testing-your-metal

[testing-your-metal]

The Band: Beseech Genre: Gothic Metal Status: Active Country of Origin: Sweden Now, this blog is supposed to be more of a discovery chronicle, and I've known this band for a long time. But they've got a great phoenix-from-the-ashes story and I'm having a surge of nostalgia, so you get to hear about them today! Beseech has two distinct periods in their history, with sounds different enough to be interesting but with enough common thread between them to tell that it's the same band. They formed in 1996 and popped out five albums with their original lineup. For one reason or another, they disbanded in 2006, but it seems a few of the original members got restless and, with fresh blood drawn into their ranks, they reformed in 2013 and has released one album so far. Original Beseech is a generally more metal than new Beseech, so if you're here for more hardcore stuff, stick to the older albums. I will freely admit that I like the female singer from the original lineup more; I think her voice is stronger and darker, and they showcase her more than the current material does with the new singer. The original lineup featured three singers: female lead Lotta Hoglin and backup singers Klas Bohlin and Erik Molaren. They often switch up between an even mix of the three of them, so whichever voice you prefer, there's always a song that heavily features that one. One of the male vocalists has a deep, throaty way of singing, which is often layered with Lotta's in a sort of beauty-and-the-beast style where they complement each other very well. Souls Highway and Drama display this style most prominently, and if you're here for heavy stuff, I recommend starting with Drama, especially the song "Bitch". Souls Highway is heavy as well, but in a more subdued and moody way, featuring emotional songs like "Sunset 28" and "A Season in Green" alongside the harder "Illusionate". Souls Highway does feature a great cover of the Abba song "Gimme Gimme Gimme", which is both hilarious and awesome to me. Black Emotions is probably the weakest of their albums in my opinion (it is one of the oldest, after all), though it's still not a bad album by any means. It's interesting to track their evolution through their discography, actually. In Black Emotions, you can hear the echoes of the moodiness that would be showcased later, and Drama explores heavy elements, both of which would meet in Souls Highway. Erik steps more forward in Sunless Days, providing somewhat lighter vocals for an almost more mainstream-sounding album, featuring more reliance on piano melodies than any of the other albums. This provides a fairly smooth introduction to the reborn Beseech. The new lineup retains one of the original singers, Klas Bohlin, as well as guitarists Robert Vintervind and Manne Engstrom. Where Klas was once merely a backup, he takes the forefront in the new album My Darkness, Darkness, supported by the dreamy and whimsical vocals of new female singer Angelina Sahlgren Soder. This album weaves the moodiness of the earlier sounds and substitutes the heavier guitars with a more fluid sound accented with atmospheric pianos. There are certainly still some faster-tempo songs, primarily "Beating Pulse" and "Bloodline Fever", but the majority sound like the featured song here. They do manage to sound distinct from each other, but in a smooth way. I am particularly fond of "Mr. Uninvited" and "Highwayman" in addition to the previously mentioned songs, and somehow "Darksome" sounds kind of uplifting to me. "Bloodline Fever" is my favorite overall, though. Go get your goth on, guys!

[testing-your-metal]

The Band: A Cosmic Trail Genre: Instrumental Progressive Metal Status: Active Country of Origin: Germany Tonight, I am diving more into my newly-compiled list of interesting-looking German bands, featuring this intriguing little project. A Cosmic Trail is a fairly recent project from a prog/power metal band called Lanfear, which has been on the scene since 1993. A Cosmic Trail formed in 2009, and has produced two albums thus far, though there doesn't seem to have been much activity from them since the second album in 2013. And that's a shame, really. I found myself quite intrigued by their work, and would love to hear more in the future. For starters, they are a purely instrumental band, and a rather gentle one at that. I wouldn't see anything wrong with tacking "ambient" onto their genre listing, and I personally find them quite soothing. Even their heavier songs aren't very in-your-face, softened by a charming, warm static I generally associate with lower-budget production values. A theme I see in their work is a progression between heavier guitar work and soft, subtle elements of other instruments in waves, often choosing one to dominate and dipping into the other one at a few points in their usually 7-10 minute songs. The guitar work ranges from simple to fairly technical, though there is no emphasis on speed at all. Accents of other instruments usually take the form of piano, soft synth, and the occasional violin. Of their two albums, I found myself liking 2013's II: Mistral more than their first, 2010's The Outer Planes. Mistral seems a bit more polished and crisp, though both are quite enjoyable. The Outer Planes runs a bit more synth-heavy than Mistral on average and plays with some interesting techniques; I found myself liking "Wide Open Spaces" and its staccato guitar buildups. "The Weald" serenades you with soft, drawn-out notes, and "Sunken Passages" blends undulating synths with spoken word. For those inclined towards heavier work, I recommend steering towards "Mistral I", "Mistral II", "Cromlech", and "Navigator". The Mistral album features a crisp technical intro called "Calm", leading to a few slightly heavier tracks before dipping into the gentle and technically pleasant "In Ertia" featured here. This is one of those soft-dominated songs, and doesn't foray into heavier sounds until about 4.5 minutes in, and darts in and out of it a few more times. The violin in "In Ertia" is wonderful, done in appropriate moderation in contrast to the one song I wasn't super fond of, "A Ghostly Whisper", where the violin strikes me as overused. Perhaps it's the sound quality of the recording, but there are times when the drawn-out violin notes seem to drown out everything else. All in all, though, I thoroughly enjoyed this, and definitely recommend them to anyone interested in something lighthearted and pleasant, perhaps something to play in the background while you unwind from a long day.

