Some News

A few snippets of news have come to my attention I thought I would share here.

1. Italian Gothic rock/metal/whatever band Lacuna Coil have set October 4 as the release date for their next album, to be entitled Dark Adrenaline.  Vocalist Cristina Scabbia has described the music in the new album as "probably the heaviest we have ever written. But then we have some cool songs with a dark, 'old-school' vibe, and then some other rocking songs which are a bit more modern and anthemic sounding."  I'm curious, of course, but I was so disappointed with Shallow Life I'm not sure I can move on.  But I'm open-minded!

2.  German power metal band, and my #2 band ever, Dawn of Destiny, is teasing fans like me on Facebook with hints about a new album, being very coy about a release date.  Apparently, from what I can glean, it'll be out sometime late this year.  It'll be their first album with new vocalist Jeanette Scherff, who, I have to say, I haven't been really fond of when viewing live performances the band's had with her since she joined.  Again, I remain open-minded!  We shall see.

3.  Evanescence finally will be releasing a new CD, self-titled, also on Oct. 4.  It's about time!

4.  Nightwish has been confirmed for the 70000 Tons of Metal Cruise, which takes place Jan. 23 - 27 and will sail around the Caribbean.  The cost is $666 and includes meals and non-alcoholic beverages.  Other confirmed acts are Amorphis, Tristania, Eluveitie, Therion, and Stratovarius.  This sounds like an awesome event!

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.

Dawn of Destiny's Jens Faber interview on The Abbey Metal Show

Dawn of Destiny's bassist and main songwriter Jens Faber got an interview with The Abbey Metal Show tonight. Here is a link to the streaming audio here!

This interview comes from this website. It is very interesting and worth checking out for anyone into heavy metal! ROCK ON! \m/

Ballads Away!

Yes! Another series!

This one is purely devoted to underrated metal ballads - underrated according to me!

So, I love a good ballad. Sue me! I am a woman, after all, with a romantic streak, and a good ballad always puts me in a good mood. A ballad will move me and make me feel alive.

So, here is my inaugural pick. This comes from Dawn of Destiny, one of my favourite bands ever, and a band that is totally underrated. This ballad is the final song on their Rebellion in Heaven CD, and it's lovely. It's emotional, beautiful, powerful, and I find it moving. It's everything a metal ballad should be.

Dawn of Destiny Update!

Well, knock me over with a feather - a band member from Dawn of Destiny has left a comment on this humble blog! I am all aflutter!

The comment included a spelling correction in new co-lead vocalist Monika Wesely's surname. I was spelling it "Wesley" which is common in English, but I have been corrected and I corrected the mistake in the main post.

The commenter was also kind enough to leave some links to samples of Monika's voice, for which I am very grateful.

Here is Monika's MySpace page: Monika Wesely.

Monika also has some YouTube videos, and you can see her channel here.

Monika is a musical actress, and after listening to the samples of her voice on YT and MySpace, I am really excited about her collaboration with DoD, because she has a lovely, clear soprano, and I can totally imagine her singing the old DoD material!

So, thank you Anonymous/DoD for getting in touch! I really appreciate it!

Photo credit to this site.

EDIT/UPDATE, May 25, 2010: the band has posted a demo on their MySpace page called "Miracles", which features the new vocalists. You can listen here.

Dawn of Destiny Replaces Tanja Maul with Two Vocalists

Big news about one of my favourite bands, Dawn of Destiny: after parting ways with the fucking amazing Tanja Maul, the band announced today on their MySpace & Facebook pages that they have replaced their previous vocalist with two female leads, Jeanette Scherff and Monika Wesely. There is little I can find about these two women after doing some cursory research. Jeanette Scherff was her own MySpace page, and I cannot find a single thing on Monika Wesely. I can't find YouTube or other samples of either gal's vocals.

So, this is interesting...I wonder if they are going the way of Coronatus, which also has two female leads, one classical soprano and one rock-style alto. But I am very curious to see what DoD sounds like now, so I hope they start releasing new stuff soon!

Tanja Maul Parts Ways with Dawn of Destiny

Relaxing with my morning coffee just now, I was checking my Facebook news feed and came upon absolutely devastating news: Tanja Maul, vocalist for Dawn of Destiny, has left the band.

