I’ve wondered how does one teach that kind of stuff to another! I learned to use distortion and that Janis Joplin-like rattle mostly on my own and by listening to good singers who tend to use it - men and women alike.
You and Mikko clearly have a great working relationship when it comes to your vocals. What’s it like when you guys hang out together outside of “work” times? What does Crimfall do to relax?
The whole band has a good, family-like vibe going on. We concentrate best on what we’re doing by not taking things too seriously and joking a lot - teasing each other like sisters and brothers do. We rarely meet outside gigs, band rehearsals and meetings, but when we do, it’s usually about celebrating and enjoying the life “the finnish way” - sauna, beer, good music and good company. Actually after our first rehearsals with our drummer Janne we all ended up just chilling out, going to the sauna and after that continuing our rehearsals butt naked between the times we sat in the sauna. (God I hope the guys won’t see this, ha ha..)
Some labelled you “soundtrack music” because of the orchestral parts and the sounds of horse, blacksmith, etc, in between tracks. How important were the “sound effects” to the overall meaning of the first album? Did you intend the album to seem like the soundtrack to some immense fantasy film?
You should definitely ask Jakke about this, since I have no clue about any overall meanings behind any of our music. I just create some of it myself, sing it and enjoy it. I think with Crimfall the music comes first, and all the sound effects remain extra. But our music wouldn’t be the same without the orchestrations and the choir parts, so in my belief they’re at least almost as important a part of our music as the guitar walls and the bass lines are. Of course the movie-like sound effects help the listener to reach the battle fields in a more detailed way, and I think that is a nice spice to our records.
Where do you feel that the band fits in in today’s metal scene? Do you pay much attention to the other bands that might be playing similar kinds of music to yourselves, or do you deliberately keep yourself separate so as not to be overly influenced?
Oh no, I hate to box music! We all listen to many different kinds of stuff, but also quite a lot of epic folk metal, which probably would be the closest genre to box us into.. What can I say: we love what we’re doing, so I think it’s quite logical that we enjoy music with similarities as well. I don’t think finnish bands are too eager to stalk one another - of course we’re interested if something big happens to a band we know people from, but otherwise we just mind our own business’.
The year 2011 has brought a new album in the shape of “The Writ of Swords”. Could you explain the title to us?
The new album is much darker and gloomier than the first one, and somehow the lyrical and the musical themes are much more hopeless as they were on “As the Path Unfolds…”. I think “The Writ of Sword” is an excellent name for an album handling all the horrors of war and the pain of the loss it brings with it.
The last track on “As the Path Unfolds…” was “Novembre” and the first track of the new album is “Dicembre”? Was this intended to follow on almost directly from the first album? Is there a direct thematic link between the two?
As you can hear, the musical theme of “Novembre” is also the main theme on “Dicembre”. And yes, as the winter follows the fall, so does our second album follow chronologically our debut album both thematically and musically.
In this interviewer’s humble opinion, your voice sounds particularly beautiful on the some of the more folky songs like “Frost Upon Their Graves”. If you could produce an album solely according to your own personal tastes and vocal preferences, what kind of album would it be?
I’d probably make something a cappella. In fact, I’ve had a dream of a vocal group for a long time. Something like finnish folk music or maybe even metal. But if I’ll ever find time to arrange stuff for a metal a cappella group, I’ll definitely make it very rough and try to produce also the drums only with human voices, unlike for example Van Canto does.
Now that the band is fully-formed, is this the way it will stay now? Are you all pretty settled in your roles within the band, or is there room for some flexibility?
This is the best possible “casting” for Crimfall. Five members is a great amount of people in a band and since we’ve all sort of found our places and accepted our responsibilities within our team, I don’t see us reforming anytime soon.
Since your music is so “epic”, how do fans respond at gigs? Do you get the viking helmets from the Finland connection, or maybe the more “serious” fan rather than the diehard mosher?