[testing-your-metal]

The Band: Saltatio Mortis Genre: Medieval/Folk Metal Status: Active Country of Origin: Germany Hello all! After escaping from a job with an oppressive schedule, I celebrated by attending the incredible 70,000 Tons of Metal. I'm going to kick off my new update schedule with a few 70K themed updates! Check back every Friday evening for more updates, including more bands from countries other than Finland! The first band we'll cover today went from flying completely under my radar to becoming one of my favorite shows from the boat in a matter of 45 minutes. I attended their show on a whim after glancing at their description in the 70K catalog and seeing that it sounded interesting, and it became one of the best decisions I made. They had my attention at two bagpipes and a hurdy-gurdy and kept it with their incredible showmanship. They are an absolute treat to see live, as they have the charisma and stage presence of bands like Kamelot. They've certainly been around the block a few times, releasing their first album in 2001, so they've had lots of time to develop a unique style. I strongly encourage all of you to see at least one live video if you like their sound. Overall, this band is just FUN. A friend who popped in for part of the show described their sound as "medieval party rock", which I think is appropriate. They sing entirely in German, but the vocals are energetic and distinct, clean with a slightly rough edge in parts. One of their main unique features is their inclusion of a wide variety of non-traditional instruments such as the hurdy-gurdy and assorted pipes; their wikipedia page lists at least four instruments for most members. Mostly they seem to lean on bagpipes and hurdy-gurdy, both of which usually make appearances on nearly every song I've heard. I would consider them perching sort of on the edge of metal, though. Their sounds are not usually particularly heavy, and displays of technical skills don't seem to be a main focus, but they've definiely found success with the image they've built. Unfortunately I'm not going to delve into each album individually, since they have an impressive discography of ten full albums and five live albums. They have kept themselves to an incredibly aggressive release schedule, churning out full albums every two years (even once a year for some of their earlier material) (that means we're due for one this year, perhaps). For a crash-course, they do have a compilation album out titled Licht Und Schatten, which provides a good introduction to their most popular songs. Don't expect things to be drastically different album to album, though; they seem to follow a philosophy of "don't fix it if it ain't broke", and honestly, I agree. Their signature sound is unique and very enjoyable, but it's a little difficult to analyze each song individually without sounding repetitive. That said, my favorite songs off that compilation are "Prometheus", "Falsche Freunde", "Weiss Wie Schnee" (which has particularly pleasing instrumental work), the softer "Schloss Duwisib", "Freiheit", and the song I linked to above. "Freiheit" has beautifully layered pipe work and delves about as close to guttural vocals as you're going to get for a brief moment. "Prometheus" is one of the more sinister sounding of them, and "Falsche Freunde" is just fun. They have a rich music video collection on their Youtube as well, which I suggest delving into. They tend to range between sexy (a la this video) and campy (a la "Wachstum uber alles"), all of which showcase the persona they've built for themselves very well. I like this one in particular for the theme, though. The band's name means "the dance of death" in Latin, and I always enjoy when bands stick to a particular motif. Honestly, if you like one song, you're probably going to like them all. I haven't found a single song I truly dislike (and am honestly surprised I never came across them prior to the cruise, since I am no stranger to the German metal scene. Hm.) (As an added bonus, the singer, Alea der Bescheidene, was probably one of the sweetest people on the entire boat. I encountered him jamming with pure enthusiasm and joy to both Amorphis shows and he threw himself into both sincere conversation and sincere hugs whenever I approached him. He seemed genuinely flattered when I told him how much his show had impressed me, and I will give his merch store my immediate patronage since he didn't bring any damn merch on the boat. He's my Boat Husband. Don't touch him. I'll fight you.)

