Female Vocalists You Should Know About

We have all heard of Liv, and Tarja, and Floor, etc.  They require no introduction.

But there are TONS of female vocalists out there who are little known and need some cowbell.  So do the bands they front.  This series is intended to give some exposure to those female vocalists and their bands.

First up, Rute Fevereiro of Portugese Gothic metal band Enchantya.

Why you should check her out: because she's powerful and versatile, with the ability to growl with the big boys and sing in an angelic clean vox.  This girl has some range, peeps!

Enchantya's debut album, which came out in September of 2012, is entitled Dark Rising and was a really promising release by a band who've been around a while.  I reviewed the album for Sonic Cathedral, and you can read that here for more information.

In February 2013, Enchantya released a video for its song "Dark Rising".

Link love for Rute and Enchantya:

Rute's Facebook page
Enchantya on Facebook
Enchantya's web site

Farewell Elis

Yesterday Lichtenstein's Gothic metal band, Elis, announced that they were calling it quits, just a few days after their new singer Simone Christinat announced to the band she was leaving Elis due to too much stress.  Simone also sings for Legenda Aurea, and she replaces Elis's second vocalist, Sandra Schleret, who herself replaced original vocalists Sabine Dunser, who died of a brain hemorrhage in 2006.

The statement from the band reads:

We have to inform you that ELIS has passed into history.  Simone told us a couple of days ago, that she will leave ELIS immediately due to too much stress. 

We have decided now to quit the band. Too much things happened during all these years to continue once again. 

But on the other side, there were a lot of good and lucky moments in this almost ten years of ELIS. Therefore we want to say thank you for your support, your dedication and your friendship through all these years!

But this will not be the end of our musical careers, some projects are already in the pipeline. You will find more information about these things very soon on this location.

Cheers and take care!
Max, Tom, Pete, Chris

It seems like Elis has had really bad luck with their vocalists.  Simone had only been with the band 8 or 9 months before deciding to depart.  I'm not sure why Sandra left, but the band only recorded one CD with her, the rather excellent Catharsis.

I really liked Elis so I am sad to hear this!  I loved Sabine, but I also really enjoyed Sandra's voice when she sang with them.  I was looking forward to hearing how they sounded with Simone. They had strong, evocative music I enjoyed very much.  They will be missed!  Best wishes to them all!

Great Finds

This last week has been great in terms of discovering new bands.  I'm lucky to write for two web zines so I not only find out a lot from my fellow writers, but I also have access to promo copies of new albums, which is a lovely bonus.

Band #1 I've discovered recently is Arven, and their debut album Music of Light.  I just did a review of it for Sonic Cathedral and you can read it here. This almost all-girl band (the only male is the drummer) has some great material, and I totally recommend them if you like melodic, sort of medieval-y, sort of folky metal with great lyrics and catchy songs.

Another band I got really excited about is Weeping Silence.  Hailing from Malta, this Gothic sextet is really, really good.  I reviewed their most recent offering, Theatre of Life on Black Wind Metal, here.  I love Gothic metal and this album is a great example of what this genre is really about, which is not poppy, watered down crap.  WS is currently working on another album due out in 2012.  Can't wait!

From Greece, we have Meden Agan.  This is impressive stuff - symphonic power metal with a real opera singer, not a popera singer.  It's moody, it's bombastic, it's rich - it's fantastic stuff.  Singer Iliana, who is, like, 21, is an amazing vocalist with pipes along the lines of Chiara Malvestiti of Crysalys: powerful classical soprano sound that is just beautiful.  I highly recommend checking them out.  You can read a review of their album Erevos Aenaon on Sonic Cathedral here, written by my colleague Doctor T.

Narwhal Tusk is from Russia.  I'm in the process of tracking down a copy of their CD, but they do have four songs available for free download on their Reverbnation page.  I love what I've heard so far and look forward to hearing more.

That's all for now!

Some news

1. Nightwish’s  "Imaginaerum" film will be done with mostly Canadian actors/actresses. Post-production will take place in Canada and Finland. The names of the actors who have two of the main roles in the film are Marianne Farley and Quinn Lord. Behind the scene photo gallery.

2. Sonata Arctica changed release date   of the new  DVD "Live in Finland". The DVD will be released November 11th, Europe and November 15, North America. Teaser can be found here.                        

