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.
We realize that it’s quite late to publish this interview but the meantime that UK progressive rock band Touchstone is recording the fourth album, it’s the right moment to delve into Tocuhstone and their last album “The City Sleeps”. As singer Kim Seviour states this album is not a concept but “behind the album as a whole some stories have been continued from different albums and we wanted to carry those on. When “Shadows Fall” carries on from “Shadow” from our first full-length album “Discordant Dreams” and “The City Sleeps” follows on from “Wintercoast”. There’s not only space for serious stuff, Kim doesn’t hide the fact that she “would love to work with Peter Gabriel”. Well, we’re at the end of this special feature about this promising band that it has only a (brilliant) future that we’re looking forward to follow closely.
PART 3 - Last review for the UK progressive rock act Touchstone, we finish with the first album “Discordant Dreams”. This release, that was out originally on 2007 and now has been reissued via SPV with bonus material on 2012, marks the debut of the lead female singer Kim Seviour. Tony, who also has reviewed the entire reissue series, he has only high praises for this band and he closes his review with a nice thought : “Now, thanks to these re-issues from SPV, it gives newer fans a chance to hear some of their earlier material and see how they started and progressed. And the die-hard fans are also rewarded with bonus material, so it’s a win-win situation”. As Tony stated, we think that with this reissues are a good start for know better this band, you can catch up with the other reviews in the site but before just read this one @ (via Touchstone – “Discordant Dreams” RE-ISSUE (2012) « Femme Metal Webzine)
PART 2 - In this release we can the current Touchstone singer Kim Seviour. “Wintercoast”, the second album by this excellent UK progressive rock outfit, was originally released in 2009 and again, thanks to SPV/Steamhammer, was re-released in 2012 with the addiction of 2 bonus live tracks. Few lines from the REVIEW : “Out of all of their albums, I think “Wintercoast” may be their most ambitious and therefore challenging albums to listen to, but once it is allowed to grow, “Wintercoast” fits right in there with the rest of the Touchstone catalog”. Just click in the link below to read
(via Touchstone – “Wintercoast” REISSUE (2012) « Femme Metal Webzine)
Label : SPV/Steamhammer Records
Review by Tony Cannella
Fans of symphonic Prog rock and metal have got a band that they can really sink their teeth into. They are Touchstone from the U.K. and they have just released their 4th full-length album titled, “The City Sleeps”. Touchstone is no doubt influenced by many of the great prog bands of seventies, but they add enough modern touches to make them relevant in 2011 and beyond. “The City Sleeps” is chock full of progressive, musically involved epic numbers combined with solid metal guitar riffs. Touchstone is fronted by the duel male/female vocals of Kim Seviour and Rob Cottingham. The pair makes a nice duo and the vocals are split pretty evenly. The opening track “Corridors” is a cool opener that displays the bands polished prog metal sound. The next track is the excellent 10-minutes of pure, epic prog nirvana, “When Shadows Fall”. “These Walls” and “Throw Them to the Sky” are next and they are both shorter songs with enormous mainstream potential (in my opinion). In particular, “Throw Them to the Sky” is my favorite song and one that is a good starting point for anyone interested in checking out Touchstone. In addition to some solid vocals, great songwriting and melodic songs, there is also plenty of dazzling keyboard work courtesy of Rob Cottingham throughout. Other highlights include: “Sleeping Giants” (another excellent, melodic track), “Horizons” and the 11-minute “The City Sleeps”. While Touchstone can be considered a prog band, without a doubt, they are not bound by the limitations of the genre. Sure they have those long epic numbers that are often associated with prog music, but they also know and understand the value of a good 3-5 minute song that really grabs the listener. But at the end of the day, Touchstone is a prog band, and a damn good one at that.
Rating - 87/100
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Label : SPV/Steamhammer Records
Review by Tony Cannella
Fans of symphonic Prog rock and metal have got a band that they can really sink their teeth into. They are Touchstone from the U.K. and they have just released their 4th full-length album titled, “The City Sleeps”. Touchstone is no doubt influenced by many of the great prog bands of seventies, but they add enough modern touches to make them relevant in 2011 and beyond. “The City Sleeps” is chock full of progressive, musically involved epic numbers combined with solid metal guitar riffs. Touchstone is fronted by the duel male/female vocals of Kim Seviour and Rob Cottingham. The pair makes a nice duo and the vocals are split pretty evenly. The opening track “Corridors” is a cool opener that displays the bands polished prog metal sound. The next track is the excellent 10-minutes of pure, epic prog nirvana, “When Shadows Fall”. “These Walls” and “Throw Them to the Sky” are next and they are both shorter songs with enormous mainstream potential (in my opinion). In particular, “Throw Them to the Sky” is my favorite song and one that is a good starting point for anyone interested in checking out Touchstone. In addition to some solid vocals, great songwriting and melodic songs, there is also plenty of dazzling keyboard work courtesy of Rob Cottingham throughout. Other highlights include: “Sleeping Giants” (another excellent, melodic track), “Horizons” and the 11-minute “The City Sleeps”. While Touchstone can be considered a prog band, without a doubt, they are not bound by the limitations of the genre. Sure they have those long epic numbers that are often associated with prog music, but they also know and understand the value of a good 3-5 minute song that really grabs the listener. But at the end of the day, Touchstone is a prog band, and a damn good one at that.