[testing-your-metal]

The Band: Asa-Noir Genre: Symphonic/Melodic Death Metal with Folk/Industrial Elements Status: Active On US iTunes? Ya Oh fuck off Encyclopedia Metallum, the genre listing for this band is only like 20% relevant. There are no folk or industrial elements. In fact, honestly, I'd classify this as somewhere in the realm of Gothic + Death + Symphonic metal. There's even a little bit of a doom metal element in a few songs, like this one. Boy, this band does not fuck around. What's buildup, because these guys don't need it. Apparently. There isn't anything resembling an intro in this song, it just punches you straight in the face with hardcore guitars and drums all at once. That kind of percussive, abrupt beginning seems to be fairly par for the course from what I can tell. I really like the background melody in this, and the nuanced keyboard appearances. It... sure is an interesting topic for a song, though. I guess. The lyrics are very graphically sexual. So just be prepared for that, I guess. I sure never have heard the phrase "menstrual skies" before. My second choice for best song by them has to be "Hawthorns for the Jotunn's Harlot", though. Not only is that a very memorable title, but it's a memorable song, with probably better vocal and lyrical skills than "Fall of the Idols", as well as very lovely backing pianos. "Rise of the Lokean" also impressed me somewhat, though I'll admit I feel sort of a positive kind of neutral about the whole album. I like it, I just don't feel a lot of the songs jumping out at me too much. Their oldest material is a bit more rough around the edges, though. The guitars sound more jagged, like they're not mixed that well into the final product, and the vocals are... worse, somehow? I'm not quite sure how to describe it, but "Sing, My Ravens" illustrates it fairly well. That song does have an intro, but it's oddly haunting in a vintage sort of way. It gives off a vibe of a weathered old slide-projector cycling through images of its own volition. This is where I get a stronger doom metal vibe. "Sing, My Ravens" is probably an old demo song, because it doesn't appear on either of their two albums. Speaking of the other album, Reforming Heathen Origins is a very interesting EP from 2011, and definitely embraces both "symphonic" and "death" a lot more strongly than Fall of the Idols. Songs like "Aeons of Lament" are fast-tempo, with driving guitars and intense violin backings. "Reforming Heathen Origins", though, actually showcases brief intervals of melodic singing that I had not experienced in other songs and previews of songs, and I actually found myself extremely impressed with the song as a whole. That one is a hidden gem that I could not find on YouTube, so take my word for it, or go listen to the iTunes preview. You will not regret it. I'm finding myself liking this EP almost more than the full Fall of the Idols album. Actually, I went into this review being pretty turned off by the vocals, but after combing through their material, they're actually growing on me. Good job, Asa-Noir, it's not that easy to win me over like that.

[testing-your-metal]

The Band: Arion Genre: Symphonic Power Metal Status: Active On US iTunes? Somewhat hard to find, but yes What in the fresh hell, people. I am actually painfully baffled by how deeply this band is buried in obscurity. Such a scenario is an insult, nay, a tragedy for Finnish metal. What I'm saying is, this band is amazing. Please help me propel them out of the shadows because they deserve to be heard, and they deserve to be appreciated. iTunes agrees with me, because every song on their one and only album is $1.29 despite them only having six reviews and barely any YouTube presence. I have high hopes for future releases, because despite being brand new on the metal scene, they already sound like a full-fledged band that's been touring for years. Their sound is driving and intense, yet refined and crisp, with high production value and a very developed style. Vocals are clean and silky, but with high energy and a likable tone. Every instrumentalist is incredibly skilled, and each part ties together extremely well. Sharp guitar work is punctuated by bold brass, though the orchestra still does take a respectful backseat to allow for some very pleasing solos. Choral elements make expected appearances, and many songs feature beautiful piano work that weaves seamlessly in with the other elements. I can't even really call out specific songs, because all I'd be saying is "holy shit this sounds so great go listen to it". And yes, there's a ballad, titled "You're My Melody". I almost cried. It's very emotional and artfully crafted. The one other official review I could find of them compared their work to the likes of Therion, Amaranthe, and Stratovarius. As it turns out, the last of those comparisons made perfect sense once I did a bit of digging into their background. THEY'RE MY AGE, YOU GUYS. In fact, they might be slightly younger than me. The founding members are music students who started the band in 2012, when they were 17-18 years old. Apparently, when crafting their first works, they attracted the attention of Matias Kupiainen, the current guitarist for Stratovarius, who mentored them through the production of this album. I don't know about you, but I'm going to inherently trust musicians mentored by any member of a band as big and well-known as Stratovarius. Keep a close eye on them in the coming months. They released a new song ten days ago, titled "At the Break of Dawn". The vocals are a little more dominating, but it is still a solid, pure power metal song. Hopefully we'll be seeing these guys become rising stars in the Finnish metal scene, I'd hate to see talent like this go to waste.