3. Delain completed the songwriting process for its third studio album, which will be released in the spring 2012. Videos from the studio can be seen here.

4. Opeth released the official music video of their first single "The Devil Orchard" from the new album "Heritage".

5. Evanescence's new song "Made of Stone" with lyrics is now avaible for streaming on their official site.

Short sample of Evanescence's new song

Amy had previously described the song as being "really different" from previous songs. "What You Want" is probably  the heaviest song Evanescence have ever made. According to Amy, the song is about freedom her relationship with the music and the fans.

The single "What You Want" will be released in early August and the new album "Evansecence" will be released on 11th October.

To see the short interview and hear the song check here.

New Find: Shear

I found this band via a comment left by John of Sugar and Spikes Music (Facebook here and MySpace here) and because they are a female fronted Finnish act, I had to give them a try.  Shear is a six-piece ensemble hailing from Helsinki and to date their only release has been a demo entitled "In Solitude."  According to their site, they are in the process of recording a full-length album.

The demo contains four tracks of what sound to my ear, at least, like power metal-Gothic metal crossover.  Vocalist Alexa Leroux has a ballsy voice with a lot of edge and the songs are heavy and melodic with lots of strong guitar and keyboard work.  The first two I listened to, "In Solitude" and "Mistakes" were all right, but the next two, "Scorched" and "Trapped in a Shell" were much better and perhaps foreshadow best what might come from this young band. 

Shear is:

Alexa Laroux - Vocals
Mikael Grönroos - Guitars
Eerik Purdon - Bass
Lari Sorvo - Keys
Lauri Koskenniemi - Guitars
Juhana Karlsson - Drums

Official Site
MySpace
Last.fm (where there are free downloads of the four songs from the demo)
Facebook

Here are some samples.  These are the two songs I thought were the stronger of the four.

CD Review: Sirenia's The Enigma of Life

This is Sirenia's follow-up to the rather ho-hum, not to mention short, The 13th Floor, and after that disappointing effort, I really didn't have any huge expectations about The Enigma of Life.

I have listened to this album several times though, and I can't shake this overwhelming feeling of ambivalence I have in reaction to what I hear.

On the first listen, I was prepared to write a semi-positive review; my initial reaction was of pleasant surprise. The album was better than I was expecting. For one thing, it's longer. For another, you cannot beat Morten Veland when it comes to creating catchy, hooky hooks. There is a much larger symphonic element present in EoL, which for me is a positive. Ailyn sounds good.

But on the fourth or fifth listen, the Morten Forumla starts to grate and an overwhelming sense of genericism settles in. The songs start to all sound the same: same structures, same choirs, same...everthing. At this point, it's hard to tell the tracks apart because they are so similar-sounding.

Veland can't seem to get beyond the verse-chorus-verse-chorus-guitar solo-choir-growling-chorus format. OK sometimes he varies it to verse-chorus-verse-choir-growling-solo-chorus. However it goes, the variations are slight.

I do have to say that the songs are just a tad more complex than they were in The 13th Floor, and for the most part they are longer than the previous album's 3:30 average length, yet they are still overly radio-friendly.

I enjoyed that there is a Spanish song on here, "Oscura Realidad", though it is sung to the same music as the first track, "The End of It All." Other songs I enjoyed were "A Seaside Serenade" and "Winter Lake."

Eye-roll inducing songs were "Fallen Angel," which just contained some terribly cliche lyrics and imagery, and "Darkened Days to Come" for similar reasons and because it was slightly cheesy.

My version contained a bonus track with an acoustic version of "The Enigma of Life," which was OK.

I do like Ailyn's voice. It's not bad at all, but again, I have some ambivalence: is it the right voice for the music, or is she kinda wasting her pipes with mediocre material? I just don't know.

All in all, it's a better album than The 13th Floor, and I am a sucker for catchy, hooky hooks, so that I liked. I just wish Morten could vary his formula more and perhaps move on to some less tired subject matter. There is a lot of great Gothic metal out there that isn't totally about internal doom & gloom. Yeah, you have to look a bit harder for it, but it does exist. Which is probably why I've grown out of Sirenia; Where Angels Fall has it going on, as does Akoma, as does Satyrian, etc.

As usual, just my two cents, for what they're worth. Horns neither up nor down for this one.

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

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."

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!

New Vid from Unsun: Home

Sorry for the lack of posting recently; both Eric & I have been crazy busy with work, school, and life in general. I do have some posts planned for when I can squeeze in the time to write them, but in the meantime here is Unsun's new video, "Home." I actually think it's a very cool-looking video, but I am undecided about how I feel about the song at the moment. I kind of have a soft spot for this band - I have no idea why - even though their first album was kind of mediocre for the standards of the Gothic metal genre.

Anyway, take a look for yourself and see what you think!

Leaves' Eyes' New Video

It's "Take the Devil in Me."

I really like these videos that show the band behind the scenes and just acting natural, hanging out, and having a good time.

Leaves' Eyes is apparently opening for Kamelot on their upcoming North American tour. I might have to see if they're coming to Vancouver or Calgary, because I'd pay the money just to see Leaves' Eyes!

Enjoy.



Edit @ 6:28pm: Well, no Leaves' Eyes for me. I just checked out Kamelot's tour schedule & the only Canadian shows they're playing are in Toronto & Montreal. How typical!

Today is Canada Day! There will be partying, and I believe I will be downing some margaritas later on today!

In celebration, I thought I'd highlight a few Canadian artists for you.

First we have Anemonia, a Gothic metal outfit from Montreal. Apparently, their singer, Cassiopee, was in the short list to replace Tarja in Nightwish. This is a great song by Anemonia called "Enchanting Melodies of Eternal Night."



Blackguard also hails from Montreal and they are one hard-working band, having toured with Ensiferum and Epica to name a few. James has actually seen them live and he said they put on a great show. While their music isn't exactly my cup of tea, I still admire their work ethic and speed - and they have a female drummer! This is "Scarlet to Snow" from their only CD so far, Profugus Mortis.



Finally, a female fronted power metal band from Quebec City (are you seeing the theme, here? La Belle Province is the metal hub in this country!), Forgotten Tales. Here is "Sanctuary" from their first album, The Promise.

Ballads Away: Elis's "Rainbow"

I have really liked Lichenstien's Gothic metal outfit, Elis, ever since I discovered them a few years ago. Tragically, their original singer, Sabine Dunser, suddenly passed away before the age of 30 of a cerebral hemmorage, and she was eventually replaced with Austrian vocalist Sandra Schleret. I totally dig Sandra! She sounds amazing on Elis's newest CD, Catharsis, and I even like her unique, Asian-inspired sense of style. Catharsis is without a doubt my favourite Elis effort; though the vocals have a different style, the songwriting is the band's strongest, and Sandra rocks big time.

There is one ballad on Catharsis, and it's called "Rainbow." I love it. The lyrics are beautiful, and the song itself is just...goose-bump-inducing.

Here are the lyrics:

Rainbow

Fate touched my life
Led you my way
Within a heartbeat
I was caught by your light

The surface shivered
Unveiled so unexpected beauty
True and fateful bright

You are the thought that covers me tonight
Beautiful soul, sacred ways of life
Unfold my wings,reach out for your light
To shelter you from pain tonight

A flare in time
Gathered our souls
As they touched gently
Sacred ways of fate

Love entered my life
So unexpected though so welcome
Living in your eyes

And though I know my fight begins
My soul's melting within

You are the thought that covers me tonight
Beautiful soul, sacred ways of life
Unfold my wings, reach out for your light
My heart it breaks for you tonight

My heart steady beats for you (eternal on, eternal on)
No despairing darkness can blind my sight
Show me your colours, my ray of light...
I'm burning bright, alive!

You are the thought that covers me tonight
Beautiful soul, sacred ways of life
Unfold my wings, reach out for your light
Never forsake, it's once in a life...

And here is the song. Enjoy!

CD Review: ReVamp's "ReVamp"

The disbandment of After Forever in 2009 was a tough experience for a lot of fans of the band and in the symphonic metal world. It came as a surprise and everyone was curious on what would happen with the members of the group, especially ex-lead singer Floor Jansen, who has started a new band named ReVamp, a symphonic/gothic metal group.

Alongside Floor on their first album is After Forever's ex-keyboardist Joost van den Broek who provides a lot of the symphonic sounds on this first release. Besides the fact that Floor sings for this group, the fact remains that his contributions on the band's debut really makes it sound "After Foreverish" besides just Floor's vocals. I must say that as similar in style as ReVamp is to After Forever, there are some noticeable differences. ReVamp is much more edgier, angsty, and angry than what After Forever ever was. Looking at the album art and session photos of Floor and the band, it is no wonder what kind of image they were able to pull off here.

One of the big things I admire about this album are Floor's vocals. She really is the bright point of this release and without her, it just would not be the same! Her feelings, emotions, and power really come through on just about every song on this album and she sounds just as good as ever, if not even more powerful and versatile than with After Forever. I must say that as much as she does so well with the vocals on "ReVamp", can the songs provide her justice? Well, let's look into that in my song by song review:

1. "Here's My Hell": I must say, the opening section of this song is very epic and powerful with the symphonic chaos that is unfolding. The song is extremely heavy, fast, and dark. The chorus is very powerful and it will not disappoint fans of old After Forever or symphonic metal in general. A great way to start the album and is indeed the best song this album has to offer! 4/5

2. "Head Up High": This is the most popular song that this band has put out so far. While not the most impressive song out there, it has it's good moments. The chorus part is very catchy, the instrumental breakdown sounds great with a nice wah-wah guitar solo. Floor really gives out a nice performance here as well. 3.5/5

3. "Sweet Curse": This is a ballad that features Symphony X's Russell Allen. If you are unfamiliar with him, he is quite the vocalist with a lot of power and tone. But in this song, he does a fairly good job, but not at the level of what we would expect from him. Floor does a good job providing some depth in the chorus, but the song is just rather average and nothing too special. Both singers are class, even though they do not show all of their potential here. The lyrics however are perhaps the best written on the album. 3/5

4. "Million": This one is faster paced in a way that reminds me of "Here's My Hell". It has a lot of intensity and feels like an old After Forever song. One of the album's better and more epic tracks. It has a nice breakdown section and guitar solo. 3.5/5

5. "In Sickness 'Till Death Do Us Part- All Goodbyes are Said": This is the point where the quality of the album starts to go down. This is the first part out of three in the "In Sickness 'Till Death Do Us Part" series. The song is a narration of a mother and a patient. Both parts are sung by Floor. This is the best song in the series, but this is still just a rather average symphonic metal song. Nothing here is really memorable. 2.5/5

6. "Break": This song as you guessed takes a break from the ISTDDUP series. This song is written more progressively than most of the album, but this is another song that I find pretty bland and more like a filler with some very depressing lyrics. Once again, nothing here is memorable, except Floor's voice but even she can't help the song. 2.5/5

7. "In Sickness 'Till Death Do Us Part- Disdain": The second song in the ISTDDUP series. This song is very forgetful though. For one thing, this song is VERY heavy and has some cool little guitar riffs here and there, but it just doesn't work too well with Björn "Speed" Strid as a guest vocalist on this song. He literally sings like a hardcore vocalist would, which kind of throws me off and makes this song sound too over the top. I am sure he does a fine job in his band Soilwork, but his excessive shouting in this song sounds a little overdone and over dramatic to me. Plus, the lyrics aren't good which doesn't help at all. Definitely the album's worst song. 1.5/5

8. "In Sickness 'Till Death Do Us Part- Disgraced": The third and final part of the ISTDDUP series. This is another very mediocre song once again. Nothing really stands out and the song is really boring with the exception of Floor's voice. 2/5

9. "Kill Me With Silence": Right from the beginning, the song is very boring and never really picks up from there. Floor sounds good but the song is just not anything to brag about. Very bland and repetitive. 2/5

10. "Fast Forward": I give the song this; it has a very nice intro and main melody to it. But after the intro, it begins to become very boring to me and it never picks up any kind of thrill since the intro. Another filler song that never takes off. 2.5/5

11. "The Trial of Monsters": The guitar and symphonic work in this song are actually quite clever. There are however some very corny and cheesy lyrics though. Despite this, "The Trial of Monsters" is one of the stronger tracks on the album. Floor's voice sounds great in this song with plenty of power and attitude. 3.5/5

