In Metal We Trust

Sabaton was formed back in 1999 in Falun, Sweden and worked hard with demos and small club shows just like any other band.

An album was recorded in 2002 bearing the name of Fist for Fight on an independent label in Italy but was never released.

In 2004 the band began to be quite angry about their trouble to get an album out on the market but decided to forget about the past and started all over again. A new demo was recorded bearing the title of Panzer Battalion. At this point Sabaton had become much better songwriters and the quality of the songs was a lot higher than before which of course gave result.
Several labels immediately contacted Sabaton but after stranded negotiations Sabaton decided to record an album without any help from any label. Primo Victoria was recorded and was fully paid by the band members themselves. With this masterpiece in their hands the band now returned to some labels and the bidding started. Winner was the Swedish label Black Lodge who gave a fair offer and a deal was made.

About one year later, in 2005, Primo Victoria was one of the most successful debuts ever to come from a metal band on an independent record label.
The band played bigger and bigger clubs and was soon one of the most popular bands in Sweden. Meanwhile Sabaton also was launched into the European market which led to immediate success.
At this time it was no longer possible to have a “normal” life so jobs, apartments and girlfriends had to go away. This was a hard sacrifice but the band decided that the band goes first.
About one year later Sabaton entered the studio once more with the mission to follow up the great success of Primo Victoria.
The result of this session was to become one of the best selling metal albums in Sweden in 2006 and win several awards worldwide.
Before the release and to promote the two albums Sabaton went on a 6 week European tour with Edguy and DragonForce.
That tour became a great success and was followed up by the release of Attero Dominatus. The band was now recognized all over the continent and was now able to successfully tour as headliner in Europe for the first time.

In 2006 the band did more shows than most bands and was able to handle three European tours plus being the opener for Lordi in Sweden.

The first activity in 2007 was a five week long European tour with Therion and Grave Digger. This was a very successful tour for Sabaton and journalists all around Europe praised Sabaton over their tour mates.
Once Attero Dominatus had been released, and after almost 2 years of negotiation with an earlier record label, the original debut album of Sabaton saw the light of day when it finally became available as a double-CD compilation called Metalizer.
Even though it was just intended for the fans and gained no real hype or marketing campaign it still reached #1 position on Swedish hard rock selling charts and topped the leading record stores sales for months.
The album was also followed up by the first bigger headline tour of Sabaton which reached several European countries from east to west and lasted for about five weeks.
During 2007 the band was one of the hardest touring metal bands and did over 80 shows in more then 20 European countries and played at several of the biggest festivals in Europe.
This bodes well for the future and new albums!

In January 2008 it was time again for a new recording and with material good enough to top the previous albums, the band returned once more to abyss studios where they worked with both Tommy and Peter Tägtgren to reach a new level with the new album.
The new album was to be based upon an ancient book called “The Art of War” which was written 600 years B.C. by a Chinese general, so a great amount of research was made.
With a heavier sound, much more powerful songs and fantastic new artwork, the album The Art of War was ready to invade record stores worldwide in March.
But as the band refused to take a rest, they instead packed their bags and travelled to America for their first US show in Austin, Texas during the huge South By Southwest week. The band returned triumphant to Sweden with new deals and contacts and America now stands ready to fall.
Awaiting the release of The Art of War, the band, which still consisting of the original members, has already booked up every weekend for 6 months with over 60 shows, including the main stages of several of Europe’s biggest festivals and one big headline tour plus one of the most massive tour a metalband have done in Sweden since years.

Line up:
Joakim Brodén – vocals
Rickard Sundén – guitars
Oskar Montelius – guitars
Pär Sundström – bass
Daniel Mullback – drums
Daniel Mÿhr – keyboards

www.sabaton.net

A new Therion album always demands a profound investigation; by ingenious composer Cristofer Johnsson as well as by me, before writing down my impressions. The music of the Swedish symphonic metal band appears to be multilayered and the baroque melodies demand your ultimate concentration. Only then, it seems that they have an ingenious catchiness after a few spins. When more and more parts become familiar, a bond with the new music is about to be created. That’s what happened with ‘Sitra Ahra’ once again!

It always made me wonder how Cristofer Johnsson manages to classify his new born compositions in a slightly mathematic order and put them on a shelf for a certain album. With this album we have arrived at the fourth and last album of a quadralogy and most of these songs have been written during the sessions for ‘Sirius B’ and ‘Lemuria’. A direct link is the song ‘Kali Yuga III’. However, do not see these songs as leftovers, these are proper Therion songs that had to mature like vintage wine. The first encounter with ‘Sitra Ahra’ is impressive, that’s what I want to put first.

Many words have been written about the new musicians, helping Cristofer out on this musical adventure. In brief: Thomas Vikström (once known from Candlemass) is recruited as new permanent vocalist and besides a fine rock singer, he appears to be a classical trained tenor. Snowy Shaw has also decided to stay. A new Swedish rhythm section has been invigorated by the Argentinean guitarist Christian Vidal who recorded guitar solos for this album, while Waldemar Sorychta contributed with preproduction and most of the rhythm guitars. On the upcoming tour, he will be the live session bassist. The album is recorded in a new home studio, but it was mixed by Lennart Östlund at the infamous Polar Studios (Led Zeppelin, Abba).