I’m glad to say we have both! And may I add, they’re equally pleasing to play to: the hard core fans in the front row, the nasty looking pit forming in the center of the crowd and last but not least the people standing a bit further away but still clearly enjoying our music, fists held up high.
I must say that “The Writ of Swords” is one album I would have loved to have on vinyl. Are there any plans to release this album on vinyl format?
We did discuss the vinyl possibility with our record company, and I’m happy to say they didn’t turn it down - as a matter of fact they brought the idea on the table. “When”, on the other hand, is a question I don’t know the answer to.
As we draw near the end of the interview, I have to ask about your plans for the future. Touring is a given and I hear you are supporting Turisas on their “Stand Up and Fight” tour. Did you meet these guys already when Olli played violin on this album? What are you looking forward to most about touring? What do you miss the most when touring?
Yes, we did support Turisas on some of their gigs on that massive tour: we got to perform in London, Nottingham, Vosselaar, Paris, Amsterdam, Hämeenlinna and Helsinki with them. And I tell you, it was a blast! Although only some of us had met Olli and Mathias Nygård while recording the violins and guest vocal parts, we all got along so well with them on tour. They and their awesome crew were just absolutely great! I think we’re looking forward to do some more touring with a band yet to be announced. While we tour abroad, we might miss our closest ones and the luxury of sleeping in our own beds, but at the same time the best thing in it is definitely to get to play for different kinds of crowds and people not from our cold country. It’s amazing to find such blood brothers and sisters who dig the metal we play. It’s a very uniting feeling!
Links
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Interview by Claudio Grippi
This time we let the guitarist and mastermind, Anastasia, intruduce this young German band symphonic metal caressed by JRR Tolkien’s symphonies and some real kick ass girl power (hahahahaha men this time you’re the minority). Well, hail to the girl power, isn’t?
Hello Anastasia! Thank you for taking the time for this interview. Let’s start immediately. First of all, How are you?I would like to start with a simple question. Where does the name Arven come from? What is its meaning? Is it somehow related to the name Arwen from the movie trilogy “The Lord of the Rings”?
Yes, you got it right. We named the band after the female character from the book “Lord of the Rings” by J.R.R. Tolkien. Well, we are certainly not the first band to look for a name in his book but Arwen seemed perfect for us because the beautiful story of an she-elf, who gives up her immortality for a love of a mortal man, represents very well everything our music stands for: intense passion and strong emotions.
How did this project start?
Before I founded the band Arven, I have already played in a couple of metal bands, where I always was the only female musician. I thought it’s a bit sad that metal music is so men-dominated and on the other hand I was personally acquainted with 2 girls, who also played in metal bands. So when I started to compose songs and wanted to found a band it seemed only natural to me to try and form a female metal band. But finding capable female musicians, who would be interested in playing metal turned out to be a real challenge. The search for musicians lasted almost a year and at times I was so frustrated, that I almost gave up. It seemed to be impossible to find what I was searching for, no matter how hard I tried. But in the end I’m really happy that I didn’t give up, because finally I got lucky and Arven finally came into the world. I can say that for me it’s a big pleasure and an honour to make music with the girls of Arven and it’s one of the best things I ever experienced in life!
Why did you choose “Music of Light” as the title of the album? Does it have a special meaning for the band since it is also the opening track of the album?
On the one hand “Music of Light” was a title of one of our early songs, that represents our musical style really well. On the other hand “Music of Light” seemed like a good description for our musical style in general, as you can associate “light” and “clear” or “ardent” with our sound. This double meaning seemed interesting so we choose it to be the album title.
Arven is mainly composed of ladies with several musical backgrounds: from classical music to metal. Which musical backgrounds or bands do you mostly inspire to when it comes to song writing? Is it a specific choice you made to hire female-only musicians and singers? Or it just came as it is?
Yes, like I said earlier it was a choice. From the beginning I wanted the band to stand out of the crowd in some way. There are very many metal bands out there with a female singer and sometimes you see a girl play an instrument in a metal band. But I know of only very few metal bands, where the song writing and the whole musical concept has been done by female musicians, so from that perspective Arven creates a feminine version of metal.