[testing-your-metal]

The Band: Antipope Genre: Progressive/Gothic/Industrial Metal Status: Active On US iTunes? Hell ye It's not quite as industrial as I'd like, but I'll take anything even remotely industrial. Anyway, Antipope is a particular kind of... sexy, that I don't see a lot in bands outside of Germany. It's exemplified particularly well in songs like this one, "Burn", and "White Summer Night"; it's a kind of deep vocal quality that I find myself enjoying very much. I'd also probably classify this under a different set of genres tbh, it's not quite progressive, but I'm not sure what to call it besides gothic and/or industrial. Some albums have a good bit of doom or atmospheric influences, while others lean much more towards heavy metal. In fact, there's an almost circular progression in sound from their earlier work to their latest. Their first album, Desert, is dominated by heavy metal guitar work with much less emphasis on vocal sensuality. It's much more of a true metal band at its inception, with songs like "The Radiant Abyss" and "A Violent Ritual of Self Entitlement" heavily featuring what I call "machine gun drums", heavier vocals, and more attention paid to instrumental work than vocals. Most songs on that album don't stray far from that model and they don't have the sexy quality that some of their other albums have. What it does have, though, is impressive solos and guitar work the likes of which aren't seen again in their work for a few years. House of Harlot, the next album and the one this song is from, still retains a good amount of their metal roots in songs like "A Carnal Ritual of Self-Asphyxiation" and "Waratah", but the instrumentals start to take a backseat to deeper, more sensual vocals in songs like "The World Coming Down" and this one. Technically impressive solos aren't seen quite as often, though "Waratah" and "The Man We Would Like to Hang" in particular feature some great guitar work. 2013's album, 3 Eyes of Time, fully embraces the sensuality they experimented with in House of Harlot. Guitars begin to blend with the vocals, and the vocals become layered. Metal-ish songs become the minority. Some songs, like "Guiding Light" and "Last Chance", become almost anthemic, with vocals layered in a way that sounds like many voices singing in unison. I think this has to be my favorite of the albums, honestly. What it lacks in technical displays of skill, it makes up for in connectedness and sensuality. It sounds more finished than the others, especially Desert. What's interesting, though, is that they seem to have come full circle back to their metal roots, but more refined this time. Their latest EP, Army of Christ, features two songs with very crisp-sounding guitars and some quite impressive solos. "Mr. Crowley" in particular is great, and it probably would have been the song I'd posted here if it had been on Youtube. Their Youtube presence is really light, unfortunately, and they don't seem to have enough of a following for other people to have posted their songs. Good band though, looking forward to hearing more of them.

[testing-your-metal]

The Band: Amendfoil Genre: Alternative/Progressive Metal Status: Active On US iTunes? Yes (Shit. Fuck. Their drummer is really hot) First off, apologies for the hiatus. I know I planned to update every Sunday and Tuesday now that I have a job and a regular schedule, but I kept needing to do errands and adult shit on all my off days. Now that that's calmed down, updates shall resume at least fairly regularly. So, we start catching up with Amendfoil, a fairly new band whose debut (and so far only) album, Skyline Escape, came out in late 2013. They'd been fairly active in the two years leading up to the album's release, though, as their Youtube channel reveals three songs, complete with pretty well-produced music videos, that aren't on Skyline Escape. "Eon", "Earth", and "Lotus" don't seem to be previews for an upcoming new album, though, as they were completed before Skyline Escape's release and even before the video of this song. Nevertheless, all three are good songs, and while they may not showcase much in the way of technically complex or attention-grabbing solos, they're good representatives of the band's driving, hard-hitting style. There isn't much variation between many of the songs' styles on the album, though they do successfully follow my philosophy of "every rock or metal band worth their salt needs to write at least one slow ballad" with a song called "Welcome To Stay". As for most of Skyline Escape, I really love the vocal style used. The album can sort of be divided in stylistic halves; the first half, from "Blackleg" to "Heartless", lean a little more on the lighter side of the metal spectrum with a more melodic, clean feel, while "Knives" to "Skyline Escape" often sound more aggressive and forceful overall, with the exception of "Welcome To Stay". "Stella Nova" switches from melodic singing and lighter instrumentals to punches of more standard metal roars and hard riffs quickly and often, though the result is pretty pleasing. "Origin" remains my favorite for its consistent style, though "Blackleg" and "Amoebas" caught my attention. Overall, a solid band with many enjoyable qualities, just not quite enough to give them an exceptional rating. (Something about their singer looking a little like Chumlee from Pawn Stars face-wise is throwing me off a bit. I'm so sorry. I had to point it out.)

