Suspyre – A Great Divide (2007) – Nightmare Records

Este é o segundo álbum para os Suspyre (e primeiro para a Nightmare), e divide-se em duas partes: Opus II “The Alignment Of Galaxies” e Opus III “The Origin Of A Curse”. Não sei muito sobre a banda pois apenas tenho acesso a um pequeno texto incluído no promocional. Pelos nomes dos músicos imagino que sejam dos USA e, pelos títulos das duas partes do disco e dos temas, imagino que este seja um disco conceptual, talvez a continuação da estreia (visto que aqui não existe um Opus I). Tirando todos estes pormenores (sim, porque a música é o mais importante afinal de contas) vamos à parte instrumental propriamente dita. Fusão de Heavy, Power, Progressivo e alguma música de orientação clássica, jazzística e de fusão, temas longos balançando com temas mais curtos, passagens mais orquestrais em perfeita harmonia com o Heavy Metal tradicional e o Metal Progressivo. Os elementos de Suspyre são todos excelentes músicos e compositores e nestas 12 faixas conseguiram criar um fantástico disco de Metal moderno de fusão com música erudita. Aconselho vivamente a fãs deste tipo de sonoridades. RDS

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Nightmare Records: www.nightmare-records.com

Suspyre: www.suspyre.com / www.myspace.com/suspyre

Consortium Project IV - Children Of Tomorrow (2007) - Metal Heaven

Inicialmente, o Consortium Project do vocalista Ian Parry (Elegy) era para ser uma trilogia mas, como podem ver, o referido músico deve ter gostado imenso do que fez nos 3 discos do projecto e quis continuar a saga. A nível lírico, CP IV continua onde o terceiro capítulo acabou, dando uma continuação lógica a esta obra conceptual. O primeiro disco "Criminals & Kings" (1999) era um excelente disco de Progressive Metal e havia chamado a minha atenção para o projecto. O segundo "Continuum In Extremis" (2001) seguia na mesma linha mas tinha mais inclinações Heavy / Power. Já o terceiro "Terra Incognita (The undiscovered world)" (2003) estava muito colado ao anterior em termos instrumentais, mas também tinha os seus pontos de interesse. Não era tão bom, mas era uma continuação (e final) válida para a trilogia. Agora temos um novo disco, mais variado em termos musicais, Progressive Metal, Hard Rock, Heavy, Power, Rock sinfónico, há um pouco de tudo nestes 11 temas. Para não variar, Ian Parry rodeou-se de excelentes músicos de diversas proveniências, de bandas como Elegy, Within Temptation, Winters Bane, CP III, etc. Não são tantos convidados como nos lançamentos anteriores mas são todos excelentes músicos. Para não variar, este novo trabalho tem selo de uma editora diferente de todos os anterioes. 4 discos em 4 editoras. Vai ser muito difícil, no futuro, adquirir toda a saga, a não ser que seja reeditada numa única editora; talvez numa caixa com todos os discos ou qualquer produto do género. Para quem gostou dos anteriores, aqui está a continuação. Para quem não conhece o projecto, este não é o disco indicado para se iniciar no Consortium Project. Ou até pode ser! Este é um grande disco de Heavy / Power / Progressive que vos poderá agradar. De qualquer maneira, o meu conselho é ir adquirindo / ouvindo por ordem de lançamento. RDS

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Metal Heaven: www.metalheaven.net
Ian Parry: www.ianparry.com

