I recieved a package from Play.com, I was excited since I knew it was the new Within Temptation album I had pre-ordered back in January. So eargerly ripping the package open and sticking the CD into my laptop I was good and ready to listen; not having heard new material from Within Tempation for a long time I was so excited since so far Within Temptation have produced such remarkable albums. The first two songs open the album perfectly giving the haunting vibe that these guys are well known for, I think this is enhanced by Sharon den Adel's enchanting voice that has more charm than a dream date; her beautiful voice stands out on every song whether it'd be the fast upbeat Iron to the soft sound of Fire and Ice. Where Is The Edge just sent shivers down my spine; I had heard the track before so I am pleased that the song was on the album. Within Temptation are also very well know for being so versatile with their sound and in this album I heard a completely new sound via the track Faster; it sounds a lot more upbeat than their previous material but it still manages to keep up the haunting vibe, which is what I love about the track. Overall an outstanding album; proof to me that these Dutch symphonic metallers are still going strong and I hope to see them on tour later on this year.
Stand Out Tracks: Shot In The Dark, Where Is The Edge and Lost
I must admit I was putting off listening to this album; after hearing My Winter Storm and not liking it that much I had my doubts about this album. After hearing the first song Anteroom of Death on the album I had to hear the rest of it; I love how it started with a harpsichord and her voice alone then went to disstorted guitars and her voice over the top. I had heard the songs I Feel Immortal and Falling Awake before which I really like a lot so I was pleased to hear those songs on the album. What I also love about this album is the variety of songs; you have the fast, heavy tracks such as Until My Last Breath and Dark Star, you also have the soft tracks such as Underneath and The Archive Of Lost Dreams. It is incredible how Tarja's beautiful voice suits every single song and the string instrumentals introducing some of the songs, the one from In For A Kill reminded me of Jaws for some reason. This album is a lot better than My Winter Storm, definately shows another level to Tarja's solo career since being fired from Nightwish nearly six years ago and Nightwish are doing incredibly well; their Imaginarium project is coming together nicely.
Stand out tracks: Until My Last Breath, Underneath and Dark Star
This post is all about an evening of power metal that I witnessed last night at Sub89, Reading. The band I was intending to see last night were Finnish metalheads Sonata Arctica, when I saw they were touring the UK this month I just had to be there and the closest to me was the town Reading. The venue was brand new to me; it was very intimate, a lot different to what I was expecting. It was this one room with a bar on one side and a stage on the other; the general atmosphere was pleasant with it's friendly staff and excellent facilities. I bought my Sonata Arctica vest top and I was ready to enjoy some music.
The first band to play were Norwegian heavy metallers Triosphere; I heard some of their stuff before and quite liked it so I was particularly looking forward to seeing them play. Their entrance was definately a crowd pleaser where the band entered with such confidence and passion; once the music started I was absolutely amazed. Ida Haukland has such a powerful voice which sounded so amazing live and her skills on the bass guitar were spectacular. All these different musicians fit together perfectly, the melodies were awesome and there were some neck-braking guitar solos. Oh I also must mention their synchronised headbanging whilst on stage play their music gets a big thumbs up from me. Meeting them was pretty awesome too, Ida was very sweet, she reminded me of Anette from Nightwish. Hope they come back to the UK very soon.
Italian power metallers Labyrinth were next to play, their intro was heard on the speakers and I knew right away it was them. I had heard them before and to be honest wasn't too keen on their sound; the lead vocalist reminded me of a character from Lord Of The Rings and I loved how he got the crowd clapping. He took photos whilst on stage too, every single one was brilliant on their instruments. I really liked the keyboard sounds too. However as much as I tried to enjoy them, there was something missing in their performance that didn't seem to work for me. That was a bit dissappointing since they were such lovely guys and they tried their very best.
