On Downloading Music

I'm as guilty of downloading as the next person; I don't do tons of it and I still buy a fair number of CDs as I am able to afford to, but yes, I download.

My main reason for downloading is this: I don't have a lot of discretionary income and if I want to keep discovering & enjoying music & my favourite bands, I simply cannot afford to purchase every CD I want to. Especially because I like stuff that isn't always readily available in North America. I do what I can, though; I enjoy purchasing CDs and when I have the money in my budget to do so, I do buy CDs. In the case of really small bands I like to support, I make the extra effort and purchase the CD right from the band itself, as I did with Australian Gothic outfit Temujin and Canadian power metalers Borealis. I also like hearing a whole album before I commit to purchasing it; that's not always possible on MySpace or with every band.

I enjoy sitting down with a CD cover and listening to a CD as I read along with the lyrics, and I enjoy looking at album art, and I even enjoy reading the credits. However, I have priorities: I have a home, bills, debts, a cat, and many of the usual trappings of adulthood.

I believe artists deserve to be paid for what they produce and release, too. But if you take the example of the legal downloads available off of iTunes and sites like that where you pay a small fee, I seriously wonder how much of that small fee actually gets back to the artist. For instance, I bought Akoma's 3-track EP off of iTunes for $2.97CAD a few months ago. I am truly curious about how much of that $2.97 went to the band, though. Usually, iTunes sells single songs for 99¢; what percentage of that 99¢ goes to the artist? I don't know; I'm just asking. If it's the principle you're interested in, then that's one thing, but if iTunes is taking the majority of the cut, then that's not really helping anyone but iTunes, in my opinion.

What ticks me off sometimes is the attitude of some of the big acts out there who seem to think that downloading is the root of all evil. I was really irritated with Chester Bennington's recent comments about Linkin Park's latest CD sales numbers, found on Blabbermouth. The article says:

LINKIN PARK frontman Chester Bennington told MTV News last October that the
days of the band selling 10 million copies of an album, like its 2000 debut "Hybrid Theory", are long gone.

Bennington explained, "Trying to compare anything to 'Hybrid Theory' in terms of sales is an exercise in futility: It's not gonna happen. That's the reality of the situation. (Second album 'Meteora') did huge numbers the first week, it was like 800,000. 'Minutes To Midnight' was in the 600,000 mark, and this one's at the 240,000 mark; that's a sign of the times . . . people get their music in different ways now."

"Meteora" sold 810,000 copies in its first week of release, while 2007's "Minutes To
Midnight" moved 623,000.

Thanks to downloading and file sharing, Bennington said, "There's probably 10 million people out there who have the record that we don't know about."

Well, I am one of those 10 million people that downloaded A Thousand Suns, and let me tell you, I feel no guilt about this whatsoever. That's because I thought the album sucked and I wouldn't have spent a penny on it anyway. What Chester is perhaps failing to realize here is that LPs most recent CD might not be the quality of their Meteora or Hybrid Theory days, which might also account for poor sales. I don't know; I'm just theorizing here.

Slipknot's Cory Taylor has a bit of a different view, according to this article. He says:

"Seriously, who the fuck wants to risk hard-earned money on music that's maybe 98 percent crap? I'm not going to. And I still buy new albums. People ask what my favorite new album is and nine times out of 10, I don't fucking have one. Music is garbage."

He goes on to say,

"People wanna blame the decline of album sales on downloading, I think it's actually the record companies' fault," he added. "I think it's the quality of the product. If record companies would stop giving any fucking mook on the street with a fringe a record deal or their own record label, maybe you would sell more fucking albums, dipshits."

Fair enough, Corey.

There is a lot of shit music out there for sure, but there is also a hell of a lot of great music out there, too, but you just have to take the time to look for it. That's why I love sites like Last.fm. And this is where illegal downloading can be great for smaller, more obscure bands that could use some exposure. If I didn't have access to downloading, I would never have gotten into fantastic bands like Dawn of Destiny (I own their first 2 CDs incidentally; their 3rd I can't seem to find anywhere and ordering from Europe is way too expensive), Almora (I also purchased a few of their albums), and Atargatis (I purchased two of their CDs). And that's just a few! I might never even have gotten into metal at all if it hadn't been for downloading.