[testing-your-metal]

The Band: Anthriel Genre: Progressive Metal Status: Active On US iTunes? Yep I'm breaking the alphabetical order I was adhering to for a hot minute because drop everything you're doing and go listen to this band's entire album RIGHT NOW. Anthriel has only released one album, but there isn't a single song on it that's anything less than flawless. Even the fucking interlude songs are amazing. Anywho, most of the songs on this album are 4-7 minute rides that are pretty stellar examples of prog metal at its finest. Every member is talented with skills out the wazoo, and the songs frequently showcase that each player knows exactly what they're doing with their instrument. There's lots of very impressive solos interspersed between driving, soaring melodies and powerful vocals (surprise, apparently Jarkko Ahola lent his voice to them for at least some amount of time). The three interludes ("Repression", "The Deliverance", and "Scent of Dawn") are a minute or two of refreshing instrumental melodies, often with attention-grabbing buildups to the next song. Of the three, "Repression" is probably my favorite, with an interesting blend of piano and more classical instruments; at times, it sounds a bit like a town theme in a high-fantasy video game. "The Deliverance" oscillates between angelic choruses with piano and more hardcore electric guitars with deeper vocals, and "Scent of Dawn" is very brassy and symphonic with an air of regality. But on to the REAL songs. Once again, I struggled to pick a favorite, and almost ended up on one called "Haven of Grace". This one heavily features memorable piano lines and unique guitar work, and vaguely reminds me of something off an Ayreon album. It's by no means the only impressive song on the album, though. "Devil's Lullaby" and "Mirror Games" are about what you'd expect from a prog metal album, but they do set the bar high, and the rest of the album clears that bar effortlessly. I alternated between "Guardian", "Haven of Grace" and "Controversial Euphoria" as the song to showcase for a while before settling. "Controversial Euphoria" features an interesting synthesizer line that sounds almost like a weird flute, which is certainly something I haven't heard much before. "Guardian" still probably remains my favorite song on the album, honestly. It opens with sort of a sinister buildup leading to guitar playing that reminds me more than vaguely of a few Steve Hackett songs. Those of you who know me personally may know that this is one of the highest compliments I can bestow upon a band. It's an overall wonderful song that fades into haunting choral vocals--in proper album order, it fades into "Repression", so it's appropriate. There's also a lovely 14-minute ballad called "Chains of the Past" with a soft acoustic buildup to a soaring riff, and the YouTube video of it features vocals by Jarkko Ahola. I've said my piece, now you go enrich your life with this band. Here's hoping we can count on another album in the future.

[testing-your-metal]

The Band: Clockwork Spirit (formerly Amarantine) Genre: Black/Gothic Metal Status: Split-Up On US iTunes? Yes iTunes is pretty much the only reliable way to access this band's music, guys. Sorry =/ There's only one 7-song album out under the new name, and one demo under their original name, so I don't have too much to say. YouTube only has one full Clockwork Spirit song, and it's the 1o-minute "Shades of Decay", which I didn't find myself liking that much. I'm a bit upset that "Wall of Sleep" isn't just chilling on YouTube, honestly. Most Clockwork Spirit songs feature vocals appropriate for black and/or doom metal, which you'll remember isn't quite my thing, but the instrumental work is varied, nuanced, intense, and skillful enough to make up for that in my book. However, in "Wall of Sleep", the singer dips into more melodic vocals which are haunting. They're gorgeous and I want more of them. Beyond "Wall of Sleep", I recommend "On Unravelling the Essence" for A+ guitar work, "In Faerytales Mingled" for just overall intense, quality stuff, and "Dawn of Deliverance" for slower-tempo stuff. All three of those feature the melodic singing, and honestly, that was enough to convince me to buy those three songs plus "Wall of Sleep". The instrumental work is impressive enough to me that all the catalyst I needed was nicer singing. Unfortunately since I don't really like the full song that's on YouTube, I figured the next best thing I could do was the album sampler they have, which includes bonus lyric tidbits. It showcases the full range of stuff they're capable of pretty well, including both vocal styles. There's also an Amarantine song called "Awakening" on the official Clockwork Spirit YouTube page.