Cloudscape – Crimson Skies (2006) – Metal Heaven

Este é já o segundo álbum desta banda sueca de Metal neoclássico com uma forte orientação para o Metal Progressivo. Já tinha gostado do primeiro álbum homónimo (editado em 2005 pela Metal Heaven) e este está ainda melhor. O primeiro álbum continha temas dos primórdios da banda junto com temas compostos na altura, mas este novo trabalho já contém apenas temas compostos de propósito para o álbum, daí soar mais homogéneo. As influências neoclássicas continuam por cá., embora este álbum seja mais Progressivo e muito mais melódico que o anterior, até com alguns refrões a roçar o AOR, mas sempre sem perder pitada de peso. O som de produção é similar pois o disco foi gravado no mesmo estúdio, Roastinghouse Studios, com o mesmo produtor Pontus Lindmark e Anders “Theo” Theander como produtor executivo. A capa também segue o mesmo estilo da anterior, tendo sido desenhada pela mesma pessoa, Mattias Norén. Como se costuma dizer, em equipa vencedora não se mexe, e foi exactamente o que fizeram os Cloudscape.O grande problema é que, apesar dos temas serem bons, não têm uma certa identidade que os distinga do próximo e/ou do anterior, e passado um bocado o álbum torna-se um pouco monótono, e como tem uma duração de uma hora (a maioria dos temas ultrapassa os 5 minutos), a meio do álbum já nos parece que nunca mais vai acabar e só nos apetece carregar no stop. Entre 40 a 45 minutos teria sido mais rentável, com menos temas, ou então encurtando um pouco os temas. Mesmo assim um bom álbum de Heavy / Power / Prog com boas ideias e agradável de ouvir. RDS

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Metal Heaven: www.metalheaven.net
Cloudscape: www.cloudscape.se
GerMusica: www.germusica.com

Cloudscape - Entrevista

1 – This new album is more into Progressive Metal than the debut, but also more melodic. It just came out like this or did you really wanted to write it this way?

We didn´t have a certain formula for “Crimson skies” except for making it a bit more progressive, dynamic and varied. In general I think “Crimson skies” is more melodic, atmospheric and progressive compared to our debut. I also think that we have created a unique sound for Cloudscape with “Crimson skies” that resembles our musical base. However, I think and hope that the people and fans who liked our debut will like “Crimson skies” as well.

2 – “Cloudscape” included some songs from your early days as a band, but this new record was entirely composed now. Does this affected the way you composed the songs and how the final product sounds?

Well, we composed the new songs for “Crimson skies” the exact way like on the debut but, we have found ourselves musically and we feel more comfortable in our songwriting now. We were also more inspired in the studio during the recordings of “Crimson skies” because of the fact that all songs were “new”. On the debut there were as you say a few songs that were quite old and, we were kinda tired of those songs due to all years of rehearsing. They did turn out great in the studio and we are very satisfied with them but, it´s funnier to perform those songs live compared to playing/practising them in the rehearsalstudio.

3 – How would you say this new album differs from the debut?

The musical style is the same but, “Crimson skies” is more thoughtout, varied, melodic and dynamic. Still as heavy as the debut thou.

4 – The cover artwork was once again made by Mattias Norén. Did you loved the debut’s artwork and wanted him to do the new one, or did you wanted to maintain a sense of continuity with a similar artwork?

We love all of Mattias work so, choosing him to do our new artwork was obvious. We will most likely hire him to create our third album artwork as well.

5 – You are also preparing a side project called Planet Alliance to be released soon through Metal Heaven. How did you started it, what kind of style has the band and who is in the band?

The style is also melodic metal but, not as progressive as Cloudscape. In general I think fans of Cloudscape will like the “Planet Alliance” album as well. It all started by German label “Metal Heaven” contacting Anders “Theo” Theander at Roastinghouse productions and asked him if he could put together a projectband with me on vocals. Me and Theo discussed what musicians we wanted to include in the line up so, me and Magnus Karlsson started to compose songs for the album and Bob Daisley and Janne Stark provided with a few songs as well.

The line up in Planet Alliance are:

(Me) Mike Andersson (Cloudscape)

Magnus Karlsson (Allen/Lande Project, Starbreaker)

Bob Daisley (ex Ozzy Osbourne, Gary Moore)

Anders Johansson (ex Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Hammerfall)

Carl-Johan Grimmark (Narnia, Rob Rock)

Magnus Rosén (Hammerfall)

Janne Stark (Locomotive Breath, Overdrive)

Jaime Salazar (Allen/Lande Project, ex Flower Kings)

And special guest: Mattias “IA” Eklundh (Freak Kitchen).

6 – What kind of subjects did you used for the lyrics in this record?