In your opinion, what are the main differences in terms of song writing within a group of five girls and one boy? Do you think ‘female song writing’ is more detail-oriented?
I don’t think that the song writing process itself is different in a female band but our tastes may be. In general our music seems to be softer, than the most men-dominated metal bands are, but actually we didn’t plan it to be this way. Our desire was (and still is) to explore different styles of metal from soft to hard and create our own version of it: there is a distinct soft and feminine side to our album but we also like to contrast it with powerful aggressive energy, that you could call our masculine side.
As far as the lyrics are concerned, what are the main topics that inspire you?
In our song writing process music always comes first and lyrics are created after the song is almost finished. This way we have to find a theme for a song that fits the mood created by the music. Basically we try to write lyrics that mean something to us, we put a lot of our very personal experiences in the lyrics, though it may be not so obvious sometimes. As a songwriter I put a lot of myself into my music and with Carina I’m very lucky to have found a singer, who us able to express the feelings that I put in the music in a genuinely way. She really “means” what she sings about. Typically for a female dominant band there are a few love songs on our album: in “Music of Light” we tried to capture the euphoria of being freshly in love whereas “Till Death do us Part” is about a painful experience of a breakup. The song “My Dear Friend” is the song that means most to me, I wrote it after the death of a close friend of mine. But not all songs on the CD are earnest, “Raise your Cups” is a cheerful party-song, for example and “Midwinter Nights” is a fairy tale with reversed gender roles.
Your new album has been released recently. This is a very delicate time for new female-fronted metal bands to come out with new, interesting material among the greatest female-fronted metal bands. How do you think “Music of Light” may find its way into the listener’s heart?
Considering the great number of the female-fronted metal bands on the market it’s indeed a difficult time for a new band that plays this kind of music. Often times we get the: “Please, not yet another female-fronted band out there” message, even before someone even listened to our music for one second and it can be very frustrating, after you put so much passion and energy into the songs. But in the end, we just have to accept that fact and we certainly wouldn’t change our musical style because of that. No matter what, we will stay true to our style and hope that there are enough people our there who follow their hearts instead of just being in line with the musical trend.
This album features many well-known names in this genre. Stefan Schmidt from Van Canto and Sascha Paeth (producer) are among these, for example. How did their experience help contribute to the production of the album? Did they influence your sound somehow or did you already have a clear picture of the album?
Working with Stef (Stefan) Schmidt was a great experience for us. He met us at one of our live-shows and he liked our music and offered some great ideas, so that we ended up doing some kind of a “song writing workshop” with him, where we took some new song material of Arven and experimented with different arrangements and song structures. He is a real professional and a very skilled and experienced musician and we enjoyed to work with him so much, that we decided to record the choirs for the album in his studio. You can hear Stef among the male voices in the choirs. We think that he did a great job and would like to thank him one more time for supporting us along our way. Finally Sascha Paeth did the mastering of the album and gave the sound of “Music Of Light” it’s final touch.
How would you describe the new album in terms of genre? It seems you are fond of Medieval/Celtic music.
I was always fascinated by medieval music because of it’s background and history. Every music tells it’s own story,and I am very interested in this time. I love the instruments and the sound of medieval melodies so it became one of the main musical influences for the album. We are often asked the question about genre but for me this question is not one the really important ones.
Do you think your sound is going towards symphonic or power metal in the near future?
Actually right now we are experimenting with both. We have a couple of new up-tempo power metal songs that are a lot of fun to play life. On the other hand I’m thrilled by the idea of using more orchestral arrangements in future but it’s a relatively new approach to me and will certainly take time to get the results that I’d like to have in this area.
What are your plans for the future?
Our greatest wish right now is to play live-shows as often as possible because playing live in front of our fans is what a metal band is all about in the first place. This year a number of live-concerts are already planned and we are very much looking forward to the shows. On the other hand we are working on new material for a second album and we hope that it wont be long until we enter the studio one more time and go on the musical journey and find out where it would lead us to this time.