Last but not least headliners Sonata Arctica; I have liked them for about three years now so was really excited to see them last night, I had been listening Sonata Arctica for about two weeks non-stop to make sure I knew their material by heart. Excitedly waiting as the roadies performed soundchecks and took down a curtain to reveal another aspect of the stage, suddenly the lights went down and there were cheers all over the venue. A folk song was heard out of the speakers, to me that marked few seconds til these power metal heads embraced the stage; there was then a countdown from five and then ice blue lights spelling 'SA TOUR 2011'. I was shaking with so much excitement once I heard the smooth transition from this folk song to the instrumental of Everything Fades To Gray, it was that point I realised how much I love this band. This was possibly one of the best introductions to a band's set I had ever seen. The cheers got louder as the band members made their way onto the stage, opening with the almighty Flag In The Ground and performing it to such perfection. This got the crowd absoulutely pumping, from that I knew Sonata were well underway. The band performed a fantastic setlist mixing the old with the new from Replica to Last Amazing Grays, I also loved how the smoother tracks such as As If The World Wasn't Ending and Full Moon were performed setting a calmer tone to this energy filled evening. Tony's energy and sense of humour also highlighted the evening for me; his story of how the song Juliet was inspired through Shakespeare, singing a part of Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse Of The Heart and he knows who Tim Minchin is, he sung apart of his song. Their encore was also spectacular; particularly the song Don't Say A Word where jumping up and down to the bouncy chourus like crazy just made me so so happy. Overall a mindblowing performance, so amazing that I was sad it had to be over. I hope they will make another visit to the UK, well with the news of them working on a brand new album I'm pretty sure they will.
My goodness this is just proven to be a great day for some of my favourite bands; whether it's a new video by Dommin or Poets Of The Fall's new album. This post comes in the form of Kentucky rockers Black Stone Cherry; the last I heard from them was on their UK tour back in 2009 where I saw them twice, first time when they supported Nickelback on their Dark Horse tour and a second time in Pompey when they did a headline tour. So I have been waiting a long time for some new stuff from them and tonight it was their new song White Trash Millionaire. A few seconds into the song my face immediately lit up; Chris Robertson's vocals are still very sexy and the melody is oh so amazing. I do hope they come back to the UK and if the new album sounds as good as this song I have nothing to worry about.
To listen to the song click here or on the video below
Finnish alternative rockers Poets Of The Fall released new compilation album Alchemy Vol.1 last week; to be honest I was a little disheartened when I found it wasn't going to be a new album however I found I was not to be disappointed with this greatest hits CD. I liked how they picked a number of their different songs from all the different albums from Signs Of Life to Twilight Theatre; there also some brand new material such as Can You Hear Me Now and No End No Beginning. I love the mixture of songs in there, my favourites Carnival of Rust and Lift to ones I have not heard before such as Locking Up The Sun. I'll leave you with their brand new video for Can You Hear Me Now. Enjoy.
I posted back in I think October or November about Los Angeles goth rockers Dommin asking fans to participate in their new video somehow. It is for the song Closure and it's all about saying good bye to something whether it's someone close to you passing on, breaking up with your loved or saying good bye to your worst fears. So the fans were to film or take a photo of themselves showing those aspects in an artistic way; last month the video was posted, I watched it today and I must say I am very impressed with the final outcome, I was blown away after watching it. It is possibly their best music video yet, I love the fans creative contributions. Here it is, enjoy.
The song in the title is too impressive to go unnoticed. I received this song via the band's mailing list a few days ago but it was this morning I decided to put it onto my iPod to listen to on the way to uni. I cannot stop listening to it and as I write this I think it is the fifth or sixth time listening to it today; I love the industrial sounds from the synthesizers and the reverbed vocals in the song. I saw these guys support Die So Fluid quite recently and was amazed by their performance. Their debut album is due for a release this year and if the rest of the album sounds similar to the song I am talking about today I have absolutely nothing to worry about.