Everything, hehe. There´s no red thread on the album lyrically. Each song has it´s own story. The song called “Hope” is about how a parent survives the loss of a child. “Psychic Imbalance” is about a person who suffers a mental breakdown. “Shapeshifter” is about humans living side by side with replicants/aliens but, without being aware of it. The lyrics I write are often about things that people can relate to while Roger Landins lyrics are more “fantasy/horror”.

7 – Do you have a tour already prepared to promote the record?

Not really. We have a few concerts booked but, no tour confirmed yet. A German booker is trying to organize a small tour in Germany later this year but, that ain´t official yet and we don´t know whether it will happen or not right now. We really hope that we will get the opportunity of touring in as many countries as possible to promote “Crimson skies” so, we have to keep our fingers crossed;).

8 – Nowadays the heavy and power scenes are stronger, with lots of new bands, the older ones are reuniting again. What would you say that Cloudscape have to offer that some other Heavy Metal / Power Metal / Progressive Metal bands can’t?

New fresh metal, hehe. Basically our music is influenced by the metalbands from the seventies and eighties but, we do it more “updated”. Francly, I don´t see “music” as competition since it is based on “moods” and “emotions”. We compose the music we love and hope that our fans and listeners will love it as well so, I think it is up to our fans to figure out what Cloudscape can “offer” that older bands don´t;).

9 – Do you want to leave a final message to your fans?

Absolutely, I´m delighted to!!We love you all. Without YOU this would be meaningless. Thanx for all Your support and keep up supporting us:) If you have missed out on Cloudscape please check out our new album called “Crimson skies” and our self-titled debut released in 2005. Please visit us on the internet and say “hi”:

www.cloudscape.se / www.myspace.com/cloudscapemetal
Cheers and stay metal….SPREAD THE WORD!!!
Yours sincerely: Mike Andersson

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Entrevistador: RDS

Entrevistado: Mike Andersson - Vocals
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Metal Heaven: www.metalheaven.net
Cloudscape: www.cloudscape.se
GerMusica: www.germusica.com

Symphorce - Entrevista

1 – The new album is more diverse than the previous records. We can listen to the usual Symphorce style but some tracks are way more Thrashy, some are more melodic with a traditional Hard Rock approach and we even have a couple of Gothic Metal oriented tunes. Did it just came out like this or did you really wanted to write this kind of eclectic songs?

We didn’t plan the sound of our new album. We all wanted to record a new Symphorce album and like you wrote, we did. You can hear it in every single song. We’re Symphorce, we’re back, and we’re gonna kick some ass…. But we didn’t remain standing. We’ve never been a band who let sound one album like a previous one. Listen to the last 4 Albums and you will see an evolution. This record is the result of it. Everybody of us has a different and wide spreaded taste of music. If something sounded well, we took it. Why should we limit our music? Metal is a style with a lot of influences. We took most of them…

2 – Are you satisfied with this new album, the songs, the recording process, production, final product?

Yeesssssssssss… we are. This album includes everything we felt: Rawness, aggressions, sentimentality. I like the mixture between the smooth electronic parts and the brutal guitar riffs. Even the preproduction sounded very well. The sound was terrible, but you could feel the result. Right after that, everything went very fast. The studiojob wasn’t easy going, we recorded as fast as possible, but everybody did a great job. I think, more time would not lead to a better sound. We’ve been prepared very well and everything succeeded.

3 – Once again, like in the previous record “Godspeed”, Dennis Ward produced the album. Why did you decide to work with him again?

He knows exactly what he’s doing… and the recording process with him was amazing. He is so fast in recording that the musician can work concentrated only on his own playing. You have nearly no time between the single takes. And if You listen to “Godspeed”, You’ll understand why we choose Dennis once again…

4 – There were some line-up changes and now you have a new drummer, Steffen Theurer. What happened and how did you found this new member?