[testing-your-metal]

The Band: Altaria Genre: Melodic Power Metal/Hard Rock Status: Nobody knows On US iTunes? Only the first album First off, apologies for the hiatus! School got in the way, but now that I've slain my last finals and earned my expensive piece of paper, the metal can resume. So, exploring this band was harder than I thought it would be, considering that only their first album (Invitation) from 2003 was on iTunes. Sharing their name with a Pokemon made combing through YouTube a bit difficult too, so let's start with the easy album. Invitation has a sticker on it saying "Featuring members of Nightwish and Sonata Arctica". Smart move, but that gives me some very lofty expectations. You've got big shoes to fill, Altaria. The album itself is quite good, but like I said, I set a high bar for them and Invitation didn't quite meet it. It's a familiar sound, about what you'd expect from a Finnish melodic power metal band. Solid vocals, solid instrumental work, and a very high-fantasy vibe that's always a plus with this kind of music. I didn't find any songs that really stood out to me, though. The songs are good, but none of them are quite exceptional. I think it's pretty unfair to judge a band just by its first album, though, so I managed to find a YouTube playlist for their most recent album, Unholy (from 2009). Boy, that's a bit of a different sound there alright. A little digging revealed that there's been a shit-ton of turmoil regarding the members of this poor band. Apparently, both Jani Liimatainen (Sonata Arctica) and Emppu Vuorinen (Nightwish) left Altaria relatively early in its history due to commitments to their main bands (understandable), and most of the original founding members are no longer involved. As of Unholy, only one original member remains, hence the very different sound. And I'm very much a fan of this. Unholy is GREAT. It's still the same genre and the spirit of the original Altaria sound is there, but I like the new vocalist more, and the guitar work has gotten bolder and more impressive. The more I listened, the more I got into it. "The Lake" was the first song that really grabbed my attention, and let me just say WOW. It's more of a slower ballad-type song (something I love dearly), but it's got a buildup to some lovely guitar work. I almost picked that one to showcase here, but I figured I'd go with something a bit more representative of their sound as a whole. The whole album is worth a listen for sure, and I honestly struggled picking a song to showcase. "Steal Your Thunder" is good, but so is "Wind Beneath My Wings", and I'd also highly recommend "Danger Zone". In fact, "Danger Zone" was almost my pick for this. Go listen to the whole thing, seriously, I haven't deliberated this much on a favorite song from a band in a long time. As impressed as I was with Unholy, I made an effort to hunt down their other two albums, Divinity and The Fallen Empire. Fuckin' hell, here I go being equally impressed. The Fallen Empire does not fuck around. Also the recordings I found on YouTube had better sound quality than Unholy, so there's that. "Crucifix" is one of the songs I saw mentioned a lot by commenters, and for good reason. It's got a great melody and catchy riffs and solos, and it quickly rocketed up near the top of my list. Divinity is also a solid album, but I wasn't as impressed with it as Unholy or the Fallen Empire, plus Divinity features a THIRD different vocalist, who is unfortunately more similar to the first, so I'm not as big a fan. In summation, this is a very good find, but stick to their later material unless you're a fan of high-pitched vocals. I'm kinda sad about their "unknown" activity status, though, I'd love to hear more. A girl can dream, I guess.

[testing-your-metal]

The Band: Ahola Genre: Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Status: Active On US iTunes? Yeeeeee Man, clearly it was only a matter of time before I ran across this band. More specifically, its lead singer. Jarkko Ahola is not a small deal by any means. Not only does he have this band and a solo project under his own name, but he's one of the two Northern Kings members I never remember the name of, and is involved with a project I have a future review planned for (Raskasta Joulua). He's also the singer of a well-known band called Terasbetoni, which I have been meaning to check out ever since I came across Northern Kings. And he's a big deal for a reason. This stuff is classic, high-pitched, well-crafted metal at its heart. Jarkko Ahola knows how to play with the big boys... hence his involvement with ultra-big-deal Marco Hietala of Nightwish and Tarot, as well as a singer I hold very near and dear to my heart, Juha-Pekka Leppaluoto of Charon. Ahola's music in general is just about anything you could ask for in classic Finnish metal--powerful vocals, energetic tempos, and great instrument work. The two albums they have sound relatively similar overall, but why fix what ain't broke? It all sounds great. On both albums, there are a few refreshing changes of pace, though. Each album has a "Beerland" song, which are both injections of pleasant acoustic work among the high-energy pace of most of the albums. Plus, they harp on my ~secret weakness~ for Spanish-sounding acoustic guitar. Mmmyasss. "The Will You Always Had" and "Hurt You" are a bit slower-tempo than the others on their respective albums, but they still have some gloooooorious solos going on. The first album, Stoneface, is definitely a long and intense ride, though; even after thirteen 3-5 minute songs and 30 seconds of "Beerland", they end with an 18.5 minute ballad called "Cold n' Lonely". Nonetheless, it's all great, so I certainly don't mind the length at all. As a side note, Jarkko himself appears to be quite the versatile fellow. I found a beautiful Adagio sung in Finnish which is intensely passionate and emotional, though it's very vocal-heavy with little in the way of instruments (what instruments there are appear to be soft and orchestral). And apparently he's done plenty of covers of classical things like "Ave Maria" in Finnish, which damn, his voice is pretty well-suited for slow, passionate, symphonic/orchestral songs. Terasbetoni is also great, though it's more along the lines of the Ahola band than anything else. And if you haven't heard Northern Kings, just imagine a few of the biggest names in Finnish metal covering classic 80s rock songs. Yeah. It's nigh flawless. Lend this man your ear, you will not regret it.