12. "Under My Skin": This is definitely a filler song too, but I admit the middle instrumental section of the song is pretty cool and it really gives this song a boost. It's okay and worth a listen, but not very interesting at all. 3/5

13. "I Lost Myself": A piano ballad. Floor sounds pretty and nice as she normally does in these types of songs, but I don't find this song very interesting though as it is very average and steady with no real good hooks or interesting parts. It's worth a listen though. 3/5

14. "No Honey For the Damned": This is the bonus track for this album. It has some good riffs and nice symphonic parts that really flow well here and there and Floor's voice sounds very good too, but there isn't much here to take in as it is just an average symphonic metal song that doesn't really stand out. Solid, but not amazing. 3/5

So that is my review of "ReVamp". Here is my overall impression:

Pros:
-Floor's vocals are top notch as expected
-Impressive symphonic sounds and melodies through the production

Cons:
-Too many average, boring, and filler songs
-Lyrics aren't that good
-The band sounds uninspired and bland at times
-"Distain", they could have left that one out

So as much as I admire and adore Floor with her great voice, this album really just did not cut it for me like the way After Forever was. It could have been better in my opinion. Something was missing here, and trust me I really wanted to like this album more, but it really is like a hit or miss album that only has a few good songs. "Here's My Hell", "Head Up High", "Million", and "The Trail of Monsters" are the best and the only songs that seem to stand out to me. Besides those songs, the rest is either filler, average, bland, or just not good like "Distain" or "Kill Me with Silence" is for example. I am a bit disappointed because I really think Floor is a great vocalist that really needs some better material to work with. I am going to have to give this a horns down unfortuneatly, even though I really do not want to. /w\ I see what they want to do with what they got as they tried to put some "edge" into the music, but this is really just an average and bland symphonic/gothic metal album that isn't much different than what other bands in the genre are doing. It's not the worst album and it is only their first release, so I have to give them a little slack. I do think they can and will make some better material in the future. Only time will tell. So listen and buy at your own risk!

Overall rating: 2.5/5

30 Day Music Challenge, Day 30: My Favourite Song at this Time Last Year

Finally - the end!

I'm pretty sure the songs that were my favourites last year are still my favourites now, if my Last.fm stats are anything to go by. Still at the top of my mental list & my Last.fm Top Tracks list are Dawn of Destiny's "Rain," "Days of Crying," and "Lost"; Sonata Arctica's "Sing in Silence"; and then songs by bands that I've discovered in the last year, like Almora and Sabaton. And we all know of my love for Nightwish, so I won't bother posting anything from them here this time!

Let's go with a band I haven't listened to in ages, maybe even a year: Xandria! Xandria is a German Gothic-ish metal band, also currently without a permanent lead singer. They are a really underrated band, though, and I loved Lisa Middelhauve (she is the original singer who left and was replaced, then that replacement left, and now Lisa is filling in until a new permanent singer is found).This is "Now and Forever," a very cool tune I think I really need to become reacquainted with...



And that ends this meme! Now, on to bigger & better things!

30 Day Music Challenge, Day 28: A Song that Makes Me Feel Guilty

This was a tough one, which is why I procrastinated so long in posting this. No song really makes me feel guilty, at least no song that I know of so far in my life. But, for the purpose of this meme, we'll go with this track by Gothic metal band Satyrian (this video isn't exactly my bag, however...).

Carmen R. Lorch (ex Schäfer) leaves Coronatus

Some news from the symphonic/gothic metal community. After reading the post that Dawn of Destiny now has two singers, I was curious about Coronatus. So as I did, I just discovered that their long time vocalist, Carmen R. Lorch (ex Schäfer) , just left the group with this letter on their main website.

This leaves Coronatus without a vocalist as their other member, Lisa Lashe, left the group in January. So at this time, Coronatus has no vocalist(s).

Links:

Carmen's bio

Coronatus' last.fm page

30 Day Music Challenge, Day 23: A Song I Want to Play at My Wedding

Let's get another one over and done with for the day! And this one is tough...

I'll go with Lacuna Coil's "Entwined." Not exactly the most romantic, happy, and positive outlook on relationships, but this song does kind of illustrate the complexity of relationships: the struggles, but also the sacrifices and "the ties that bind." I think this is a really beautiful, powerful song.