Sascha wanted to concentrate on his new drumschool. He is living in a small town near Paderborn, It took a lot of time and money to come for rehearsels, photoshootings, recording sessions etc. So it was the only way for him to realize his school. There is no struggle and the whole band whishes him the best. Steffen is a good friend of mine since years. He only played in a cover band and wanted to make own music. The other band members knew Steffen as well. So we decided to let him play a part of the Budapest show (a good friend of the band played the first part of the show). He did a great job. He got one week to learned the songs and no rehearsel. We had a lot of fun on stage and it was interesting how the songs sounded in another new drum version… hahahaha…

5 – The cover artwork is in the same vein than the previous records so, this is already a Symphorce trademark. Who draws the cover artworks?

Travis Smith… he send us this cover and it fits really good to the music… I love it…

6 – The lyrical side in this record seems way darker than before. What kind of subjects influenced you to write the lyrics for “Become Death”?

Andy wrote the lyrics. I‘m convinced that he was influenced from the music, which is much darker than the songs so far. Andy always wrote lyrics about live. Things that happened in his live. Note: It was not easy for the band in the last few years. Our music is not made for narrow-minded people. You said in the first question that our music is diverse. Yes, it is, and it always was. It is still Symphorce, but it involves a lot of influences and styles.Andy agitated a lot for the band. Often he told us what he wanted to do but that’s not possible because of some businessman who “be aware of everything about music”… This might be a reason for the dark lyrics…

7 – Do you have a tour prepared to promote the record?

Not yet. We’d be lucky to present the new record live. We’rer checking a few options, keep an eye on our website. If not, we’re gonna play some single shows…

8 – You can leave now a final message if you want to.

For all the metal fans: Stay open minded. Don’t believe everything the Medias wants to tell you… We can change and reach a lot. And we should!!!

Entrevistador: RDS
Entrevistado: Markus Pohl - Guitar

Metal Blade Records: www.metalblade.de / www.metalblade.com
Symphorce: www.symphorce.net

Civilization One – Revolution Rising (2007) – Metal Heaven

Civilization One é um super projecto com músicos do Sri Lanka, Itália, França e Brasil, a saber: Chitral “Chity” Somapala (Avalon, Firewind, Faro, Red Circuit) na voz, Aldo Lanobile (Secret Sphere) na guitarra, Luca Cartasegna (Secret Sphere), Pierre-Emmanuel Pélisson (Heavenly) no baixo e Jesper Stotz nas teclas. Quando se fala nestes super projectos ou óperas rock, muito em voga hoje em dia, as coisas podem soar muito excitantes à primeira, mas a simples junção de vários músicos conhecidos pode não resultar muito bem, por muito bons que estes sejam. Cada músico tem a sua maneira de tocar, experiência, influências, maneira de compor e, na maioria das vezes, os estilos (e personalidades) de cada um entram em conflito e o resultado final não é muito satisfatório. Este não é o caso felizmente! Em “Revolution Rising” encontram-se 10 faixas (em 41 minutos e meio) de Heavy / Power / Progressive Metal de orientação claramente Europeia, ou seja, muito peso, muita melodia, alguma velocidade e alguns toques sinfónicos e de Hard Rock / AOR dos 80s. Há por aqui muito boas ideias, bem executadas, excelentes riffs de guitarra, melodias fantásticas, passagens sinfónicas com coros épicos, tudo isto com produção, mistura e masterização intocáveis cortesia de Markus Teske (Vanden Plas, Symphony X, etc). Para complementar o conteúdo musical temos ainda direito a uma capa fantástica. Gosto de quase todo o disco (a balada “Dream On” é um bocado frouxa) mas, se tiver que realçar temas, estes podem ser “Legends Of The Past (Carry On)”, Welcome To Paradise” e “Time Will Tell” (umas guitarras a lembrar Iron Maiden). Para apreciadores de Heavy Metal moderno e contemporâneo. RDS

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Metal Heaven: www.metalheaven.net
Civilization One: www.civilization-one.com

