This band keeps popping up uninvited on my Facebook feed. I finally gave them a listen and, to be fair, I have heard worse.
This is Battleground by When Rivers Meet.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana
My favourite singer is a year older today. Nothing heard from the lady herself yet, but fans have been posting greetings on her fan forum for a day or two already. The singer, in case you haven't realized from my past posting, is Floor Jansen, currently lead singer of the band Nightwish but also building her resume as a solo artist.
"Fire" is the song that, now nearly three years ago, was her first solo single after 20+ years in bands. This is a live performance from Dutch television from shortly after its initial release.
The old bookshop owner had something special for Dave.
Dash - Writer's Block competition entry
Two Grammy nominations. Four Juno nominations including two for this year's awards coming up in 3 weeks. Spiritbox are rising stars in the international metal scene. While the face of the band is vocalist Courtney Laplante (who can go from melting your heart with her soft, sultry clean vocals to melting your brain with her magnificent screams and growls), the guys behind her are excellent musicians, too, esp. