THE EDGE OF PARADISE @ The Mix, Seattle, WASHINGTON, USA – 27/04/2013

Live Report and Photo by Vinnie Johnson

Edge of Paradise, heavy metal band from California stormed through Seattle WA this past Saturday, April 27th and they marked their presence. I’ve discovered Edge of Paradise a few months ago when they released their single, “Break Away”. I was curious to find out weather they are just another female fronted act or a band to watch, and they are definitely the latter. With solid and refreshing material and phenomenal musicianship, Edge of Paradise is no band to take lightly. Continue reading »

Yo La Tengo – “Fade” (2013)

Label : Matador Records

Review by Davide Torresan

I have to confess that I have never heard of this band. From the name I was expecting a Spanish group, and definitely not a metal one. Searching around to find some informations, I discovered that Yo La Tengo (the abbreviation is YLT) is an alternative rock band and it’s fairly well known. This American group is founded in 1989 and since 1992 the line-up has consisted of Ira Kaplan (guitar, piano, vocals), Georgia Hubley (drum, piano, vocals) and James McNew (bass, vocals). I was saying alternative rock…well, YLT is considered among the most important representatives of the American alternative rock scene of the 90s. In more than 10 years they have been able to blend many musical influences, from pop music to rock, with violin and sax inserts too.

This one is an unusual instrument in this genre, isn’t it? “Fade” is their 13th album and its sound slightly differs from their previous work, “Popular Songs”. In this one the electric guitar was present in each song, but in “Fade” it is almost gone. You feel strongly this absence. Indeed it seems like something is missing in these songs. There’s a lack of rhythm though the album’s atmospheres are soothing because of the beautiful voices of Ira and Georgia. There are no drum’s accelerations, the classical guitar and bass strings are softly plucked. They call it dream pop. Continue reading »

Irina “Rishafox” Lvova & Andy Ostrav – Risha

Interview by Vard Aman

Near Manaus in Brazil the dark clear Rio Negro joins the muddy Amazon and the water from two rivers flow beside one another without mixing, distinctly separate for a distance of about 6 km in the same river bed. It is known as the “Meeting of Water”, and such an unusual natural phenomenon has made it one of the main tourist attractions in Manaus. In Moscow, Russia, the beautiful melodic vocals of Slavic Folk joins the heavy, powerful guitars; pounding drums; and electronic elements of Industrial / Industrial Metal without mixing, distinctly separate from each other in the same band, and throughout an entire album and 3 track maxi-single. They are known as Risha, and such an unusual and unique blend has made them one of the hottest new prospects around. I spoke to two of those responsible: vocalist and bassist, Rishafox (also known as Risha, and sometimes, on the odd occasion, as Irina Lvova), and guitarist and programmer, Andrey Ostrav.

Risha & Ostrav:  Zdravstvujte!

Risha: We met a long ago. I was 17 then and it was probably my first time on stage, exactly with the musicians who play in Risha now. After that we were scattered about different music projects but 2 years ago we met again. I and Ostrav have created the idea of Risha and Alex, the drummer, joined us thereafter.

Risha: Oh… During my not-that-long rock’n’roll life I played with about 20 bands, went on a European tour with Arkona, performed at big venues in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities, as well as in small underground clubs all over Russia. I always played in bands that differed a lot by style.

Оstrav: For about 8 years with the drummer Sasha we made part of one of the cult Russian industrial gothic bands of the 00′s – Deform. We toured over our endless country from side to side, shared stage with famous Russian and foreign bands like Korn, Papa Roach, Marilyn Manson, Eisbrecher, Deathstars, etc. This was fantastic! Continue reading »

US Operatic Metal Band UPON WINGS To Release New EP “Afterlife” on March 5th

Upon Wings is proud to announce the release of new EP, “Afterlife”, featuring guest vocals and production from Brett Hestla (Ex-Creed, Dark New Day). “Afterlife” is scheduled for a March 5th release on Sword of the Spirit Records LLC.

Rock and metal fans will recognize plenty of names on “Afterlife”. Kid Rock recording engineer and Grammy-nominated mixing engineer Glenn Brown mastered the single, while Brett Hestla (ex-Creed, Dark New Day) provided guest vocals and production talents. More metal assistance for the upcoming EP came from producer and guitarist Kevin Jardine, best known as the guitarist of Canadian nu metal giants Slaves on Dope, formerly on Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne’s Divine Recordings label. Drummer Peter Tzaferis also contributed to the EP. Continue reading »

Olga Salikhova – Slavery, Oktagon, Luna Aeterna, Core & Voiceless Void

Interview by Vard Aman

Vocalist, Olga Salikhova, has over the years become a familiar name and face (and voice) in Russian Female-fronted Metal, having fronted bands such as Slavery, Oktagon and Luna Aeterna. Currently, she is singing for one of the pioneering bands of Russian-based Doom Metal, Voiceless Void, as well as her own project, Core. I caught up with her for a chat about her musical career to date.

When I was a little girl my granny used to take me a long way to our summer cottage on a bike on the rear seat, and I used to sing all the way to entertain both of us. Later when I was 7 I went to music school and joined a choir, and I liked being part of it.

Yes, I did! When I was a teenager, I felt a great desire to get a Grammy and to conquer the world, and I was quite sure it won’t take me more than, say, 5 years, so I started attending some weekend classes at a musical studio. There I experienced my first individual vocal classes. After that all my training was mostly with different private vocal coaches.

I was 17 then, it was a very nice band called Slavery, they lived in a different city in the Moscow Region, so I had to commute to our rehearsals twice a week and my parents had to meet me really late at night coming back. Slavery was kind of melodic power metal with dark lyrics and kind of gothic image. They were really nice guys and the founders of the band are still my friends.  There are only a couple of live audio recordings from our gigs and a demo. Unfortunately, even though they existed for 10 years, they didn’t release any albums, even after I left the band.

According to Metal Archives, Slavery split up for the second time in 2010. When was the first time? Was that also when you left?

No, when I left the band, they found another female leader, also named Olga (Mashkina), also a blonde, there were kind jokes about that in the group and among our fans that the band attracts such front girls. I know after Olga Mashkina they had another blonde singer, Nastya. I actually don’t know much about their first splitting-up, I know about the second one in 2010, I was involved then.

I took a break in my musical career after I left Luna Aeterna. I didn’t sing at all for about 4 or 5 years. I communicated with my ex-music colleagues very seldom, only occasionally. Then one day I met with the bass-player of Slavery, Irina, and she suggested that I join them again because their singer, Nastya, was leaving the band for personal reasons. I agreed with enthusiasm, we started rehearsing together, it all was nice and we were discussing recording an album, but after a month of rehearsals the guys decided that they felt exhausted and lacked creative inspiration and new ideas for our music. That’s how we split up, basically.

Continue reading »