Mystery Blue – “Conquer the World” (2013)

Label : Road Show Productions

Review by Tony Cannella

France’s Mystery Blue has a long history that goes back to the late 70s. They released their self-titled debut in 1984 and then another one in 1986. Aside from a few demos, the band fell silent until they resurfaced in 1998 with their “Spirit of Your Song” album. Thankfully, since then they have continued to release new music and have just released their latest album “Conquer the World”, which is a genuine, no-holds barred slice of traditional heavy metal and also an album that is pure Mystery Blue.

The pounding drums intro the opening track “Conquer the World” as the heavy guitars join in as well as Nathalie Geyer’s powerful vocals. “Innocent Crime” is next and is dominated by a heavy and fast tempo guitar riff. The material contained on “Conquer the World” is pure metal and it very rarely falters. Continue reading »

Blue Dawn – “Blue Dawn” (2011)

Label : Black Widow Records

Review by Luisa Mercier

Blue Dawn is an Italian rock band and this self-titled record is their debut full-length.
Even though in their decription they define their sound as a mixture of gothic and doom sounds with a progressive structure, I would better say that they play quite straightforward rock music. The intro “Crossing the Acheron” is synth/keyboard based and it creates a certain gothic atmosphere, indeed, but the following “The Hell I Am” reveals the band true identity.

Simple hard-rock music fronted by Monica Santo. Her vocals are typical heavy metal ones and do not offer a great variation in style, to say the truth. In their presentation they state that their main influences are Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Who, Deep Purple, but the traces of these legendary bands are quite faint. Maybe “Shattered Illusions” and “In My Room” are the ones which shows more the progressive and doom echoes. The most notable thing is the fact the rhytm section is quite apparent in all the tracks, maybe because the bass player is the main composer in the band. Also guitars and solos are very prominent. But all the songs sound quite similar with few spots left free for keyboards apart from the last track “Deconstructing People”. Continue reading »

INTERVIEW: Virginie Goncalves – Kells

Interview by Ary R.

They rocked Europe last year with Leaves’Eyes and Tarja Turunen, and with Epica and ReVamp the former year as well. Now they’re back on the music scene with the upcoming album, “Anachromie”, that will reveal some other music features of the French rock band Kells. Just read with us what the front-woman Virginie Goncalves told to us!

I’m fine, thanks! “Anachromie” has been out for a month now, and it seems that both the press and the fans have praised this record. We are very happy about that because somehow we had chosen to take artistic risks, not to repeat ourselves and to renew our image, and people liked it!

In this album, everything in the lyrics is written in a disjointed way, the space-time notion is broken, the reality mixes up with the dream, as in the surrealist genre… Globally, the lyrics are anachronistic. Also, I use many adjectives of color (ochre, silver, gold, amaranth, blue, white, black, saffron, amber, sapphire, sandy…), which gives the lyrics a very pictorial aspect. It is the mixture of these 2 concepts, the chromia and the anachronism, that gave birth to “Anachromie”. The cover artwork has been made by Blackthorns Design. We appreciated what he had made for other bands, this mixture of surrealism and modernity, that’s why we decided to work with him. The frontcover and the booklet are an illustration of the lyrics… the girl with her bridal veil, with all her dreams, the tortured childhood, the nightmares and the anachronism always there, with the hours of the clock, the tracklist in disorder … as in the surrealist universe, where nothing has any reasonable landmarks or points of reference.

We recorded this album in November 2011, more than a year ago already! We went to Mon Studio in Nancy, to work with Yann (MyPollux). We began with the recording of the drums, then the basses, the guitars, the strings, the choir, keyboards, electro music, to finally end up with the vocals, at the end of November. So it took almost one month, because we prefer taking time! Yann then attacked the mixing in December, and we eventually sent it all in New York to the Sterling Sound Studio for Ted Jensen to master it in february 2011.

Continue reading »

Heidi Parviainen (ex AMBERIAN DAWN) Singer Launches DARK SARAH

Former AMBERIAN DAWN singer Heidi Parviainen has launched a a new project called DARK SARAH. She plans to release a promotional CD with two songs in early 2013 along with a music video for the song “Save Me”.

Says Parviainen: “I used to look at the world with blue eyes, I used to love with an open heart but I was naïve; the world needed to show it to me. I got angry for my weakness and angry with the world. In the darkest swirls of my mind, I got stronger and meaner and started to change. I worked with my fear and I became DARK SARAH. I’m not bitter, I’m just bittersweet.”

A teaser for the “Save Me” video can be seen below.

Eerie Sounds Review : Rhys Marsh and the Autumn Ghost – “The Blue Hour” (2012)

Label :  Termo Records/Better Place Recordings

Review by Luisa Mercier

Third release for the English Rhys Marsh and his big orchestra. Based in Norway, the band features members from a moltitude of other musical projects like The Irrepressibles, In Lingua Mortua, The Divine Comedy and many, many others. So influences are really varied and it is difficult to fit the music in just one genre. I would say that is Prog with Jazz, Ambient and Symphonic hints, so lovers of this kind of music should enjoy “The Blue Hour”. It is a record that should be listened in the quiet, at sundown. It is made of slow tempo songs with male and female vocals that entertwine. “Broken Light” is a perfect example. Expect long instrumental parts and a lot of brass and woodwinds, relaxing moments and a little bit of psychedelia. Definitely not a release for everyone, since listening to the album can result hard for a first time approach to such refined music, but lovers of this kind of music, will appreciate it for sure.

Rating – 70/100

Tracklist

1. And I Wait
2. Read the Cards
3. The Movements of Our Last Farewell
4. Broken Light
5. Wooden Heart
6. Further from the Truth
7. The Place Where You Lay
8. One More Moment 

Line Up

• Rhys Marsh — Voice, guitars, piano, mellotron, pedal steel, organ, zither, & orchestrations
• Trude Eidtang — Vocals
• Jess Bryant — Vocals
• Åsa Börrefors — Vocals
• Nicklas Barker — Mellotron
• Lars Fredrik Frøislie — Chamberlin, hammond, moog, autoharp & celeste.
• Akira Rabelais — Electronics
• Timbre Cierpke — Concert Harp
• Gaute Storsve — Guitar
• Steve Honest — Pedal Steel
• Ketil Vestrum Einarsen — Flute.
• Mia Silvas — Flute
• Tuva Hatlelid Mortensen — Oboe
• Kirsti Jacobsen — Clarinet
• Henning Wien — Bass Clarinet
• Jørgen Vie — Bassoon
• Tetsuroh Konishi — Trumpet
• Hayden Powell — Trumpet
• Erik Johannessen — Trombone
• Kristoffer Lo — Tuba & flugabone
• Anna Giddey — Violin
• Charlie Stock — Viola
• Natalie Rozario — ‘Cello & orchestrations
• Jo Fougner Skaansar — Double & electric bass
• Francis Booth — Bass
• Andy Raeburn — Drums
• Takashi Mori — Drums
• Mattias Olsson — Drums, celeste, mellotron & orchestron.
• Iver Sandøy — Drums
• Martin Horntveth — Drums & orchestral percussion. 

Links

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