The title track invites us with high-shrieked opera chants and smooth rocking symphonic rock. This album brims with massive choirs: male, female and even a child’s choir in the last track. Most of the songs have a solid guitar base, now and then some melodic solos pop up, but classical music and a kind of progressiveness prevail. That’s what we learn in the nine minutes long ‘Kings Of Edom’ with its gentle acoustic guitar interludes. ‘Unguentum Sabbati’ has an infectious downwards crescendo that reminds me of ‘Echoes’ from Pink Floyd. It is the main melody of this doom-like song. A magnificent highlight is the ten minutes long epic ‘Land Of Canaan’. So much is happening here, words cannot describe this opulence of ideas. What can we think of a sober beginning with percussion and harpsichord, while later on harmonica and flutes are featured and again later an accordion regales those typical Therion sounds. But also vocal-wise, this epos pulls out all the stops: choirs or solo spots; it is a real adventure to listen to.

A cello opens ‘Hellequin’, but an acceleration with pithy choirs leaps more to the eye. Catchy guitar chords feature ‘2012’, in the symphonic part violins appear in the front, but the guitar solo is beautiful too. The choir has a very catchy – and familiar sounding – melody in ‘Cu Chulain’. In ‘The Shells Are Open’, the musical backbone is again very open and accessible, but voluminous choirs add a solemn tinge. The short and fast ‘Din’ has any blackened influences (raucous vocals), even if we hear any high-pitched shrieks à la Halford as well. To occlude we have the calm, contemplative ‘After The Inquisition: Children Of The Stone’ which persists a gentle timbre with flute, acoustic guitars and childlike choirs. It remains rather slow and has a progressive touch. Now and then we hear vintage organ on this record and the spirit of the seventies surely rules, yet in that typical Therion way. The execution of this new bundle of ideas of Cristofer Johnsson is a musical journey that will fascinate many people for hours (the album itself is more than one hour long). Top notch quality!

Source: www.lordsofmetal.nl

Amberian Dawn is a symphonic power metal band that formed in 2006 in Finland. Their music combines melodic, dramatic and powerful metal with female soprano vocals. The band currently consists of Heidi Parviainen (vocals), Tuomas Seppälä (keyboards, guitar), Emil Pohjalainen (guitar), Kasperi Heikkinen (guitars), Tommi Kuri (bass), and Joonas Pykälä-Aho (drums).

Amberian Dawn is musically lead by keyboardist/guitarist Tuomas Seppälä, who exclusively composes all music for AD. Vocalist Heidi Parviainen adds the finishing touch to the songs with her lyrics.

All members of the band have some form of extended history with music and have played in many different bands. Tuomas Seppälä, Heikki Saari (drums), Peter James Goodman (vocals), and Tommi Kuri played in a band called Virtuocity. As Virtuocity disbanded, they started working on songs composed by Tuomas. He started playing guitar, which he mastered as well as playing keyboards. Sampo Seppälä (guitars) and Tom Sagar (keyboards) joined to establish Atheme One.

It was in the summer of 2006 that Tuomas and Tommi decided to start looking for a female classical singer. Tuomas had composed dozens of songs that were not suitable for the voice of Atheme One’s vocalist, Peter James Goodman. They didn’t want to waste the songs, so they began searching for suitable singer.

After a few weeks search, almost at the same time, they found the same advertisement – a classical soprano singer Heidi Parviainen (from the band Iconofear). They listened to her sample and decided to organize a demo session. They were pleased with the demo and thought that Heidi would be a perfect match and they liked the fact that Heidi can write lyrics too.

Their first studio session was in fall 2006 in which they recorded two songs (River Of Tuoni and Evil Inside Me) at the Rockstar Productions studio in Hyvinkää, Finland. Soon after, Heikki Saari moved to a band called Norther, being replaced by Joonas Pykälä-Aho (from the band Thaurorod and Lathspell).

After a while Sampo Seppälä decided to leave the band due to personal reasons. On August 1, 2007 the band introduced Kasperi Heikkinen (previously in Guardians Of Mankind, Merging Flare, and Iconofear) as the new guitarist.

Amberian Dawn signed a record deal with Finnish label KHY Suomen Musiikki. Their debut album, “River Of Tuoni”, was released in Finland on January 30, 2008 and hit the charts right after release in Finland.

In the summer and Autumn of 2008, they were the main support for Epica’s European tour. In late 2008, they recorded their second album The Clouds of Northland Thunder which was released in June of 2009.

www.amberiandawn.com

Entwine was originally assembled as a death metal band under name ‘Kaamos’ (‘Polar night’ in English) in Lahti, Finland in 1995 by guitarist and vocalist Tom Mikkola, drummer Aki Hanttu and bassist Teppo Taipale. In 1997 they decided to change Entwine’s musical style to gothic metal and rhythm guitarist and vocalist Panu Willman was shortly after added to the band’s line-up. In December of that year, Entwine recorded its first demo, entitled Divine Infinity. In February of 1998 keyboard player Riitta Heikkonen joined the band.

