Elvenstorm – “Of Rage and War” (2011)
Label : Infernö Records
Review by Tony Cannella
From France, Elvenstorm is a pure old school heavy metal band with thrash metal influences as well. They were formed in 2008 and in 2010 release their demo “Storm ‘Em All”. The four songs that made up their demo now appear on their debut offering, “Of Rage and War” released via Infernö records.
Okay, getting straight into it Elvenstorm comes out of the gate strong with the powerful duo of “Winds of War” and “Rebirth”. The songs are driven by the maniacal riffing of guitarist Michael Hellström and vocalist Laura Ferreux. Her style is straight-ahead metal and is perfect for the music that is being played on “Of Rage and War”. It just gets better with the next track “Witchhammer” which opens with some cool guitar harmony parts before transforming into a thrash-fest and some gang background vocals (shouts) are present near the end of the song. 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.
Azylya is a musical concept conceived from the mind and heart of Jamie Lee-Smit. Every time I listen to Azylya I feel like I am going to see a film at a film festival. Jamie Lee-Smit certainly has unleashed her cinematic influences in her music. I love the fact is that she never allows one moment for her listeners to get bored or think it all sounds the same like some bands have a tendency of doing on their albums. There is always something different with every track and composition in Azylya‘s music and at the same time they remain on point with their objective overall as not to alienate the listener from getting the main concept.
Azylya has something for every metal pallet. If you like female fronted metal it certainly has that to the forefront, there are black metal elements with the male vocal along with progressive, gothic, power metal elements. The running theme that seems heavily present with in Azylya is the cinematic film score style of metal that only a few bands as Rhapsody of Fire and Epica have dared venture towards.
As female fronted metal has really flourished in the past 15 years with bands like Theater of Tragedy, After Forever, Tristania, Epica, Leaves Eyes, Within Temptation and Nightwish, I believe Jamie Lee-Smit and Azylya are at the forefront of the preservation of the road and trail the previous bands have built. As a 40 something who grew up as a metal child of the 1980′s where our choices in women in metal were limited honestly to 4 bands in Girlschool, Rock Goddess, Warlock/Doro, and Lita Ford it is encouraging to see women now on the frontline of the battle and to see young women like Jamie Lee-Smit take her dream and vision and enlist in the business, I definitely see women in metal thrive in the next few decades and bands like Azylya carrying that banner for years to come. Continue reading »
Krystal System – “Nuclear” (2011)
Label : Alfa Matrix
Review by Luisa Mercier
The French duo Krystal System release their second album after 2008 “Underground” and provide us with their industrial rock, perfect for gothic nights on the dancefloor. “Fiction” the opening track has a perfect hook, energetic beats and matches perfectly “Un Etat D’hypnose” that follows.
It will be a sure hit in gothic club. The familiar beats and synth sounds make the track a catchy one to listen to while the industrial guitars add aggressiveness and edge. Each subsequent track on the album combines these aspects producing a fast-paced and danceable collection of songs almost impossible to stand still while listening to. Continue reading »
Leigh Matty – Romeo’s Daughter
Interview by Miriam C.
In the late 80s as Tony (our reviewer) said in the reviews ” it was impossible to pick up an issue of Kerrang! Magazine without seeing something about the band gorgeous front woman Leigh Matty” – they were destined to be huge stars in the AOR/Melodic Rock panorama but something in the 90s changed, the grunge come and in a blaze crushed and destroyed everything was good of the 80s and as a lot of AOR acts (including Romeo’s Daughter) were facing difficulties in promote their music and the only solution was put an end to a band. Only the brave survived to that infamous period. At this moment, the international AOR scene seems safe and sound, for sure we have some comebacks (see UK’s Fiona Flanagan and Dante Fox) but also some new rising stars (see Norway’s Issa or Sweden’s Nubian Rose); but talking about comebacks, after 19 years of stop and a successful comeback in 2009 at the Firefest festival, London based Romeo’s Daughter are back with a new self-released album called “Rapture” and seems that RSD are ready to rule the world. So, after this short intro, I think, it’s time to give some space and let Leigh Matty speaks herself.
Hi Leigh, first of all Happy Christmas and Happy New Year, welcome to Femme Metal Webzine and thanks for the interview. How are you? Would you mind share some details about the origins of Romeo’s Daughter? How the whole story started and when?
Dear Miriam – a very happy New Year to you too! Sorry about the delay in me getting this back to you! Well, the Romeo’s Daughter story really started in 1984/85 when I answered an advert in a well known music magazine – they were looking for a singer to front their band and I called the number and got through to Craig ( the guitarist and song writer). We got on very well on the phone and I ended up being the 1st singer they saw out of around 70 – I got the job! We worked on songs and getting the right band members for a couple of years and after a lot of blood, sweat and tears, we released our 1st album in 1988. We were named after a line in “Cry Myself to Sleep” as no one could agree on a name – I don’t think we could have been called anything else though – it was perfect for us! Continue reading »
Aut Mori – “Первая Слёза Осени” (“Pervaya Slyoza Oseni” – “The First Tears of Autumn”) (2012)
Label : BadMoonMan Music
Review by Vard Aman
Aut Mori are from the city of Yaroslavl, about 250km North East of Moscow, and were formed in 2009 by three ex-members of Doom Metal band Auto-de-Fe (other ex-Auto-de-Fe members spawned the band Sea of Despair). Aut Mori play a style of atmospheric Gothic Doom Metal, similar in a lot of ways to Auto-de-Fe, but with a very strong Draconian influence. Actually, to best describe Aut Mori’s sound on “Первая Слёза Осени” think of a Russian version of a more atmospheric and symphonic Draconian but with less oomph (something along the lines of “She Dies”). It sounds like a promising prospect, doesn’t it? Well, it is! Also, while I have your attention regarding Draconian, I should just mention that the guest drummer on “Первая Слёза Осени” is none other than Draconian‘s Jerry Torstensson, who was also responsible for the mastering of the album; and the guest violinist, Olof Göthlin, was also responsible for the violins on “A Rose for the Apocalypse”.
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