Rating - 87/100
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Independent Release
Review by Tony Cannella
Canada’s Power Metal outfit Perpetuate formed in early 2010. The band is fronted by the fiery and energetic vocals of Kim McInnis (who also plays keyboards) on their self-titled debut 6-song EP. The music of Perpetuate is a Power Metal fans dream through-and-through with Kim’s soprano melodies taking charge, amidst of heavy guitar riffs that keep coming at a fast and furious pace. The opening duo of “Above and Beyond” and the wonderfully heavy, yet nostalgic “Inside Out” gets things started in a huge way. “Inside Out” especially, quickly and undoubtedly became one of my favorite songs. “Chrysalis” offers some great classic sounding guitars to open the track, the addition of keyboards at the start gives it a 70s prog rock feeling to it, before the galloping power house riffs takes charge and we are off to the races. “The Last Stand” is next and probably the heaviest song here, but does have a moment of serenity before the song picks up the heaviness once again. The epic – almost 9-minute – track, “Medusa” is up next and is one of the more complex numbers here. This song features a number of tempo changes, some of Kim’s best – and most diverse – vocal work, some piano and just a big epic sound. That unmistakable riff kicks off the final track, a cover of Iron Maiden’s classic, “The Trooper”. This is a great cover that features a duet between Kim and Jeff Klingbeil of the band Betrayer. Musically, I think you could probably site Iron Maiden as an influence for Perpetuate. Some of the songs certainly do have a Maiden-esque feel to them. The end result of this fine debut from Perpetuate is an album from a band that does the Power Metal genre a great service. It is one of those albums that get better with each subsequent listen and one that demonstrates a great heart and love of power metal.
Rating - 94/100
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Label : Wacken Records
Review by Tony Cannella
It is no secret that legendary all girl band Girlschool were at the forefront of the metal changing New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) in the late 70s / early 80s. The fact that this band still exists while many of their peers fell by the wayside is a testament to their endurance and staying power, not to mention the quality of their tunes. You simply do not last this long unless you have a strong catalog of music. Now Girlschool have decided to give one of their classics “Hit and Run” the re-recorded treatment. Sacrilege you say? Re-recording a classic album isn’t exactly a new trend, but it is one that many die-hard fans wish would go away. So, let’s ‘revisit’ this NWOBHM classic. It is now time for “Hit and Run – Revisited”. The original “Hit and Run” was released in 1981 and was the second album to be released by this seminal band. The raucous “C’mon Let’s Go” gets things started and is as powerful as I remember it. “The Hunter”, “I’m Your Victim” and “Following the Crowd” are classic examples of a band firing on all cylinders. Next we have a cover of the ZZ Top classic “Tush”. Other highlights include: “Hit and Run” (probably my favorite Girlschool track of all time), the Motorhead vibe of “Watch Your Step” and “Future Flash”. Two bonus tracks are available here. The first one is a re-recording of “Demolition Boys” that originally appeared on their debut album “Demolition” in 1980 and the next one is another version of “Hit and Run” featuring none other than Doro Pesch on vocals. I’m still not sure if I like the whole re-recording a classic album thing, but “Hit and Run – Revisited” has reminded me what a great album this is, and what a criminally underrated band that Girlschool was and continues to be. It does my heart good to see these girls still out there and kickin’ ass.
Rating - 90/100
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Label : Metal Mind Productions
Review By Tony Cannella
The Polish label Metal Mind have re-issued two of the more interesting albums from Norwegian metallers Theatre of Tragedy. “Musique” and “Assembly” are the last two CDs that the band recorded with current Leaves’ Eyes singer Liv Kristine and they also saw the band abandoning their gothic metal sound for a more industrial/electro pop direction. The second of those releases is “Assembly” - which was originally released in 2002. This re-issue features the full CD along with 3 unreleased tracks. The CD begins with the up-tempo robotic number “Automatic Lover”. The vocals are mostly handled by Liv on this one and she employs a different style than what we are used to. Raymond Rohonyi joins in for the chorus. The guitars are more pronounced and heavier than on “Musique”. As I said this is the second album of their electro pop phase, so the shock should be worn off. A solid opener, for sure and a good way to get things started. “Universal Race” is next and it is a fast, bouncy, up-tempo track and once again the guitars are more noticeable. Track 3, “Episode” begins with one of the heavier guitar riffs that can be heard on either of these two CDs, before settling into a comfortable groove. “Play” and “Superdrive” are two more strong tracks. “Let You Down” is next and it is perhaps the best song on this CD. If I remember correctly, the band made a video out of it and it is a solid choice. Other key songs are: “Starlit”, “Envision” and “Liquid Man”. A cover of the Supremes song “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” is the first of the three bonus tracks, I’m more familiar with the Kim Wilde version that came out in the 80’s, so this was a bit of a surprise to hear this, but it is still quite good. The final two tracks are re-mixes of “Let You Down” and “Motion”. The version of “Let You Down” in particular is quite good and it is interesting to hear a bit of a different take on the song. The guitars are brought out more on this version and it is 3-minutes longer than the original version. In my opinion, “Assembly” is the better of the two releases. The band seem much more confident in finding their way with the new musical direction and the songs are more guitar driven, diversified and melodic. It has been a while since I listened to these CDs, but with the passage of time I have come to realize that these CDs are not bad at all. One of the more interesting things is the vocals of Liv Kristine as she proves that she can do more than the soprano thing and she pulls it off quite well. Whatever you think about the new direction ToT adopted for these two albums, you have to give them credit for trying something a little bit different and doing a pretty good job at it as well. “Musique” and “Assembly” remain two of the more fascinating albums in the catalog of Theatre of Tragedy.
Rating - 75/100
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