One last question. Are you planning to tour in Europe supporting other bands or are you looking for promoters for your own tour?
As a young band it’s not quite easy to get the opportunity to play great live shows, but we hope that we will be able to play more live shows in Europe in near future. We already played in France a couple of times last year and we got excellent feedback from our fans there, so we are curious to see more countries, visit new places and get to know more people who are interested in metal.
Anastasia, thank you very much for your time! Is there anything you would like to say to our readers?
Thank you for your interest in our music and the band and also thanks to our fans all around the world! We didn’t expect that much positive feedback and we are happy to find that our music is so well received. Best wishes for all of you, and who knows, maybe one day we can meet at a live show ;-).
Credit Photos
Photos by angst-im-wald.com
Links
Interview by Claudio Grippi
This time we let the guitarist and mastermind, Anastasia, intruduce this young German band symphonic metal caressed by JRR Tolkien’s symphonies and some real kick ass girl power (hahahahaha men this time you’re the minority). Well, hail to the girl power, isn’t?
Hello Anastasia! Thank you for taking the time for this interview. Let’s start immediately. First of all, How are you?I would like to start with a simple question. Where does the name Arven come from? What is its meaning? Is it somehow related to the name Arwen from the movie trilogy “The Lord of the Rings”?
Yes, you got it right. We named the band after the female character from the book “Lord of the Rings” by J.R.R. Tolkien. Well, we are certainly not the first band to look for a name in his book but Arwen seemed perfect for us because the beautiful story of an she-elf, who gives up her immortality for a love of a mortal man, represents very well everything our music stands for: intense passion and strong emotions.
How did this project start?
Before I founded the band Arven, I have already played in a couple of metal bands, where I always was the only female musician. I thought it’s a bit sad that metal music is so men-dominated and on the other hand I was personally acquainted with 2 girls, who also played in metal bands. So when I started to compose songs and wanted to found a band it seemed only natural to me to try and form a female metal band. But finding capable female musicians, who would be interested in playing metal turned out to be a real challenge. The search for musicians lasted almost a year and at times I was so frustrated, that I almost gave up. It seemed to be impossible to find what I was searching for, no matter how hard I tried. But in the end I’m really happy that I didn’t give up, because finally I got lucky and Arven finally came into the world. I can say that for me it’s a big pleasure and an honour to make music with the girls of Arven and it’s one of the best things I ever experienced in life!
Why did you choose “Music of Light” as the title of the album? Does it have a special meaning for the band since it is also the opening track of the album?
On the one hand “Music of Light” was a title of one of our early songs, that represents our musical style really well. On the other hand “Music of Light” seemed like a good description for our musical style in general, as you can associate “light” and “clear” or “ardent” with our sound. This double meaning seemed interesting so we choose it to be the album title.
Arven is mainly composed of ladies with several musical backgrounds: from classical music to metal. Which musical backgrounds or bands do you mostly inspire to when it comes to song writing? Is it a specific choice you made to hire female-only musicians and singers? Or it just came as it is?
Yes, like I said earlier it was a choice. From the beginning I wanted the band to stand out of the crowd in some way. There are very many metal bands out there with a female singer and sometimes you see a girl play an instrument in a metal band. But I know of only very few metal bands, where the song writing and the whole musical concept has been done by female musicians, so from that perspective Arven creates a feminine version of metal.
In your opinion, what are the main differences in terms of song writing within a group of five girls and one boy? Do you think ‘female song writing’ is more detail-oriented?
I don’t think that the song writing process itself is different in a female band but our tastes may be. In general our music seems to be softer, than the most men-dominated metal bands are, but actually we didn’t plan it to be this way. Our desire was (and still is) to explore different styles of metal from soft to hard and create our own version of it: there is a distinct soft and feminine side to our album but we also like to contrast it with powerful aggressive energy, that you could call our masculine side.
As far as the lyrics are concerned, what are the main topics that inspire you?