Another example: Nightwish. I found Nightwish after listening to Within Temptation on a radio station on iTunes. I downloaded everything NW I could get my hands on. I now own all NW albums, official DVDs, a fucking expensive NW t-shirt, and some other merch. Similarly, because of downloading I have purchased the special editions, EPs, and concert DVDs of other bands whose material I've downloaded, too. That cannot be a bad thing at all.

It always seems to be the big bands that complain about downloading, like Linkin Park and Bono/U2, etc. Those bands are not hurting. But the smaller bands, like Dawn of Destiny and Atargatis - two of my favourites - have actually benefitted from my downloading.

So, I don't know. I'm just saying. It's not a black & white issue.

I don't believe, however, that art of any kind should be so exclusive that it's completely inaccessible to those who might not be able to afford to enjoy it. That's just my 2 cents.

New Find: Where Angels Fall

I mentioned this band in my list post in my list of top finds of 2010, so I thought I'd better actually give them a bit of cowbell here (for what it's worth!). I found Where Angels Fall on Last.fm and the first song I heard was "Kyrie." It grabbed me right away and I wanted more! I describe their style as Gothic metal with a bit of an electronic atmospheric element. They're heavy, they have choirs, and their vocalist, Eirin Bendigtsen, has a unique style that brings a real ethereal feel to the music.

Hailing from Norway and formed originally in 2004, Where Angels Fall has three releases so far. The only one I've been able to get hold of is Marionettes, and I really like it. According to the most recent info available on Encyclopaedia Metallum, the band consists of Eirin on vocals, André Bendigtsen on guitar, Espen Lohne on bass, and Jarle 'Uruz' Byberg on drums.

Lyrically, check out this song, "Female Stigma."




Here are some lyrics:

Having the wrong face
Having the wrong skills
Having the wrong voice
Work twice as hard as
Be twice as smart as
Sing twice as good as

It seems like I’m inferior
Compared to you
I have the female stigma
I’ll never be as good as you

Love it! And sung with such attitide, too.

Here is the aforementioned "Kyrie", which initially got me into the band. I love this song.



And here is another favourite of mine from the Marionettes album, the title track.




I really look forward to hearing more stuff from these guys; I think they have a really good thing going for them.

Edit @ 9:18am, Monday Jan. 17: WAF's Facebook page lists the band members as the following:

Eirin Bendigtsen - lead vocals
André Bendigtsen - guitars & programming
Espen Lohne - bass
Kristian Svenning - guitar

Leaves' Eyes Update

I am so fucking excited! One of my fave bands ever, Leaves' Eyes, just updated their Facebook page with a pile of info on their upcoming album! The CD is called Meredead and is slated for an April 22nd release in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

The album cover has been released, and the announcement on the band's FB site includes this quote from vocalist & lyricist Liv Kristine:

"As we began composing the first song ideas for our fourth full-length album,
all of us were very eager to take another step in strengthening both the
individual sound and concept of Leaves' Eyes, like we have done album by album.
Along with the song-writing process, I made up my mind about the songs' themes,
and drowned myself in different sources of literature. Some songs clearly needed
lyrics rooted in northern history and culture, as well as having mystical
themes. Being an Old-English fan, I decided to write some of the lyrics in
Old-English, which of course included further studies of grammatical and
phonetic knowledge, which I really enjoyed doing. Next to modern English and
Old-English, some songs are sung in traditional Norwegian, to keep their strong
individuality and focus on certain themes from special genres in Norwegian
traditional singing. The album is given the title "Meredead", as one of the
songs on the album. It is my own word-creation (at least I haven't found it in a
dictionary yet), and it may mean both "dead by/in the sea", or "the mortal or
killing sea". In my lyrics you will find traditional themes from Viking
literature and Norwegian song tradition, moreover, tales from the Irish isles,
some from already existing sources, some made up myself. Sometimes you will hear
about men going on adventures, some ending up drowing in the sea, their wives,
evil witches, three-headed trolls, or spell-bound princesses, as well as marble
halls and blood-thirsty creatures. I allowed myself more freedom for the concept
of "Meredead", telling a number of different stories, real, mystical or
sometimes maybe even both."

You guys in GAS have all the luck! You seem to get all the good stuff first!

