HUNTRESS & GOLD @ 013, Tilburg, THE NETHERLANDS 08/06/2013

Live Report & Photos by Erwin van Dijk

Huntress and Gold are two bands which qualify the describtion “Female Fronted Metal” but are worlds apart musicwise. The two bands did share the stage at the 013 venue in Netherlands on a hot saturday night. The 013 is one of the larger venues in the Netherlands. Bands like Therion, Kamelot and Dragonforce visited the venue in the past. In fact, Huntress was the opener for Dragonforce some time ago. The Stage1 is of course not as big as the main hall of the 013 (the Stage1 would fit on the stage of the main hall) but as Milton said it’s “Better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven” and a headliner gig is more fun than a couple of songs in front of an audience who are waiting for the headliner. It’s also the second gig for Gold at the 013. The band did a gig at the very prestigious Roadburn Festival.

Gold (from the city of Rotterdam) decribes themselves as a “comtemporary rock band that’s heavy because of the songs, not the sound”. The band has only time for 6 songs (see setlist) from the “Interbellum” album. Continue reading »

Hitherside – “Hitherside” EP (2012)

Independent Release

Review by Tony Cannella

The band Hitherside formed in 2011 and features American vocalist Jennifer Summer and Belgian multi instrumentalist Sam Oerlemans. They have just released their self-titled EP which features 6-songs and over 25-minutes worth of infectiously melodic alternative metal. The songs are well written, performed and crafted.

The forceful opening riff leads into the cool first song, “Insignificant Other”. The next track, “Eventide” begins with an acoustic intro as the song gradually picks up in tempo, but remains a middle-paced song with a psychedelic vibe. “Detrimental” picks up the tempo quite a bit and is helped by a relentless guitar riff and a melodic groove – making this my favorite song. Continue reading »

Hydrogyn – “Private Sessions” (2012)

Label: Rapid Fire Entertainment

Review by Tony Cannella

The Kentucky based melodic hard rock band Hydrogyn first burst onto the scene in 2004 “Best Served With Volume” and followed that up two years later with “Bombshell”. Now, eight years into their career the band has just released their fifth and perhaps best album, “Private Sessions”. I have to admit, that I have always liked Hydrogyn. They have a definite 80s vibe to them – which is always cool – but beyond that they just have good, memorable, classy songs. No opera, death grunts, soaring power metal vocal gymnastics, Hydrogyn is an anomaly in today’s metal scene.

“Private Sessions” opens with a bang, thanks to the huge classic metal opening riff that begins the glorious frenzy of “Something to Say”. Continue reading »

North Diamond – “По Ту Сторону Бытия” ["On the Other Side of Being" - "Po Tu Storonu Biytiya"] (2012)

Label : Grailight Productions

Review by Vard Aman

North Diamond formed in Moscow in 2008 and play what could be described as a combination of melodic Black Metal and Death Metal. “По Ту Сторону Бытия” is their debut album; and it is just as this kind of music should be. North Diamond do not mess around: “По Ту Сторону Бытия” is a short, sharp, relentless no-prisoners-taken half hour of blackened melodic brutality that any fan of this type of music will drool over. Elena Scarlet is an expert and versatile growler, moving freely from deep Death Metal growls to Black Metal shrieks, with her own snarling growling style in between. There are some clean vocals as well – there is a guest vocalist that features on this album, Valentina Aaron, and the clean vocals could be hers (on the single that North Diamond released after “По Ту Сторону Бытия”, “Fall of Man”, clean vocals were provided by Evgeniya Rodnikova of Aura and Emerald Night). Continue reading »

Ｇ∀ＬＭＥＴ- “HELLMET” (2010)

Independent Release

Review by Davide Torresan

It’s hard to do a little biography of this band. The main fault is their country of origin: Japan. You can understand it from the artwork of the album, “Hellmet”, which I’m going to review. It has some colored drawings since there are some funny skulls. Ｇ∀ＬＭＥＴ is a girl metal band, and I have to say that from the few pics and videos on internet they look like some characters of the anime “Nana”. Unfortunately I do not know Japanese, but I wish to describe to you the feelings that this debut album caused to me. From the members’ pretty faces I was expecting a sort of symphonic metal band, like there are so many in Japan (and that often try to imitate the European groups). Instead, once you have pressed the “play” button, after a short piano intro, the very first song makes its appearance: “Treason Sky”. It has a overwhelming start with guitars and drums in the perfect death metal style. Continue reading »