In our song writing process music always comes first and lyrics are created after the song is almost finished. This way we have to find a theme for a song that fits the mood created by the music. Basically we try to write lyrics that mean something to us, we put a lot of our very personal experiences in the lyrics, though it may be not so obvious sometimes. As a songwriter I put a lot of myself into my music and with Carina I’m very lucky to have found a singer, who us able to express the feelings that I put in the music in a genuinely way. She really “means” what she sings about. Typically for a female dominant band there are a few love songs on our album: in “Music of Light” we tried to capture the euphoria of being freshly in love whereas “Till Death do us Part” is about a painful experience of a breakup. The song “My Dear Friend” is the song that means most to me, I wrote it after the death of a close friend of mine. But not all songs on the CD are earnest, “Raise your Cups” is a cheerful party-song, for example and “Midwinter Nights” is a fairy tale with reversed gender roles.
Your new album has been released recently. This is a very delicate time for new female-fronted metal bands to come out with new, interesting material among the greatest female-fronted metal bands. How do you think “Music of Light” may find its way into the listener’s heart?
Considering the great number of the female-fronted metal bands on the market it’s indeed a difficult time for a new band that plays this kind of music. Often times we get the: “Please, not yet another female-fronted band out there” message, even before someone even listened to our music for one second and it can be very frustrating, after you put so much passion and energy into the songs. But in the end, we just have to accept that fact and we certainly wouldn’t change our musical style because of that. No matter what, we will stay true to our style and hope that there are enough people our there who follow their hearts instead of just being in line with the musical trend.
This album features many well-known names in this genre. Stefan Schmidt from Van Canto and Sascha Paeth (producer) are among these, for example. How did their experience help contribute to the production of the album? Did they influence your sound somehow or did you already have a clear picture of the album?
Working with Stef (Stefan) Schmidt was a great experience for us. He met us at one of our live-shows and he liked our music and offered some great ideas, so that we ended up doing some kind of a “song writing workshop” with him, where we took some new song material of Arven and experimented with different arrangements and song structures. He is a real professional and a very skilled and experienced musician and we enjoyed to work with him so much, that we decided to record the choirs for the album in his studio. You can hear Stef among the male voices in the choirs. We think that he did a great job and would like to thank him one more time for supporting us along our way. Finally Sascha Paeth did the mastering of the album and gave the sound of “Music Of Light” it’s final touch.
How would you describe the new album in terms of genre? It seems you are fond of Medieval/Celtic music.
I was always fascinated by medieval music because of it’s background and history. Every music tells it’s own story,and I am very interested in this time. I love the instruments and the sound of medieval melodies so it became one of the main musical influences for the album. We are often asked the question about genre but for me this question is not one the really important ones.
Do you think your sound is going towards symphonic or power metal in the near future?
Actually right now we are experimenting with both. We have a couple of new up-tempo power metal songs that are a lot of fun to play life. On the other hand I’m thrilled by the idea of using more orchestral arrangements in future but it’s a relatively new approach to me and will certainly take time to get the results that I’d like to have in this area.
What are your plans for the future?
Our greatest wish right now is to play live-shows as often as possible because playing live in front of our fans is what a metal band is all about in the first place. This year a number of live-concerts are already planned and we are very much looking forward to the shows. On the other hand we are working on new material for a second album and we hope that it wont be long until we enter the studio one more time and go on the musical journey and find out where it would lead us to this time.
One last question. Are you planning to tour in Europe supporting other bands or are you looking for promoters for your own tour?
As a young band it’s not quite easy to get the opportunity to play great live shows, but we hope that we will be able to play more live shows in Europe in near future. We already played in France a couple of times last year and we got excellent feedback from our fans there, so we are curious to see more countries, visit new places and get to know more people who are interested in metal.
Anastasia, thank you very much for your time! Is there anything you would like to say to our readers?
Thank you for your interest in our music and the band and also thanks to our fans all around the world! We didn’t expect that much positive feedback and we are happy to find that our music is so well received. Best wishes for all of you, and who knows, maybe one day we can meet at a live show ;-).
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Photos by angst-im-wald.com
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Interview by Scott Johnson
Beautiful as the deepest Forest in the medieval times. Notes dancing on the wind. A story unfolds into a most adventurous mind movie. These are my thoughts as I listen to Astray Path. Music that could be the soundtrack for any true fan of a good story. Metal meets Lord of the Rings style lyrics flirting with Braveheart dressed as a metal lord of Gothic doom. I had a chance to talk to the siren of this most innovative tribe of musicians, Kathrin Kaifel. And now if you dare, take my hand into the Astray Path.
Hello Kathrin, I am honored to have this chance to talk with you today and find out what we can find down the Astray Path. Can you share with us the history of the band?
Simon and I used to make music together a long time before Astray Path, and we both love the same musical style. It was in January 2003 when Simon and I were on our way home from a great metal concert. We sat in the car and Simon said: “Hey, let’s found a band, too!”. And I think this was the first step on the path that leads astray…
Where does Astray Path draw inspiration from?
Sometimes I have an inspiration from a special situation or feeling, then I form the lyrics for a song. It works the same way for Dora (bass). We then hand the lyrics over to Simon and he writes the music fitting to the text. Sometimes it happens the other way around: Simon plays the piano and a new song arises simply out of his playing. Then the lyrics are added afterwards based on the pictures or emotions the melody has created in our heads and hearts.
What was it like in early 2003 when you, Oliver, Florian, Dominic and Simon first formed the band?
For all of us it was the first band. No one had ever played in a band before. So, we all said something like “OK, now we have a band… let’s see where it will lead us…”. It was very exciting for everyone. And a few months later we won our first band competition – a wonderful experience
Then there was a 2 year period full of uncertainty for you and Astray Path. How did you find the strength to make it through this time?
We all love music, in general and of course our own musical experiments. And so it was clear that we wouldn’t stop working on our musical journey.
What was it like to make it to the studio in 2006 and record “Follow the Path”?
It was very exciting because for most of us it was the first time working in a studio. And Benny Fetscher, the owner of the studio, had a very calm and informative way of working. He showed us everything that could be done.
Where are some of the places the band played between 2006 and 2008?
Mostly in Ulm and around Ulm, we had not travelled much farther then.
We reach 2008 and the band enters the studio once again to record “The Hidden Line” and during this time Robert leaves the band. How did the band meet this challenge?
At first we thought we couldn’t work on the new album without a guitarist. But then it was a great chance to gain Benny Fetscher (the owner of the studio) for the guitar-parts! He brought some new ideas and it was very inspiring to work with him.
In 2009 once again the band enters the studio to record the album “Desert”. What was this like?
Elmar (Guitars) was also the producer of this album. He was the driving force, he took care of everything and invested much time in this project. We couldn’t have managed without his support. He had the idea of a concept album and completed the story around it with his song (“The Call”). And of course we had a great team of musicians (flute, cello, french horn, etc). It was fun to work with them in the studio. And now it’s great to play with them on stage when they have time to be there. But not to forget Manuel Staib, the owner of the studio: he was very confident, he had the required sense of calmness and influenced the recordings in a very positive way.
What has the band been working on recently?
We are rehearsing with a new (additional) guitarist and of course we are working on some new material.
So do you all love the whole Renaissance themed subjects and do you like these things outside of the band as well?
All of us have this “classical background”. Simon (Keyboard) and Holger (Drums) are both conductors (Simon: many choirs, Holger: symphonic brass orchestra) and so they know an enormous spectrum of music. Dora has played the viola in various orchestras. And I love singing in choirs that perform classical music, especially music of the 20th and 21st century. This is sometimes hard to take. We all know that this sort of music is at a different level to what we write.
What are some of your musical influences?
Church music of all centuries and bands like Subway to Sally, Blind Guardian…
How long have you been singing and where did you have your training?