From Liv's description, this sounds like one hell of an album, with some great themes and a lot of thought put into the concepts and lyrics. I'm really impressed that Liv has taken on writing some lyrics in Old English; that's not easy shit at all, especially if English is your second language. The album cover looks pretty cool, too, I have to admit.

So, definitely something to look forward to come spring, but as usual, I do hope I don't have to wait forever to get a copy; sometimes living in North America is so annoying - we always get the later release dates and it's such a pain in the ass!

Ballads Away: Return to You

Here is an underrated metal ballad I can't get enough of. This is Visions of Atlantis's "Return to You" sung by former vocalist Melissa Ferlaak, who I believe also wrote the song as a tribute to her father who passed away. It's a gorgeous song, powerfully and emotionally sung.

Enjoy!



And while we're on the topic of VoA, the band now has a four-minute teaser of their upcoming CD release, Delta, up on their MySpace page, here.

Nightwish Update

Nightwish's Tuomas Holopainen spent some time with Metal Hammer Magazine over the summer during the band's summer camp where the demo was recorded for their upcoming CD. Today on Blabbermouth, I saw that Metal Hammer made a two part video of the visit.

Links to the two-part video are here. If you read German, you're in luck because the text accompanying the videos is in that language.

Die hard NW fan that I am, I have to say I really am looking forward to this album, even if it's more for curiosity's sake than anything else...

Suicide Tribute

Say what you want about Anette (many do), I think the girl has a good voice. I don't believe it's the right voice for Nightwish at all, and I have issues with the band's choice to hire her, but she can sing. And you certainly cannot fault anyone for wanting to create a tribute song to someone they loved and who died in a tragic way.

Before joining Nightwish in 2007, Anette sang for the Swedish rock band Alyson Avenue. One year ago, a long-time friend of Anette's and a friend of Alyson Avenue's committed suicide.

Suicide is an issue very close to my heart for reasons I won't get into here, and this morning I saw on Anette's blog that Alyson Avenue and Anette wrote and recorded a tribute song to this friend, and I have to say it was very moving and touched upon many of the questions those left behind after a suicide feel.

This is not a metal song, obviously. But one of the things I like about it is the thoughtful way in which it treats this issue. There is no anger in it, just questions - and common, valid ones at that.

The song is currently streaming on Alyson Avenue's web site and you can read the lyrics there, too. Here it is.

Within Temptation: New Album Cover

How cool is this? Today Within Temptation revealed the album cover for their upcoming release, The Unforgiving.

I'm not a comic book or graphic novel fan at all, but I have to say I like this idea a lot so far.

More info here, on WT's official site.

Some 2010 Lists

Top 10 Last.fm tracks in the last 12 months:

1. Almora - Tilsim
2. Atargatis - Angels Crying
3. Sabaton - Union (Slopes of St. Benedict)
4. Tarja - Falling Awake
5. Almora - Sonbahar
6. Dawn of Destiny - Rain
7. Dawn of Destiny - Days of Crying
8. Dawn of Destiny - Lost
9. Atargatis - Eden (outro)
10. Tarot - End of Everything

Top 10 Last.fm artists in the last 12 months:

1. Almora
2. Dawn of Destiny
3. Sabaton
4. Nightwish
5. Atargatis
6. Loreena McKennitt
7. Tarja
8. Bear McCreary (this is due to my love of the Battlestar Galactica soundtrack)
9. Amberian Dawn
10. Tarot

My favourite albums of 2010 (some are not metal), not necessarily in order:

1. Tarja - What Lies Beneath
2. Amberian Dawn - End of Eden
3. Liv Kristine - Skintight
4. Loreena McKennitt - The Wind that Shakes the Barley
5. UnSun - Clinic for Dolls
6. Wuthering Heights - Salt
7. Magica - Dark Diary
8. Tarot - Gravity of Light
9. Sabaton - Coat of Arms
10. Sarah Jezebel Deva - A Sign of Sublime

Best new finds of the year (again not all are metal), not necessarily in order:

1. Arkona
2. Akoma
3. The Decemberists
4. Where Angels Fall
5. Manticora
6. Wuthering Heights
7. Penumbra
8. Katra
9. Frightened Rabbit
10. Katherine Jenkins

Happy New Year to all our readers!