[testing-your-metal]

The Band: Ablaze in Hatred Genre: Melodic Doom/Death Metal Status: Active On US iTunes? Yar Dammit Encyclopedia Metallum, when you categorize something as "melodic", I expect at least a little bit of melodic singing. Don't get me wrong, I honestly don't dislike this. In fact, I quite enjoy the instrumentals, despite my not being a huge fan of doom metal. Especially in this song here, which has a lot of nuance and subtle additions of other instruments. That's definitely something I give points to with bands I like (those of you who know me irl may be familiar with my constant endless love of Katatonia's Dead End Kings album and its stripped-down version, Dethroned & Uncrowned). But, as you might expect with doom metal as a whole, there really aren't any songs under five minutes, and most are over eight minutes, so you're strapping in for a while with any of their songs. Another common element of doom metal seems to be more instrumentals than vocals, which kind of actually saved this band in my book. I don't generally enjoy instrumentals being drowned out by roaring vocals constantly, but of course, it's metal. I don't hate roaring or growling vocals in principle. Ablaze in Hatred has a good balance here, and I especially enjoy the lapses into softer music and accenting female vocals in this song. Actually I'm not sure I have much more to say about this. There aren't any particular songs that stand out to me except maybe this one, but I might find myself turning back to this band if I need some study/art concentration music that won't put me to sleep or distract me too much. I'm sure there are probably a few more gems in their discography, I just didn't really have the patience at the time of investigating. One day there may be a revisit. Daily reminder to let myself listen to at least one whole song start to finish before I judge, though. I started writing my review like a minute or two into listening to this song, convinced I was going to hate it, and then had to go back and revise things because I changed my opinion halfway through. Welp.

[testing-your-metal]

The Band: 4order Genre: Gothic Metal Status: Active On US iTunes? Yee I hope everybody had a wonderfully spoopy weekend! It's a gloomy, cold, rainy Monday in my neck of the woods and Boyfriend is out for most of the evening, so what better thing to do than go on a metal binge? So, 4order first. If you like Tarja-era Nightwish, this band is probably for you! I myself am a post-Tarja loyalist, so this isn't quite my cup of tea. I wouldn't be surprised if they took a lot of inspiration from Nightwish, as they share a similar male & female lead singers sort of build, except with opposite emphasis from Nightwish. Whereas the lady singer is usually the forefront of everything in Nightwish, most of 4order's singing comes from their male lead. Who has impeccable fashion sense, if I say so myself. I dig the ruffles. I was not expecting the corpse paint, though. I dig that too. I can be down with Renaissance juggalo Marco Hietala. His voice is quite fine and all that. Personally, though, I get tired of operatic female vocals real fast. Though the female lead is definitely the secondary of the two singers, I don't really like her singing style much. The instrumentals also aren't interesting enough to make up for it, in my opinion. There are a few nice solos here and there, but the background mostly bores me. If it was more symphonic or the female singer toned down the opera vocals, I'd probably be all over this. But then again, I have Nightwish for that. So if you like old Nightwish and think I'm a pleb for loving Annette and Floor, check this band out for sure! And even if you don't, it's worth at least checking out one or two songs. They're not bad, just not quite up my alley.