I have loved singing my whole life. At the age of about 11 I started to sing in a school choir and a youth choir. When I was about 17 I began to love the classical style of singing. And then, at the age of 19 or 20 I took classical singing lessons with a private teacher and continue up to now.
If you could pick one of your favorite shows that the band has played which one would it be?
I guess playing as support for Xandria was my favourite show so far. The location was quite big and the audience who didn’t know us before responded well. But any show, no matter which location, is fun and a wonderful experience. As long as we manage to reach the souls of the people who came to listen.
What are some of the next shows on the Desert tour?
We don’t know yet, our booker is working on the plan.
It was so nice to have you here today Kathrin. Before we close do you have anything that you would like to add?
Thank you very much for the interest in our music and the imaginative questions!
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Label : Lion Music
Review by Tony Cannella
MasterCastle is the project put together by Labyrinth/Necrodeath guitarist Pier Gonella. Their style is symphonic epic guitar metal. It’s true that lovers of guitar should really gravitate to and embrace this band, but that shouldn’t scare non-musicians (such as myself) away. There is plenty of great stuff to keep us entertained. Before getting into the music on this CD - which incidently is titled “The Phoenix” and is out on Lion music one of the premiere hard rock and metal labels out there. Where was I ? Oh yeah, I was about to introduce the other band members, so without further adieu, joining Pier in MasterCastle are: Giorgia Gueglio (Vocals), Steve Vawamas (Bass) and special guest drummer is Alessandro Bissa. Let’s get to it…;The track “Words Are Swords” begins things and immediately I was impressed with the power of the track and the imposing guitar riff that opens things. Giorgia’s vocals are quite good and a good fit for the music. Pier made solid choices in assembling this band, that much is obvious. Did I mention the solo? This is the sort of thing that musicians should eat up. The next track “Princess of Love” is more of a mid-tempo track, that features another cool guitar solo and a great melody. “Space” brings the intensity and speed up a notch and Giorgia really shows off her range on this one, man she can sing and the solo by Pier just burns. “My Screams” is the first of two instrumentals and features just a classic metal opening riff and some more frenetic guitar work. The next track “Lullaby Noir” is an emotional ballad that is also quite pretty. The title song “The Phoenix” kicks things up a gear (or two, or three) and is one of the heavier tunes on offer and a definite highlight. “Greedy Blade” and “Dawn of Promises” keeps things moving along at a nice pace and ,in particular, this song is fantastic. “Memories” is the second instrumental track and it is a bit slower and more melodic than the first. “Cradle of Stone” brings things to a close on a good note.”The Phoenix” is a rock solid release that should have fans (and non fans) of guitar music salivating. Pier and Giorgia make a great combination and the material on ”The Phoenix” makes that abundantly clear. With so few guitar heroes around these days, hopefully Pier and MasterCastle will be able to fill that void. The thing that really impresses me about MasterCastle is that while it’s true there is plenty of stellar guitar work on ”The Phoenix”, there are also some pretty great songs as well and that is the most important thing.
Rating - 80/100
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Label : Massacre Records / E1 Entertainment
Review By Tony Cannella
The Canadian band Kittie first formed in 1996 and have previously released four albums. The band have now unleashed their fifth CD titled “In The Black” and it is over 40-minutes worth of no-holds-barred, pounding rhythms and in-your-face metal from these four Canadians that is like a shot of adrenalin. As soon as the brief intro “Kingdom Come” reaches it’s climax, the band launch into “My Plague” and there is no slowing down, or taking it easy, this is about as hungry as it gets. The song has just a relentless riff coursing through it and the screaming vocals of Morgan Lander. She can do more than just scream, however as she showcases different ranges and styles throughout the course of this 12-song release. From there the band launch into one of my favorite songs on the CD, “Cut Throat”, the song is rather short at almost 3-minutes long, but they make the most out of those three minutes. Another favorite is melodically charged, yet still heavy “Die My Darling”. Other highlights include: “Sorrow I Know”, “Now or Never” and “The Truth”. No doubt about it, with “In the Black” Kittie move in for the kill. Most of the songs are in the 3-4 range, but they hit you hard and fast and the effect is devastating. I have to admit, that I have only heard Kittie here-and-there over the years, but after listening to “In the Black”, you can count me as a fan. May not be for everyone, but if you like metal that is aggressive and confrontational, with some good melody mixed in, check this one out.