Come Cover Me: Bring Me To Life

I found this video for Katherine Jenkins's verions of Evanescene's "Bring Me to Life" on Anette Olzon's blog and gave it a listen. Here it is:



My first impression was "interesting." Knowing nothing about Katherine Jenkins, I was stunned, however, at the end of the song, that the sang out in full on classical mode, which was quite a pleasant surprise. Since then, I've learned that Katherine is a classically trained mezzo-soprano from Wales. I am currently dowloading some of her music so I can check her out a bit more, because her voice really is beautiful.

As for the cover, it's OK. I miss the angst, and the imagery in the video is a bit ho-hum given the subject matter of the song. I still prefer the original, but I am looking forward to hearing more of Katherine Jenkins's stuff.

Here is Evanescence's original.

Happy Birthday Tuomas! (I'm unabashedly indulging in some fangirly behaviour - sue me!)

Ah, to be a Christmas baby. My dad's birthday is Christmas Eve, and he gets spoiled rotten. I'm sure Tuomas does, too!

So, happy birthday to the man whose chest I would gladly lick chocolate off - and to the guy who has brought me so much joy through his music.

New Sirenia: The End of it All

So, here is Sirenia's new single:



OK...My thoughts upon hearing this were along the lines of "this sounds soooooo much like The Path to Decay and Lost in Life from the previous album."


I don't want to make too many assumptions about their upcoming release based on one song, but shit, what has happened to this band? Back in the day Sirenia used to make some very decent, dark, atmospheric Gothic metal. What changed? The appearance of Nuclear Blast in their life is one theory.

Even the guitar solo sounds like all the rest from The 13th Floor!

People complain about Nightwish turning sappy and poppy and about Tuomas's obsession with the same depressing themes. I say Sirenia is a far, far more egregious example of a sell-out band who changed it's tune to become more commercially viable. Morten's themes haven't changed one iota, either, and because they are so simply expressed, the repetitiveness is even more aggravating.

Anyway, I am curious but not optimisitc.

Manuela Kraller: Xandria's New Singer

Finally, German Gothic metal band Xandria has announced its new singer! I have been waiting for this for a long time, since hearing that Kerstin Bischof left the band in February.

The new singer is Manuela Kraller, a 29 year old German soprano, who, excitingly enough, used to sing for Haggard! This is excellent news, and as I am a fan of Haggard, I am really looking forward to hearing Manuela singing with Xandria becuase I'm pretty sure she is going to be awesome.

More details here.

Here is the teaser video released by the band:



EDIT: Thanks to Almagest for finding me this clip of Manuela singing a cover of Tarja's "Sing for Me."

Within Temptation's New Song & Video: "Where is the Edge"

What do you think?

CD Review: Liv Kristine's "Skintight"

Oh, how I love Liv Kristine! I love her voice, she rocks the corset, she is ridiculously gorgeous. I first encountered her a few years back when I discovered Leaves' Eyes, which subsequently became one of my favourite bands and Liv one of my favourite vocalists. It did take me some tome to clue in, however, to the fact that she had a solo career on the side that was more of the pop/rock persuasion than the metal. I listened to Deus ex Machina and it was not my cup of tea, though I love how she sounds on it.

When I heard Skintight was coming out, I wouldn't have given it much thought, except I read Liv's description of the concept, and I was intrigued. She said:

Most recordings were done 'in one go,' i.e. record a complete song without
breaks. Moreover, we've kept and paid attention to the natural processes which
take place during singing, like breathing, movements of the lips, emotional
expression and strength etc. All this makes the album authentic, real, and
direct. The music is played with only a few, however, original instruments.

Recording a song without breaks sounded very curious to me, since I am not unaware of the fact that the complex multi-tracked recordings I usually listen to are obviously not recorded all in one go. The simplicity Liv described above appealed to me, as did the idea of using only a few instruments. Upon the release of the "Skintight" video, I was a little skeptical. There is kind of a flashy, fashion-y thing going on here that put me off a bit. Things change!

Since finally receiving my copy of the CD and sitting down with the CD booklet and really listening to the songs, I am in love with this release. I am addicted to the song "Skintight."