Having a link shared by someone other than myself on Tuomaslotte's Music Journal Facebook page I was very excited that it lead to the sweet sound of Worcestershire psychadelic rockers Naked Remedy. At the first listen I was hooked to the upbeat, bouncy rhythm and catchy melody, I also loved the vocals. All these elements fit together nicely like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. Hope to hear more from them and I hope they make an appearance in Southampton soon.
Yesterday I recieved a message from a young musician who lives in my hometown Romsey, this was quite exciting for me because this is possibly for the first time in months there has been talent from my hometown. His music was very original; like nothing I have ever heard before, there's a sort of Carlos Santana vibe from the chilled out guitar melodies and a very upbeat rhythm leaving feeling happy. Hope to see him do a live show somewhere in Romsey or Southampton and wish Vincent the best of luck.
Reading Anette's blog yesterday the exciting news of a tour kick off in LA caught my eye; I can honestly say that I am very tempted to go. However being a student it is hard to find the money for it because I have to save pennies to pay back my student loan etc, also finding someone to come with me to LA. Although it should be an interesting experience since I have never seen a band in another country before, it is something I would like to do one day.
I think I'll save money and wait for some UK tour dates, since I would like to see Nightwish in my home country first before spending hundreds of pounds to travel abroad.
After watching a cracking performance from the guys in February at The Danebury hotel in Andover I was excited to be interviewing them, unfortunately couldn't do it on the night as intended due to the music being so loud you could hear it at all corners of the hotel so I sent drummer Louis Sellers the questions via Facebook.
This morning I recieved a message from Lou explaining he and his band mates recorded the answers for the interview, for a brief moment I was a tiny bit worried for I hadn't recorded myself asking the questions. Luckily their best friend Roxy Garnett was interviewing them in the studio, this came as a pleasent suprise to me and I was amazed with final outcome of the interview.
Would love to say a massive thank you to Roxy and In Darklight for bringing this interview to life, I shall see them again at my favourite music venue in Southampton The Joiners in April. Can't wait for that.
There was a news article in The Sun newspaper this morning saying that The Darkness are reuniting. I think that is pretty damn cool; they were a good fun band, with hits such as I Believe In A Thing Called Love and One Way Ticket To Hell; I am interested to see what other fun songs they can conjure up with.
Hello lovely blog readers, seeing a link shared by good friend Gaz Bolan advertising his new band called Minutes. An alternative rock quartet hailing from Birmingham who do have a remarkable sound; listening to the song Rescue Me I am loving the rocky melody, upbeat rhythm and neck breaking solos. I can see a promising future for these guys and I hope they stop by in Southampton sometime. Be sure to share the video below with your friends by either posting it on Facebook or Twitter, it isn't the music video of the song I was talking about more like a preview of what they are all about. A free download of the song Rescue Me is avaliable on Facebook until 23rd April 2011, click here to do so.
I am loving posting updates from bands I love and respect. London rockers Heaven's Basement have posted a video previewing songs from their brand new album and promoting their UK joint headline tour with Jettblack in May, one of the venues is Southampton's Talking Heads so you can guess I'm going....can't wait. Ever since hiring a new singer their sound is a little bit different to their previous stuff but I think the new sound is pretty cool. Here is the video.
This video was posted on Anette's blog yesterday, it is an interview with Tuomas and Stobe about the film Imaginarium. It was featured on a TV channel in Finland, it has been subtitled so those of you who can't speak Finnish don't worry. Here it is enjoy.
This band blew me away at a recent gig when supported Die So Fluid so of course I bought an album from the merchandise stand; since it was my turn to cook dinner this evening I decided it would be the perfect opportunity to listen the album whilst cooking a delicious Sunday roast. Starting off with opening track Backstabbing For Beginners with interesting beat pattern on the drums at the very beginning, liked that a lot. It also drew me in with it's catchy melody and neckbreaking guitar solos. Born Yesterday's lyrical pattern was pretty cool and fitted the melody of the song very nicely. I immediately recognised Gone Too Far from the gig; where vocalist Greg got us all to sing the call and response chorus which made me so so happy, I was singing along whilst making the batter for the Yorkshire puds to go with our roast dinner.