Warmachine – The Beginning Of The End (2006) – Nightmare Records

Os Warmachine são de Toronto (Canadá) e este é o seu álbum de estreia. Os Warmachine não nos trazem nada de novo ou original, mas têm uma grande capacidade de escrever grandes canções (coisa que falta a muitas das ditas bandas “grandes”) com refrões memoráveis e riffs e melodias de guitarra fabulosos secundados por uma forte secção rítmica. A sonoridade da banda vai beber tanto ao Heavy Metal como ao Power como ao Thrash, mas sempre na vertente americana do Metal. As influências são variadas e podem-se incluir nomes como Megadeth, Metallica, Helloween, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Iced Earth ou até mesmo Dream Theater. O álbum foi produzido por Murray Daigle (Emerald Rain / Cauterize) e David Ellefson (ex-baixista de Megadeth, co-produziu 4 temas e toca em 3 deles).Todo o álbum é fabuloso, mas temas a salientar seriam “Empty” (com Ellefson), o meu favorito “Eternally” (um tema muito ao jeito de Iced Earth com um fabuloso refrão, com a participação vocal de Harry Hess dos Harem Scarem), a não menos fabulosa “Forgotten Demise” (grande refrão, com um solo de guitarra de Ralph Santolla dos Iced Earth / Millenium), “Taunted Souls” (rápida ao estilo Eidolon, também com Ellefson) ou “Dust To Dust” (com um feeling bem 80s). Os outros temas que têm participações especiais são “Betrayed” (Ellefson) e “Eye For An Eye” (Darren Smith, Darren Smith band / ex-Harem Scarem). Não é o melhor álbum de Heavy / Power de sempre mas é um bom álbum de estreia que nos deixa em expectativa em relação ao futuro destes novatos Canadianos Warmachine. Para fãs de Iced Earth, Eidolon, Dream Theater, Balance Of Power e das bandas atrás mencionadas. RDS

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Nightmare Records: www.nightmare-records.com

Warmachine: www.warmachineonline.com

Silent Planet Promotions: www.silentplanetpromotions.com

Cellador – Enter Deception (2006) – Metal Blade Records

Cellador é uma banda muito nova que se formou no verão de 2004 e que lançou a demo “Leaving All Behind” em Maio de 2005. Num concerto como banda de abertura para os The Black Dahlia Murder impressionaram o vocalista da dita banda, Trevor Strnad, o qual fez chegar a demo de Cellador ao senhor Brian Slagel da Metal Blade, o que resultou logo num contrato discográfico. Isto tudo para dar a entender a facilidade que uma banda tem hoje em dia de ser assinada por uma editora (e uma grande como é a MB). Isso pode ser bom ou mau. A banda pode ainda estar muito verde para dar o passo seguinte (da maquete / sala de ensaio para o disco de estreia / digressão), mas também pode ser uma banda nova mas com enormes potencialidades que se sabe que pode vir a revolucionar a música. Neste caso, nem uma nem outra opção se aplicam. Os Cellador são novos (como banda e como pessoas) mas a sua música é boa o suficiente para se safar. Ainda por cima estamos a falar de Power Metal / Speed Metal na vertente Europeia (apesar de serem dos USA), portanto é necessário algumas potencialidades para fazer algo mais ou menos ou então sai uma grande porcaria. Os Cellador até se safam bem, não trazem nada de novo e refrescante mas até que nem é mau de todo. Power / Speed bem rápido e melódico com algumas referências directas a Dragonforce e bandas Italianas como Labyrinth ou Vision Divine. Bons riffs de guitarra, secção rítmica certinha e poderosa q.b., boa voz (muito importante neste género) e muita melodia. As letras não focam os habituais temas de fantasia, lendas, batalhas, cenários épicos, como nas bandas Europeias, mas sim temas mais mundanos, actuais e pessoais.A produção é que me chamou a atenção pela sua particularidade, tendo sido o álbum produzido por Erik Rutan, um nome ligado aos terrenos do Death Metal, tanto como músico como produtor. Mas isso até foi para a banda uma mais valia pois o som do álbum não ficou limpinho como o da maioria das bandas Europeias mas sim cru e directo. Quanto à capa, fabulosa, puro Heavy Metal.Os Cellador acabam por resultar numa lufada de ar fresco no catálogo da Metal Blade, que actualmente só aposta no território do Metalcore, já gasto há muito. Estes jovens são até a primeira banda de Power Metal americana a assinar pela MB em largos anos.Para fãs do Power / Speed mais rápido e melódico. RDS

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Metal Blade Records: www.metalblade.de

Cellador: www.cellador.com

Cellador - Entrevista

1 – Cellador is a young band but you already had the luck to sign a contract. You opened a show for The Black Dahlia Murder and their singer Trevor Strnad gave a demo to Brian Slagel from Metal Blade. How was that?