I wouldn't necessarily class the CD as pop, per se. It's a mellow rock with a lot of acoustic elements in it that speak to the concept of simplicity. The lyrics, written by Liv herself, are beautiful: thoughtful, insightful, and expressive. They are honest. Liv's voice in Skintight leaves behind the drama of Leaves' Eyes; there is a pureness to it that I really enjoyed. Backing vocals are kept simple and minimal, and I found that a really cool thing to hear because I am so used to complex harmonies & backing vocals in LE.

I find myself quite haunted by this CD and I've barely been able to stop playing it since I got it in the mail last week (the same day that Loreena McKennitt's new CD arrived; another amazing disc that has been competing with Liv for play time here at home). Songs that I particularly love and find resonant are "Skintight", "Twofold" and "Wonders." The closing track, "The Rarest Flower" is also lovely.

This is definitely a CD to be savoured over and over again. Awesome job, Liv. Horns up. \m/

CD Review: Unsun's "Clinic for Dolls"

As I mentioned before, I have a soft spot for UnSun even though I have no idea why. I purchased their debut CD, End of Life, and liked it at the time, but I think what happened is that I just grew out of it. Compared to the bands I found after, this album seems quite mediocre now for the Gothic genre. But I wasn't exactly put off forever; I was curious to see what their follow-up sounded like and if there had been any growth since EoL's release in 2008. When the band released their first single, "Home", from the new album, Clinic For Dolls, I was optimisitic. It's a good song and it's actually a good video, too.

So, I have Clinic for Dolls, and I have listened to it many times. My impressions are these: it's a much stronger album than EoL. It's faster, heavier, and the writing is more complex. In fact, the composition end of it is really good and a huge improvement from their debut. The guitar work is better, as are the keyboards. This is a far less "poppy" (how I hate that term, but I can't find a better one right now) CD, and it's evident right from the beginning that a lot of time and thought has gone into writing something way more meaty music.

The intro to the first song, "The Lost Way" sets the tone and impressed me right off the bat. Heavy, melodic, and fast - great headbanging stuff for sure, and this is one of the strongest tracks on the album. "Home", as I mentioned, is also a strong song, and other notables are "Time", and "Mockers." The ballad "The Last Tears" is quite lovely and emotional, and is singer Aya's best peformance on this CD.

Lyrically, this is also a much stronger album. These songs are full of dark, desolate, and very lonely themes and images. They talk about abuse, marginalization, institutionalization, futility, secrets, death, and all kinds of stuff like that. Here is a good example, from "Time":

When rain washes blood off the ground
down the shadowy path I’ll come by
When you utter your last sin aloud
my star will shine in the sky
When time decides to kill
when time closes our eyes
our sins will vanish in tears
the ground will hush our cries

So, musically & lyrically, I like this. It's not up there with Nightwish, Epica, and bands like that I am into, but it's not bad, and like I said, it's a big improvement over EoL.

However, there is a rather disappointing, glaring weakness, and that is the vocal performance of Aya. The girl can sing; I don't think she has a bad voice. I just don't think she has a voice strong enough or powerful enough for this music. Her singing is heavily accented, but I'm not overly concerned about that. "Weak" is the only word I can find to describe how she sounds with this band. The only exception I found on this album where I really enjoyed her voice was the aforementioned "The Last Tears." She is excellent here: she brings power and some very poignant emotion to this piece and it's gorgeous. But overall...It's just not great.

She does sound decent live, I must say. UnSun seems to be getting some gigs at bigger venues lately, including appearances at Metal Female Voices Fest in 2009 and this past October, and I found this video of the band, and Aya sounds great.

This is still a highly listenable album and I have to say it shows a lot of promise for the future. I just think the vocals need...work.

Horns up, though. \m/ My soft spot is still in tact!

Visions of Atlantis Update

Excellent! Austrian symphonic metal outfit, Visions of Atlantis, with their new Greek vocalist Maxi Nil, have announced a release date and album information at last. Their new CD, entitled Delta, is to be released February 25, 2011. You can read more details here.

Very much looking forward to this one!

Within Temptation Update

Since my last post, Within Temptation has released some new information about their upcoming album and European tour.

The album, entitled The Unforgiving, will be out in March 2011. It's a concept album based on a comic book story written by someone named Steven O'Connell and the album art is being done by Romano Molenaar. You can read more details about this here.

Regarding the tour in 2011, Sharon den Adel announced that she is pregnant with her third child and the tour will be postponed until the fall of 2011. Details here.