Overall a fantastic album, their sound is quite similar to Lostprophets duetting with Good Charlotte. As you may have noticed I have gone back to my original style to reviewing things, the other style wasn't working out for me personally.
Stand out tracks: Born Yesterday, Gone Too Far and Surrender
Last night I went The Talking Heads for the first time in I think about two years; I don't often go there because it's quite a hard venue to get too since it is on the other side of Southampton. I wasn't suprised to feel like I underdressed a little bit because Die So Fluid were headlining the gig and frontwoman Grog is very well known for her out-of-this-world appearance on stage so there was a lot of glitter, corsets, feathers etc; but I felt comfortable in the environment I was in.
First to play were industrial goth trio Dreams Divide; I haven't listened to the support bands music before but I was absoulutely amazed by their music. The music was made up by two synthesisers and one vocalist; it had an 80s like sound whilst keeping up with the dark gothic vibe. Lead vocalist David Crout's phenomenal energy passed onto the audience and as most of you know I think energy is the key thing to a great stage performance. A brilliant opening act for the night of industrial metal I was about to enjoy.
Welsh rockers Killing For Company were next to play; coming forward to the stage to get the best possible photos and their upbeat, grungy sound definately put the biggest smile on my face. Every single member had an energetic stage prescence and I loved how some of the members looked towards the cameras so anyone taking a photo could get a great image. I was a little bit worried that they were going to upstage headliners Die So Fluid; meeting them afterwards was wicked too, they signed my CD booklet from the CD I bought from them and posed for photographs. It was great to talk to them too; so down to earth and lovely guys. Hope to see them again soon.
Last but not least headliners Die So Fluid; I had started listening to them just at the end of last year, I love their latest album The World Is Too Big For One Lifetime and after hearing some positive comments about their live performance I was intrigued with what they had to offer performance wise. Those comments were correct, I was absoulutely blown away by their performance. Grog looked absoulutely amazing in a leather, metal studded catsuit with red fluffy shoulder pads and her theatrical stage prescence was definately a highlight of the performance she gave. I also loved how she interacted with her fans whilst on the stage. I wasn't suprised by how packed the floor nearest the stage got when they played but fortunately I managed to get the best photos thanks to the aid of the benches near the stage. I love the variety of songs they chose to perform too; from classics such as Spawn of Dysfunction to new stuff such as Mercury. In fact Die So Fluid were so amazing that I was actually gutted when it finished since it seemed to be over so quickly. Meeting them afterwards I was quite starstruck; being they are very well known amongst the metalheads. I admire Grog for signing stuff from tickets to someone's arm and posing with fans in photographs despite the small amount of space there was to do it in.
Overall a fantastic evening; brilliant sets played by every single one of the bands creating the lively atmosphere that makes a night to remember for the rest of your life. This will possibly make it to my gigs of 2011 as it reinforced my love for industrial metal, which is a new genre for me this year.
How we all doing this lovely Friday?? I thought you would like to see the latest news about the new Nightwish album, click here.
It's such a lovely sunny day outside today, I definately think Spring is in the air. Spring is my favourite season; not too hot, not too cold, it's my birthday this month and I love all the new life that is created in the Spring. I also love the fact you can shed some of those winter layers that keep us warm and EASTER!!!!!
Recieving a YouTube request from Canadian progressive/piano rock/pop/electronic duo Everyone's Talking; so having a nosy through their songs and videos I was highly impressed with the different genres they mixed together in their music. Both of them are also very talented musicians too, impressive piano playing and wonderful vocals from the boys. Unfortunately they haven't released any albums in the UK but I am hoping they will soon, this music will be very well digested amongst us Brits. They also have a fantastic sense of humour, watching a side splitting version of The Lion Sleeps Tonight/Seven Nation Army made me cry with laughter. It's awesome to know a band that aren't afraid to do this. Here's some videos below.