Basically what happened was we had been playing live as a full band for about 2-3 months and managed to build up enough buzz to be offered opening slots for several national bands. One of the shows we got on was opening for The Black Dahlia Murder back in May 2005. The guys in the band came out and watched our set and afterwards they approached us saying they really liked our music and our band and they suggested we give them a couple demo's that they could give to Metal Blade Records for us. We had just recently released our first demo then and while we didn't expect to get a response we still went with their suggestion and so I gave them a couple demo's. About 2 weeks after that show we got a call from Brian Slagel the CEO of Metal Blade saying he was interested in signing our band. He met with us several times over the summer of 2005, and after talking with them for 6 weeks or so we ended up signing a contract with them. It was a total surprise for us when we signed to them because we never thought a power metal type band like ours would ever gain the interest of any American labels, especially one as big in the metal world as Metal Blade. Before this point we assumed the only chance we ever had was with smaller European labels that specialize in melodic metal, but after our Metal Blade signing we gained a whole new perspective on our band and how far we can take it, which was great.

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2 – The album was produced by Erik Rutan, well known for his Death Metal bands and productions. He’s not the kind of guy a Heavy / Power Metal band would choose to produce their record. How did he end up working with you in this album?

After we signed to Metal Blade we were talking with them for awhile about studios and where we were to record our debut album at. Metal Blade and we the band agreed that we wanted to go for a natural and aggressive sounding production, and also something that would be a little bit different sounding than production styles that were typically used for European melodic metal bands. We were not very familiar with any studios outside of our region so we asked Metal Blade if they had any suggestions for us to record at. They sent us a bunch of different albums by different bands that were recorded at studios they felt would suit us. The record we liked the best was the Into the Moat debut album, which was recorded and produced by Erik Rutan at his studio in Tampa, Florida. When we found out it was Rutan, a guy known for working with extreme bands, we became more intrigued to use him because we wanted our first record to be very aggressive and intense sounding, to both suit the style of the songs and to perhaps be a unique production style for this type of music we play. At first when we contacted him he told us he was booked up for much of the year, but after he heard our demo he became really excited about working with us and managed to change up his studio schedule to be able to fit us in, which was really great of him and good for us. He really believed in our band from start to finish and put in a lot of time and effort into getting the right sound and production out of our music. He has very high standards in terms of recording and really pushed us to our best performances which we were really thankful for in the end.

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3 – Erik Rutan managed to keep your sound raw and heavy, instead of the clean and not so powerful sound in most of the European records. Are you satisfied with final result of the album?

We were very satisfied with the final results as he managed to really bring out the intensity and energy that we wanted to emphasize in our music. As stated earlier while many melodic power metal bands tend to go for a overly produced, editted, effects saturated production style we wanted to sway away from that tradition with our record by instead having it raw, intense, and aggressive sounding, which Rutan has been known to create in the projects he has worked on and most certainly attained on our record. We really wanted our first album to be balls out, very energetic sounding. We purposefully didn't want to include any slow songs or ballads on our first record, we wanted to be full speed beginning to end and Rutan understood this and gained an understanding of our vision for this record and really brought out the elements we wanted.

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4 – You are from the USA but your style has nothing to do with the American Power Metal but with the European side, which is more into speed and melody?

Yea most of our influences were European bands. I think its just a general preference of ours but we all loved the catchy melodic bands from Europe with big choruses, dual lead melodies, and speedy song structure. Bands like Helloween, Edguy, Blind Guardian really had a huge impact on myself in high school more than really anything from the USA and despite the fact nobody else here listened to these bands or wanted to play music like it I still stuck to it and pushed to form a band influenced by them. In addition to European power metal we also were influenced by thrash and death metal bands as well, so we try to incorporate elements from these other influences into our music as well, such as heavy guitars, high speeds, double bass and blast beat drumming, etc.

