Hugo Flores & Jessica Lehto – Factory of Dreams

Interview by Ed MacLaren

Portugal’s Factory of Dreams is not a band to rest on its laurels. After releasing three consecutive prog-metal classics, producer/multi-instrumentalist Hugo Flores and vocalist Jessica Lehto may have surpassed them all with the sublime and sonic grandeur of “Some Kind of Poetic Destruction”. An epic concept album of the highest caliber, “Some Kind of Poetic Destruction” weaves effortlessly between soaring melodies and savage riffs, tearing at the fabric of its musical universe with searing solos and breathtaking vocals. Hugo and Jessica took some time to talk to Femme Metal Webzine about the remarkable concept and development of “Some Kind of Poetic Destruction”, how to out-epic an epic album and the strange and fascinating impact of lip piercings.

Jessica: I’m thrilled that you think so! Hugo has written such excellent music for this album. Of course that goes for all albums, but this is my favourite release so far. Every single track on “Some Kind of Poetic Destruction” has that special something, a nice atmosphere, lovely instrumentation and an interesting story to tell. Continue reading »

Sunwalter – “SETI Evidence” (2013)

Label : Grailight Productions

Review by Vard Aman

2013 is off to a very promising start on the Russian/CIS Femme Metal scene with some great releases scheduled and some already released. Here is one I wasn’t expecting, so it came as quite a pleasant surprise (thanks to Olga Salikhova for pointing me in their direction). Sunwalter has been described as Extreme Melodic Metal, and their debut album, “SETI Evidence” has, as one might expect from the title, a Space / Sci-fi / Sci-fi fantasy theme to it. It’s more than just a theme however: “SETI Evidence” has a general Sci-fi feel and atmosphere throughout the album, and it’s not really something I can describe very easily, you have to hear it. Sci-fi themes and soundscapes have long been prominent in the realm of Progressive Metal – Arjen Lucassen‘s various projects at the forefront – but I suddenly find myself a little stumped when it comes to such themes and soundscapes in more extreme forms of Metal: “Nexus Polaris” era The Kovenant (then known as Covenant) springs immediately to mind (and what an album that was!); and less well known, “Beneath an Alien Sky” era Mindcrime (then known as Prometheus). Sunwalter‘s “SETI Evidence”, being a greater mixture of styles wanders somewhere in between those two, although mostly closer to the “Nexus Polaris” end of the scale. Sunwalter‘s vocalists, however, are much better than either of the aforementioned bands. Continue reading »

Ana Mladinovici – Magica

Interview by Vard Aman

We’ve already interview Romania’s Power Metal band Magica  during the promo of their fifth album “Dark Diary”, now it’s time for an update and we’ve asked few questions to the leading lady Ana Mladinovici about the new album “Center of the Great Unknown”. What will be this center of the great unknown? Well, let’s read it from her words….

Hello FMW! It’s good to be back! I think that “Dark Diary” was the Magica album that pleased the greatest number of people. All the reviews were great and many fans congratulated us for it. But that’s that. We hope that it helped getting Magica noticed around the world.

We always think (and tell everyone) that our music is power metal, even though there are a lot of people that call us symphonic, or even gothic as well. The mere fact that we use a lyrical voice is not enough to categorise a genre. Continue reading »

Jamie Lee-Smit – Azylya

Interview by Robert Brady

When most women are little girls they dream of the Knight and Shining Armour and the dress they will adorn themselves with. Some women find earlier than others. It certainly seems music found Jamie Lee-Smit the founder of the ‘Belgian’ metal band Azylya.

Michal – Ancient Myth

Interview  by Alessandra Cognetta

It may not seem so, but the Japanese metal scene is active and ever growing. We are thus very pleased to feature Ancient Myth here for the first time. The female-fronted band from Tōkyō has already released two full-length albums, “Astrolable in Your Heart” (2010) and “Akashic” (2012), various demos and singles and a live DVD. Michal, the lead vocalist, kindly gave us a bit of insight on the band and the current situation of female-fronted metal in Japan.

Thank you for giving me an opportunity to do an interview with you, and I’m truly glad of the fact that I’m the first Japanese artist for your Webzine. Ancient Myth was formed by Mittu, the original Drummer (as the leader) in his school days. I heard the original members of the band were all his classmates in his music college.

In October 2011, Puzzy (Keyboards) joined the band, and then we soon went into the studio. We had to get the recordings finished to catch the deadline for the release, so we didn’t have enough time to sleep every day and night, for a couple of months but I felt I lived a full life during that time! Some fans say “Akashic” is a crowning work but I‘m sure that we can create more splendid ones in future.

The title “Akashic” was named after the concept of “Akashic Records”, which means all the knowledge and the experienced history of human souls’ activities are recorded in the cosmos. Ancient Myth is a band with a long history, but we have led a tough life, like several member changes and recessions. In the present, the past & the future, all the issues on our destiny are parts of the records of the big cosmos. We have to accept all the things in our past and future and keep making our steps forward, if anything is/has happened on us. Because the things are all decided, as “Akashic Records”. Continue reading »