Quoting from the band's MySpace page:

After 5 years Dawn Of Destiny and Tanja go separate ways from now on. Because of the "so-called" musical differences Tanja decided to leave the band. We regret this step, but consider it as right and consequent. We say thanks to Tanja for 5 years of friendship, musicianship and the engagement to support Dawn Of Destiny in reaching our current status.

Tanja's statement, also from the band's MySpace page reads:

Unfortunately somewhen in life comes the time of farewell. Regrettably the musical ideas within the band develop into a direction where I cannot identify myself with Dawn Of Destiny anymore. Therefore I want to announce, that I'm going to leave the band. I wish the guys of DOD big success on their new way. Dear DoD-Fans! Dear Fallen Angels! With all my hear I want to say thank you for the big support, the fun and the bright cordiality, that you gave me on each gig! The "Wacken-WG" is still an issue ;) Peter - You are the Best! Many thanks for the nice time! I am sure that we'll meet each other on stage! All of you shall feel embraced!

I am devastated! Utterly devastated! I am unspeakably devastated!

DoD is up there with Nightwish for me in terms of favourite bands, and Tanja is up there with Tarja in terms of favourite female metal vocalists. Tanja fucking PWNS! DoD fucking PWNS!

I am just...speechless...

OMG...Tuomas should hire her ASAP. THAT would fucking rock my world...

Tanja, I wish you all the best. DoD, I wish you guys all the best, too. I hope you find a suitable replacement, but that is going to be really, really hard...

30 Day Music Challenge, Day 09: A Song You Can Dance To

Dance? I do not dance.

Let's change this to "a song I can headbang to." And once more, there are so many to choose from it's hard to pick one to put here.

This one comes to mind, though: Crimfall's "Wildfire Season." I LOVE this band, and their debut album As the Path Unfolds... They are releasing a new CD this year, and I am so looking forward to it!



Here's another, this time from my official second-favourite band, Dawn of Destiny, "Days of Crying."



What about you guys?

30 Day Music Challenge: Heavy Metal Version; Day 01

One blogger I read regularly is Cal of Calvin's Canadian Cave of Cool. Lately he has been running a meme called the 30 Day Music Challenge, and I thought I'd take up the challenge & do a heavy metal version.

Here is the entire list:

Day 01 - Your favorite song
Day 02 - Your least favorite song
Day 03 - A song that makes you happy
Day 04 - A song that makes you sad
Day 05 - A song that reminds you of someone
Day 06 - A song that reminds of you of somewhere
Day 07 - A song that reminds you of a certain event
Day 08 - A song that you know all the words to
Day 09 - A song that you can dance to
Day 10 - A song that makes you fall asleep
Day 11 - A song from your favorite band
Day 12 - A song from a band you hate
Day 13 - A song that is a guilty pleasure
Day 14 - A song that no one would expect you to love
Day 15 - A song that describes you
Day 16 - A song that you used to love but now hate
Day 17 - A song that you hear often on the radio
Day 18 - A song that you wish you heard on the radio
Day 19 - A song from your favorite album
Day 20 - A song that you listen to when you’re angry
Day 21 - A song that you listen to when you’re happy
Day 22 - A song that you listen to when you’re sad
Day 23 - A song that you want to play at your wedding
Day 24 - A song that you want to play at your funeral
Day 25 - A song that makes you laugh
Day 26 - A song that you can play on an instrument
Day 27 - A song that you wish you could play
Day 28 - A song that makes you feel guilty
Day 29 - A song from your childhood
Day 30 - Your favorite song at this time last year

All righty, Day 01 is your favourite song. Already I am feeling challenged beyond hope because I cannot name just one song. According to Last.fm, my most played song is Dawn of Destiny's Lost, which there isn't a clip of on YouTube. So, number two on that list is actually, DoD's "Lost." There is a clip for that, using some uninspired video game footage.



Number three on that list is "Tilsim" by the Turkish band, Almora. I never get sick of this song!



The third song I'll stick on this list (I don't care if it's considered cheating to name three songs) is probably my favourite metal song ever: "Ghost Love Score", by Nightwish. There is no official video for this 10 minute long tour-de-force, but here is the End of an Era version, which always brings a tear to my eye. This was the last time this song was ever performed properly, IMO, and I think that is fucking sad.



What about you? What would you put on this list?