Metal in all its forms and colours

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As I have commented before, metal has gone far beyond the stereotypical heavy metal of the seventies and eighties. Genres like prog metal and symphonic metal take the basic framework and do exciting and surprising musical things with it. Scardust is a prog metal band from Israel and they often experiment and explore new sounds. Their latest single My Haven is no exception. Rock, metal, and even a touch of gospel in the choral parts and vocalist Noa Gruman's singing.

And get a load of that bass solo at about the 2:00 mark.. Orr Didi is a fantastic bassist and one of the most energetic, engaged bassists I have ever seen when on stage or in a video. Skillwise, I am starting to put him in Geddy Lee/Chris Squire territory. Amazing musician. And note the glasses. Orr is legally blind, something I only learned because of one of their shorts.


And I've probably mentioned it before, but the choir is Noa's own. Besides studying voice, Noa trained as a choir conductor and started Hellscore, who perform on their own, with Scardust, and also with other artists (e.g. the symphonic metal band Therion has used them on recent albums).
 
Mendalla said:
Need to listen to Frank Turner again. I listened to him before on your recommendation and liked him. Might even have followed him on Amazon Music but I switched to Spotify this year and still haven't completely recovered.
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Oh don't say that. Now you're gonna get recommendations.

If you're more heavy-metal-bent, this stuff is more punk-based but still...

1933
Punches
Get Better
and almost every live show ends with Four Simple Words. Don't be fooled by the opening.

A lot of his stuff other popular stuff is more folksy, but even that stuff is pretty raucous in a concert setting.
 
chansen said:
Oh don't say that. Now you're gonna get recommendations.

If you're more heavy-metal-bent, this stuff is more punk-based but still...

1933
Punches
Get Better
and almost every live show ends with Four Simple Words. Don't be fooled by the opening.

A lot of his stuff other popular stuff is more folksy, but even that stuff is pretty raucous in a concert setting.
Click to expand...
I'm not averse to punk. Metalcore is rooted in hardcore which came out of punk. Basically hardcore mated with death metal and had a ... I hesitate to call it a baby.:giggle:
 
A little something to liven up your Monday. This track from Italian band Frozen Crown is power metal in its purest form. Three guitars, drumming that goes at a blistering pace, and enthusiastically belted vocals.

 
Toronto metal singer Lauren Babic appears to have a new band on the go. EP due on January 10. Here's the first single. One of the guitarists is Sophie Burrell who has been kicking around my recommendations before and is pretty good. Don't really know any of the other musicians. Like Lauren's previous band, Red-handed Denial, they lean into a metalcore sound.


Lauren used to hold an Ontario teaching certificate and taught as a "day job" but not sure if she still does or whether she is now all in with her music career.
 
When it comes to metal in all it's forms I have a preference for Medieval Bardcore.

"Naught Else Is Of Import"

 
So the Grammy for Best Metal Performance went to, unsurprisingly, French metallers Gojira for their performance at the Olympics. Let's face it, best or not, it's the metal performance most non-metalheads are going to remember from 2024. Really, I would have loved to see one of the newer faces on the list like Knocked Loose ft. Poppy or Spiritbox win but this category is based more on name recognition than actual quality. That said, Gojira are not exactly a band I would have expected to see winning a Grammy so that's a win to some degree. Maybe a few few rock fans who haven't looked into European metal before will get hooked. Still, it's a bit strange seeing a performance from an Olympic opening ceremony beating the new Judas Priest or the excellent younger artists I already mentioned.

Anyhow, here's the now infamous performance of Suffocate by Knocked Loose ft. Poppy from Jimmy Kimmel after their nomination had been announced last year. Apparently the loud, aggressive metal upset a segment of his viewers and there were actual complaints. From my standpoint, though, it's a highlight of the year. It's not often a mainstream show like Kimmel lets a band like this loose.


I think a certain amount of the upset had to do with seeing a pretty young woman in a white dress cut loose with those incredible screams. Poppy is a weird artist that way. She has the look of a pop star but can scream and growl with the best of metalheads. Loved her 2024 album Negative Spaces, which was a no-show in the Grammy noms.
 
And from Gojira's YouTube channel, the official video they released for Ah! Ca Ira!, winner of best metal performance.

 
It is gonna be a headbanging kind of day. Lots of new albums out, along with some new videos/singles this week from other bands. First up, the new releases for today.

First up is Jinjer. The Ukrainian metalcore/groove metal band is fast becoming a very loud, visible voice for their embattled homeland. Duel, their new album, definitely has allusions to the situation. Lead singer Tatiana Shmayluk is rather like an older, more experienced Poppy with a voice that can go from pop to death metal almost on a dime. And she is surrounded by a very talented group of musicians who provide the support for those wonderful vocals. Watched a live concert of theirs on YouTube earlier in the week and even though it was four people in a club with minimal stage work, it was a fantastic show. This is the title track, released last week as the last pre-release single.



Then we have Marko Hietala. He's a grand old man of Finnish metal at this point having started his first band in his teens (they reunited briefly last year) before a 20 year stint in Nightwish and now a solo career. He plays bass and sings primarily, but is also no slouch on guitar when needed. Roses From The Deep is his second solo album and first full studio recording since leaving Nightwish in 2021. Not really, strictly metal but his metal DNA is definitely there. Final single, the title track, dropped this morning with the album.


And finally, Majestica's Power Train is the one I did not know was coming today. The band is the project of Swede Tommy Johansson who is a multi-talented musical wizard. Fantastic guitarist, terrific singer, and plays just about every instrument in the metal repertoires. Pretty good producer and engineer, too. Tommy was guitarist in the Swedish band Sabaton for several years but left to refocus on his own projects, including this album. It's pretty raw, basic powermetal so fast and loud.