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5 – Your lyrics are not the usual fantasy / epic kind of lyrics of the European Power Metal but more into regular day-by-day subjects. Can you tell me something about the lyrics?

For our first album ENTER DECEPTION we wanted to avoid a lot of the cliches and stereotypes that are known to exist in power metal, and one of the things we didn't want to have was fantasy or sci-fi lyrics. Its not because we don't like these subjects, I actually enjoy them a lot, we just knew that it was a subject of ridicule especially here in the USA and we didn't want to spearhead our band into the same classifications. Instead the lyrics on ENTER DECEPTION mainly touch on subjects such as self-empowerment, individualism, being yourself, avoiding manipulation, really just positive themes that listeners can maybe relate to. A lot of the subject matter in our lyrics also really reflect the mindset of our band and the attitude we took on in order to keep going with playing this type of music here in the USA where its fairly nonexistent and where pressure to join the bandwagon or follow the crowd exists.

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6 – Do you have a tour prepared to promote the record?

Yea we are taking off here in a few days for our first national USA tour. It will be about 25-30 shows and it spans all over the USA, first our West, then Midwest, and then out East and back. We are very excited to go out and start playing, we've made so many new friends and fans in the last couple months we really want to meet as many people as possible. I think this Fall we will be lining ourselves up with a wellknown booking agency that will take us to a new level of opportunity for exposure and where we will be playing. We have been in talks with Metal Blade about going to Europe for some shows as well as Japan. I think sometime we will be going international for ENTER DECEPTION but I don't know the specific time frame yet. My guess is it will be late 2006 or early 2007.

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7 – The frontcover is awesome cool. Who made this artwork? What is the meaning of the artwork?

The artwork was done by French artist Jean Pascal Fournier. I had known about him as an artist for awhile, as he has done many covers for various metal bands and is fairly well known in the metal community. He was our first choice for our artwork and we couldn't be happier with the result he has given us. The cover is inspired by the title "ENTER DECEPTION" which is reffering basically to a person entered a world of "self deception" meaning they are entering into a false reality where they think everyone is out to get them and make their life miserable but really its just their own bad choices in life. I got the idea from a book I read that theorizes that many common social problems can arise from self-deception which comes from a person swaying from their own true ambitions or true selves. Anyway I described the idea to JP Fournier and he took what he understood from it to create a symbolisation of a person wearing a blindfold looking very desperate clinging onto a crumbling structure.

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8 – Do you want to leave a final message?

To all the people reading, be sure to check out CELLADOR's debut album ENTER DECEPTION. While we are generally considered to be melodic/power metal its a very aggressive and intense variation of the style, or at least thats what we aim to play. This is not a album just for power metal fans, it has a number of other elements that should appeal to thrash, extreme, heavy metal fans in general. Check it out and see what you think.Many thanks for the interview!!! Keep it metal!!