Entwine’s debut album Treasures Within Hearts was released it in September of 1999. In April of 2000 both Willman and Taipale left the band, with the latter being replaced by Joni Miettinen. Vocalist Mika Tauriainen was added to the band on the following month.

The band’s next album Gone was released in April of 2001. It received the award of “Album of the Month” from German magazine Hammer and the song “New Dawn” entered the “Finnish Single Charts” in one of the top ten positions.

Jaani Kähkönen joined the band as a live session guitarist in late 2001, but soon became a permanent member of Entwine. In early 2002 the band recorded their third album, Time of Despair, which was produced by Anssi Kippo. Entwine then toured Europe with Theatre of Tragedy and Ram-Zet to promote this release.

In 2003 Entwine recorded their fourth album, diEversity, released in March of 2004. This albums showed an evolution on their sound, abandoning some of the band’s gothic roots and opting for a heavier style.

Entwine released in August of 2005 an EP containing five tracks, entitled Sliver.

In August 2006 Entwine released their fifth album entitled ‘Fatal Design’ and toured in Europe with German gothic rock band Zeraphine.

On December 8 2006, keyboardist Riitta Heikkonen announced her departure from the band citing personal reasons. No replacement is planned.

On May 3rd, 2008, Entwine announced that they have begun working on their sixth studio album which will be produced by Hiili Hiilesmaa (HIM, Apocalyptica, Sentenced), and recorded over the summer. The album, entitled ‘Painstained’ was released on January 28th, 2009.

www.entwine.org

This is a fan-made tribute video for Sabine Dünser. R.I.P.

Krypteria is a power metal band from Germany. Founded in 2001, the band is now headed by Korean singer Ji-In Cho. In the beginning, the idea was to use different vocalists, though, Ji-in took this place in 2004. They have released four studio albums and one EP, the latest one being My Fatal Kiss of 2009.

They started in 2001 when Chris Siemons, Frank Stumvoll and S.C. Kuschnerus wanted to do a fantasy-musical CD. There was no singer at this time, because they wanted to record the CD with many different vocalists. In 2003 their debut album Krypteria was released. One year after, a big flood was in India and the German TV station RTL asked them to take Liberatio as a benefit single. They decided to take Ji-In to as the singer of the band. In 2005 their second album In Medias Res was released. Before joining Krypteria, Ji-In had participated in the auditions a TV talent show “Popstars” to be a member of No Angels, but she was eliminated. There was a big hype in Korea, about their second album and their song Victoriam Speramus became number 1 hit there.

The next recording was an EP – Evolution Principle was released in 2006.

On January 19, 2007, Krypteria released their third and latest studio album, the first one with a title in English, Bloodangel’s Cry. It is titled after one of the tracks, The Night All Angels Cry. Bloodangel’s Cry is so far the band’s most successful work. BUT In early 2008, the band announced that they were working on their third studio album My Fatal Kiss, which they released as follows:

* in August 28th, 2009 – Germany;
* in January 29th, 2010 – the rest of Europe.

In Spring/Summer 2010 they will relesed it in the rest of the world.

Official site: www.krypteria.de

Lunatica is a symphonic metal band that was formed in Suhr, Switzerland in November 1998. The band consists of Andrea Dätwyler (vocals), Sandro D’Incau (guitars), Emilio Barrantes (bass), Alex Seiberl (keyboards), and Ronny Wolf (drums). Former members include Andy Leuenberger (guitars), Beat Brack (bass), and Ermes Di Prisco (drums).

The foundations were placed by Alex Seiberl and Sandro D’Incau but couldn’t find a lead singer for the band. After a long search for a lead singer, the band found Andrea in 2001. She became the lead vocalist and their debut album, “Atlantis”, was released later in the same year.

“Atlantis” was very successful and Lunatica were booked for many concerts and festivals. Playing at Metaldayz festival (the biggest metal open air festival in Switzerland), Lunatica was elected “best newcomer band” and gained a lot of new fans.

For the second album, “Fables & Dreams”, the band worked together with successful producer Sascha Paeth, known for productions of Rhapsody, Kamelot, Angra, After Forever, Edguy, and Heavens Gate. Sascha Paeth created the powerful production Lunatica desired. The songs were developed better and the band had more time to compose and arrange them.

“Fables & Dreams” was released on February 16, 2004 in Switzerland and climbed directly to place 13 of the Swiss Internet Charts. This continued to be a success over that year.

Lunatica released their third studio album, “The Edge of Infinity”, in August 2006.

A new album has been recorded and is set to release in early 2009.

Official site: www.lunatica.ch

:HEVEIN is a rock/metal band from Helsinki, Finland:

:HEVEIN released their first album “Sound Over Matter” in 2005:

:HEVEIN’s second album “Gentle Anarchy” has been under construction since early 2006:

They are currently searching for a record contract to release this material.

:HEVEIN are:

Piipari – Violin
Jaakkola – Bass
Uotila – Drums
Immonen – Vocals
Lilja – Cello
Hedström – Guitar/Vocals