[testing-your-metal]

The Band: 2 Wolves Genre: Gothic Doom/Melodic Death Metal Status: Active On US iTunes? Hell yeah hell yeah hell yeah hell yeah this is my shit And lucky for all of us, unlike the last band I reviewed, these guys are all the fuck over Youtube, so enjoy! Their latest album, Shelter, is hella awesome and I highly recommend pretty much every song on it. It's got a crisp, clean sound, with some really nice melodies. I absolutely love diverse instrumentation, and these guys have a nice blend of more traditional metal riffs with acoustic guitar and tasteful keyboard. I decided to showcase this song more for the video (which is pretty fuckin sweet), but my favorite song off of the album is actually "Freedom of Two". I wasn't aware that I enjoyed melodic singing layered over deep metal growls as much as I apparently do. Also dat guitar work. Unf. Yes. Give me more of this. ("Wake of Beauty" is also on my awesome list). So in search of More Of This, I dove into their older stuff--not that old, by the way, their oldest album is from 2011. I am still pretty damn impressed, thankfully. The middle album, Men of Honour, seems a little more deathy than Shelter, but I don't mind that one bit. "Warm Touch of Forthcoming Tragedy" tickled my love of long ballads, and there's enough of a balance between the deathy growls and melodic singing that I am more than satisfied. "Stars" also has a music video, though it's mostly just black and white footage of the band members struggling with snow and doing manly winter things like drinking strong booze and chopping wood. I dig it. And as I actually didn't expect, their first album is a bit of a surprise. It's certainly the one I like least of the three, but it has some gems on there. "Metropolis Metro" is pretty alright, and "Melodies for the Rainy Periods" is unexpectedly straight-up haunting. Echo-y pianos, yo. 2 Wolves just got a pretty hyped new fan. *whispers* hell yeah

[testing-your-metal]

The Band: 0 x i s t (pronounced "zero exist") Genre: Dark/Doom Metal Status: Active On US iTunes? One Eon is, Nil isn't Clearly I'm not as into doom metal as I thought I was. I want to love this band. I really do. Look how cool their name is. But I haven't found a song that I like wholeheartedly and completely, just parts that I enjoy and parts that I just really am not into. I'm finding that doom metal is a bit too monotone for my tastes, and I tend to lean towards cleaner and more melodic vocals. Hm. The song I posted here is about as close as I've found to a song of theirs that I like completely. The opening guitar is a lot more energetic and along the lines of what I like than most of the other songs I heard from them, and the vocals are definitely alright. I don't hate the harsh whisper of the first verse. All in all, I think I'm leaning more towards the older album, Nil, than the newer one, One Eon, and of course One Eon is the only one on iTunes. I only found two songs off of Nil on Youtube, and this one seems to be the better of the two. One Eon isn't a total lost cause, though. Based on the iTunes previews (their Youtube presence is pretty sparse), I'd single out "Enshrine" and "Instincts of a Serpent" as my favorites. When the singer switches on his melodic voice, he sounds pretty ok, and the instrumentals are less monotone on "Instincts of a Serpent" than they are on most of the other songs. "Enshrine" is on Youtube if you want to check it out, but the other ones aren't. So I guess if you like doom metal more than I do, I'd recommend it. It's certainly not bad. Just not quite 100% up my alley.

[testing-your-metal]

The Band: Hevisaurus Genre: Heavy/Power Metal, Hard Rock Status: Active Alternate Names: SauruXet On US iTunes? Yup

I figured I'd go ahead and start this shit with a band I've been meaning to check out ever since I knew it existed. That was absolutely the correct decision and I regret nothing.

Let me lay this out for you guys.

Apparently Finland has several metal bands aimed at children. Hevisaurus is to my knowledge the most well-known one, and let me tell you something.

This shit is incredible.

Apparently it's standard for them to perform shows in dinosaur costumes, with their backstory being that the characters hatched from five metal eggs that survived the mass extinction. And a cursory glance at Wikipedia has informed me that they're a way bigger deal than I thought?? They've won a Finnish Grammy for their work. They held the #2 most-sold album slot in Finland in 2010. They even have their goddamn portrait up in the Hard Rock Cafe, which Wikipedia informs me is an honor that only my beloved Amorphis has previously held (out of all the bands from Finland). They have a goddamn movie coming out at the end of the year and a theme park attraction in Finland, holy fuck.

And their music is actually pretty good! Naturally they don't have too much in the way of long, complicated solos or anything, but they still manage to be something I, a 21 year old adult, enjoy thoroughly. A lot of their songs focus on choruses you can sing along to, which makes sense, but shit, some of these riffs are the kind of thing you could find in regular metal bands. I'm gonna limit myself to one video per review, but I highly recommend the song "Jurahevin Kuninkaat". Dat opening riff tho. Unf.

In summation, 10/10 this is the best idea. Bless you, Finland. I am raising my future children on this.