Rating: 85/100
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Label: KE Records
Review By Tony Cannella
Now for something completely different. Kimberley Dahme is an American singer/songwriter from Nashville, Tennessee. She plays a mix of rock, country and blues, okay she really is not metal at all, but her new CD (which is her sixth overall) titled “You Make Me Believe” really rocks. In addition to her solo career, Kimberley also serves as the bass player for legendary American AOR band Boston. In fact, two members of Boston appear on this CD as Gary Pihl and Jeff Neal both lend their immense talents and abilities.“Can’t a Girl Change Her Mind” is the bouncy country tinged opener, that sets the mood. “Rock You Like a Baby” follows that up and it is more of a laid back number, but one of the highlights on this 11-track 38-minute release. The next track “Lighthouse” slows things down even more with Kimberley sounding a bit like Johnette Napolitano (ex-Concrete Blonde vocalist). The biggest surprise on the CD is “No Question”, an acapella song that features some beautiful choir-like background vocals that give it a rich texture. Other highlights include: “You Make Me Believe”, “Jet Lag City”, the sax heavy “Something We Do” and the final track “With You”.I was a bit surprised when this CD came my way, since it is decidedly un-metal but “You Make Me Believe” is a good release, that offers something a little different than what the average metal head is accustomed to. Hey, you can’t bang your head all the time and besides no matter what genre of music you are a fan of, there is no denying the talent of Kimberley Dahme and the quality of the music on “You Make Me Believe”.
Rating - 78/100
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Label : Lion Music
Review By Tony Cannella
Formed in Denmark by guitarist Niels Vejlyt, Infinity Overture features the male vocal talents of Elegy front man Ian Parry along with female singer Anne Karine Prip. In addition, the band includes a very talented variety of musicians who can be be heard on the debut Infinity Overture release “Kingdom of Utopia”. The songs on “Kingdom of Utopia” tell a very complex story, which is printed on the bands MySpace site and it makes for some interesting reading. The lyrics were written by Ian Parry and the music was written by Niels Vejlyt, here now are the results of their collaberation. The bombastically brilliant opening track “Millenia” gets things off to a flying start as Ian Parry’s recognizable vocals come in, soon joined by the female vox of Anne Karine Prip. Impressive also is the guitar work of Niels Vejlyt, especially the solo. This song also features some great symphonic orchestration. “The Great Believers” is next and although it starts off slow, it quickly picks up the pace and is another highlight. Ian Parry really proves why he is one of the most underrated and under appreciated singers in metal, he handles the majority of the vocals on this CD, with Anne Karine Prip playing a supportive role, but when she is called upon, she delivers big time. “Warrior King” is a powerful track that features different tempos and layers and is just a great song and one that keeps the overall continuity of the CD moving forward. Other highlights include: “Wonderland”, “Queen of Hearts”, “Sacred Fire” and the closing instrumental “War Cry”. When it came time to mix the CD the band turned to the legendary duo of Sascha Paeth and Miro who have built up quite a resume in producing top-notch metal bands. “Kingdom of Utopia” is a must for fans of progressive, symphonic, conceptual metal. Even if you’re not that much into the conceptual end of things, that’s okay, because there is plenty of good music produced on the CD to keep even the most jaded of metal fans happy. The 10-songs and 49-minutes worth of music on “Kingdom of Utopia” is a definite artistic statement from Ian Parry and company and there is a definite niche out there for a band like Infinity Overture and it is only a matter of time before they find it. Fans of Ian Parry’s other projects should be well pleased with the results. A solid debut!
Rating - 90/100
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