 
This is my CRTC mandated Can-con post for this month. Two Canadian bands and one with a Canadian lead singer.

Canadian band Spiritbox seem to be always a bridesmaid never a bride. This was the second year in a row they've been nominated for the Best Metal Performance Grammy and gone home empty-handed. However, with their new album Tsumani Sea out next month, maybe they can manage it next year? Or at least a couple Junos, as happened with their debut album in 2022.


Also out next month is Blood Dynasty, the latest from Swedish melodic death metal band Arch Enemy, whose Montreal-born lead singer Alissa White-Gluz has been firing on all cylinders through the advance singles. Here is the latest.


And a bit of an bonus track. Victoria, BC power metal band Unleash the Archers dropped their album Phantoma last spring and have been going strong on tour since. This video uses footage from the tour with a song from the album.

 
Finnish metal band Battle Beast are a favourite of mine. Nothing too fancy, just hard-rocking, balls to the walls heavy metal with a singer who can belt and scream at levels rarely heard. Noora Louhimo is, in short, amazing. She packs pretty good stage presence, too, as you can see in this live clip. Even with it being in her native Finnish, you can feel the energy between Noora and the crowd. This is the first release from a new live album coming out in April. The song itself is rather political and has some resonance with the current world situation, especially a certain "king for a day". :giggle: It is from the band's 2017 album Bringer of Pain so falls squarely in his first administration.

 
The nominations for the Juno Awards were announced back on Tuesday. One of the categories, and the one I was watching for, is Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year. And they did not disappoint me, with three Canadian acts that I can happily root for getting noms.

The nominees I know are:

Spiritbox for the EP The Fear of Fear (they are also up for Group of the Year, something I just discovered). This young band is really the future of Canadian metal, with a style that crosses genres and skilled players in all positions, even if I have a special fondness for vocalist Courtney LaPlante. They were also nominated in this category with Eternal Blue, their debut LP, and are also two-time Grammy nominees for Best Metal Performance, both for songs from this EP. Next month, their sophomore LP debuts so we might see them back again next year.

Devin Townsend, nominated for his album Powernerd, is a 30 plus year veteran of the music scene. From his big break in the band of guitar god Steve Vai, Devin has had a string of albums both solo and in various bands. Sadly, he is much better known over in Europe than he is at home. A skilled songwriter, guitarist, singer, producer, and more, he deserves to be recognized as one of the greats of modern Canadian music.

Kittie is nominated for the album Fire, which marks their return to form after a 13 year break from recording (2011-2024) and an 8 year hiatus as a band (2012-2020). The band was founded by sister Morgan and Mercedes Lander of (YAY) London, Ontario who are still the core as vocalist/guitarist and drummer respectively.

The remaining nominees, with whom I am unfamiliar are:

Anciients for Beyond the Reach of the Sun
Striker for Ultrapower

Needless to say, both are now in my Spotify library.

One slight disappointment is the absence of Phantoma by Victoria's Unleash the Archers.
 
So here, up for two Juno awards, Vancouver-based hot up-and-coming metal band Spiritbox with two tracks from their nominated EP.



Yeah, you can tell who I am rooting for, eh. I love Devin and Kittie and certainly won't complain if one of them takes home the trophy, but Spiritbox has really wormed their way into my heart. I am eagerly awaiting the new album next month.
 
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And on to Canada's "power nerd" Devin Townsend, with two tracks from his nominated LP. This is a leaner, heavier sound from Devin after a while of doing proggier music.


 
And finally, all-female nu metallers Kittie are back with their first album in 13 years and it rocks. Let's just say these Kitties don't purr or mew, they roar!


 
i managed to score Rainbow
Rising album from our Antique store

AWESOME!!!


its a neat store

the young couple who own it believe in the past

they even have their own playlist playing all the time
including old adverts :3

no reason to embrace the new automatically

oh windows 95 i still adore thee
 
Delightful Life said:
oh windows 95 i still adore thee
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Nah, Window98 Second Edition was the bomb, easily the best of that line of Windows. Too bad MS then f-d up badly on Windows Millennium, even if it was also mercifully the end of that line. Of the Windows line descended from Windows NT (which includes current versions), Windows 7 was the best in many ways. 10 isn't bad. I'm using 11 now both at home and at work but if MS doesn't stop f-ing around with crap like Co-Pilot, I have Linux on standby at least for home.

Back to music. Montreal singer Alissa White-Gluz does a lot of guest singer work during breaks in her longstanding gig with Swedish band Arch-Enemy. Some are just her guesting with other musicians she knows, but some of them relate to her activism. Alissa is a vegan and is active in animal rights and environmental causes. Here she joins a project called Savage Lands raising money to fund reforestation and biodiversity protection. Nice mix of her harsh and clean voice. I don't really know the other members of the band but it's a pretty solid group of metal musicians based on the quality of this performance.


And the project's website in case you want to know more. Any metal band that has a picture of Jane Goodall raising her horns on their site (see the Initiatives page) has my respect and attention. :giggle:

savagelands.org

Savage Lands : The first Metal non profit for biodiversity.

Savage Lands is the first Metal non profit acting on stage and on the field for biodiversity. Supported and founded by international artists
savagelands.org savagelands.org
 
I have been catching up on the two remaining nominees for Metal/Hard Album of the Year at the Junos. Both are actually past winners, Striker in 2020 and Anciients in 2017. Anciients is more my speed, though Striker's melodic 80s-esque sound has its appeal, too. Not sure I would pick either of them over Spiritbox as my fave, though Anciients' fairly heavy prog metal is likely to grow on me.

Here's "Melt the Crown" which was the leadoff single from Anciients Beyond the Reach of the Sun.


And from Striker's Ultrapower, "Live to Fight Another Day"

 
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