Looking Forward to 2011 and Release Updates

Not all the CDs I was looking forward to coming out this fall have materialized, which is rather disappointing. Looks like some of the big ones I was anticipating are not slated for early 2011 release. Well, better late than never.

These include:

Within Temptation: I cannot seem to find anything official on their website, but I have heard other places Feb - March 2011. Speaking of their web site, I quite like it; it's very organized and well-designed.

Delain: Their Facebook updates say they are recording and their web site says the new album will come out in spring 2011, to be followed shortly thereafer by a tour.

Crimfall: their second album is also due out in spring 2011, according to their web site. The band has also been signed to Spinefarm records, which is excellent news indeed. I cannot wait for this CD to come out!

Borealis, my favourite Canadian metal band: the good news is that they are playing lots of shows and getting some good exposure. Their Facebook page says they are hoping to release their second CD in the spring.

Evanescence: well, they have not made an announcement on their web site since last spring, which said the next album was slated for a late 2010 release. Well, it's getting late in 2010, and I have seen or heard nothing yet about the release actually being released. So, not exactly sure what's going on here. However, a new single, "Together Again" is availble for download on iTunes, though there is no official video for it as of yet. But here it is:



I like it.

Other bands I'm a fan of coming out with new stuff in 2011:

Leaves' Eyes. I've been following them on Facebook, too, and they are in the studio! Woo-hoo! Expected release is...wait for it...sometime in spring 2011. In the meantime, they are playing a concert in Goa, India, which is very exciting for them.

Midnattsol: They have recorded all the music and released the title, which is The Metamorphosis Melody. Here is a nice little video featuring Carmen talking about the title, complete with some samples. At the end it indicates that a release date will be announced soon. Not soon enough! I love this band and I was really happy with what samples I did hear on the video, so I am really, really looking forward to The Metamorphosis Melody!



Imperia: I really liked Imperia's Queen of Light album a lot, and I was happy to see on Blabbermouth that the band is going back into the studio to record a follow up. Who knows when it'll be released, though.

Visions of Atlantis: The most recent news about their new album on their MySpace page, from October 11, says that the recording is finished and they are in the process of mixing & mastering. Their Facebook page shows that they are touring in early 2011 with Rhapsody of Fire. So hopefully the new album, with their new singer, Maxi Nil, will be out soon.

If you like Lunatica, which I do, it looks like they have something in the works, though not much is said on their web site about it other than the new album will feature a re-recorded version of a song from Atlantis.

Lacuna Coil, whom I used to like but was pretty upset with their Shallow Life release (ugh) appears to be in songwriting mode, according to their Facebook page. I do hope they come out with something reminiscent of the LC I used to know & love.

And then of course, there is Nightwish, whose follow up to DPP is slated for a late 2011 release - in other words, a year from now. :(

And that is it for now. If anyone has any others they'd like to mention, please leave a comment!

Edit November 16: Sirenia just issued an update, seen here on Blabbermouth. So, a new album from them at the end of January, and lo an behold, it contains more than 9 tracks this time (unlike their previous CD). I was disappointed with The 13th Floor, so we'll have to see what this one sounds like.

"Yarilo" by Arkona

If you're into pagan folk metal kind of stuff, which I am, you might like the Russian group Arkona (Аркона). I think I found them through Eric, if I'm not mistaken, and even though there is a language barrier, I really enjoyed their most recent album, Goi, Rode, Goi!!!. They have a new video out for their song "Yarilo" that I thought I'd share here. I don't really know much about these guys, but I was really surprised when the female lead singer, Masha, started in on the growling! I love it, even though I'm not a huge fan of growling. Here is sounds so happy, though!

New Blackmore's Night Video

While Blackmore's Night isn't metal, I post about them here because A) Richie Blackmore is metal and B) I discovered this band on the Metal from Finland forum as they were recommended to me by, if memory serves, a dude calling himself The Seer. I was really happy with this new find; I love their music. Wherever you are Seer, thanks for introducing me to these guys!

This is the new video from Blackmore's Night, "Highland." Their latest CD, Autumn Sky, was released in Europe in September and will be availabe in North America in January. On an interesting little side note, Candice Night, who is 39, recorded the CD while pregnant. Go Candice!

More details about the album are here.

And here is the video. Enjoy!