Questions: RDS

Answers: Chris Petersen – Guitar

Metal Blade Records: www.metalblade.de

Cellador: www.cellador.com

Symphorce – Become Death (2007) – Metal Blade Records

Os Germânicos Symphorce estão de volta com seu sexto álbum intitulado “Become Death”. Após um disco morno como foi “Godspeed”, é bom saber que a banda voltou à boa forma com este que é, sem dúvida, o melhor álbum da sua carreira. Este é o trabalho mais heterogéneo que gravaram até hoje mas não parece de todo uma manta de retalhos, mas sim um disco de uma única banda. A identidade Symphorce está aqui patente, mas experimentam em diversos temas novas abordagens à sua fusão de Heavy e Thrash, do lado mais pesado do Metal com o lado mais melódico. Logo à primeira faixa somos confrontados com um dos temas mais pesados que a formação Alemã gravou até hoje, “Darkness fills the sky”, com certos laivos de Nevermore, mas com um refrão forte bem ao estilo de Symphorce, o que volta a acontecer em “Death has come”, mais peso com refrão melódico. Em “Condemned” temos o habitual tema Symphorce mas com alguns samplers electrónicos a adornar e mais uma vez, um memorável refrão, a provar que a banda sabe escrever, acima de tudo, grandes temas daqueles que ficam na nossa cabeça muito depois de ter ouvido o CD. “In the hopes of a dream” e Inside the cast” introduzem uma novidade na sonoridade da banda, uma aproximação ao Metal Gótico de origem Finlandesa, com o segundo tema a aproximar-se perigosamente a The 69 Eyes e com a inclusão de teclados, instrumento pouco habitual na banda. Mais uma vez., experimentaram coisas novas e o resultado final foi mais que satisfatório. Em “No final words to say” temos mais influências góticas, um tema lento, com toques ambientais e bem depressivo, a fazer lembrar em certas partes Type O Negative. “Towards the light” e “Ancient Prophecies” seguem a linha habitual. “Lost but found” volta a dar-nos mais peso, trazendo à tona, mais uma vez, as influências de Nevermore. Fecham o disco com “Lies”, um tema extremamente experimental, com toques de Rock sinfónico e apontamentos electrónicos. Um dos grandes temas do disco.
Este é sem dúvida o álbum mais heterogéneo, mais arrojado, mais negro, e mais experimental que a banda gravou mas a aposta foi ganha, este é também o melhor disco de sempre de Symphorce. Um disco que pode agradar tanto aos fãs do lado mais pesado do Metal como do mais melódico e tradicional. RDS

95%

Metal Blade: www.metalblade.de
Symphorce: www.symphorce.net

Beyond Twilight – Section X (2005) / For The Love Of Art And The Making (2006) – Nightmare Records

Beyond Twilight é uma banda vinda da Escandinávia que inclui músicos de diversas nacionalidades. Os álbuns aqui em destaque são o segundo e o terceiro, respectivamente. Os dois álbuns são ligeiramente diferentes entre si, tendo até vocalistas diferentes (já o 1º álbum “The Devil’s Hall Of Fame” de 2001 tinha outro vocalista, nesse caso o grande Jorn Lande). No “Section X” temos um álbum “normal”, com temas individuais, ultrapassando a maioria os 6 minutos de duração. Temos aqui material muito cinemático e orquestral com coros, passagens muito pomposas e toques progressivos aliados ao Heavy / Power da banda. Imaginem no mesmo caldeirão Danny Elfman, Notre Dame, King Diamond, Balance Of Power, Mundanus Imperium e Ark. Todos os temas são fabulosos e o álbum tem que ser ouvido de início ao fim para se assimilar como um todo, mas mesmo assim destaco temas como “The Path Of Darkness”, “Shadow Self“ ou “The Dark Side”. Este álbum é extremamente aconselhado aos apreciadores de Heavy Metal bem pomposo e orquestral e de Metal Progressivo.O 3º álbum “For The Love Of Art And Making” é diferente, trata-se de uma obra conceptual, ao jeito de ópera rock, estando o CD dividido em 43 faixas, mas tratando-se de apenas um tema do início ao fim, estando todas as faixas interligadas, num total de cerca de 38 minutos. Aqui a música continua bem teatral e pomposa, tem boas ideias aqui e ali, mas no geral é um pouco cansativo, pois não há uma linha condutora, há imensas mudanças de sonoridade, ritmo e melodia, que não encaixam bem, parecendo o disco uma manta de retalhos. Se se limitassem a pegar nas boas ideias que aqui estão e construíssem canções, até teríamos um bom álbum com boas malhas. Não que o álbum esteja mau, mas o resultado final se calhar ficou um bocado aquém das expectativas que uma ideia destas poderia fazer supor. Apenas para quem gosta deste tipo de desafios sonoros e não se fica pelo habitual formato de canção. RDS

85% / 70%

Nightmare Records: www.nightmare-records.com
Beyond Twilight: www.beyondtwilight.com
Silent Planet Promotions: www.silentplanetpromotions.com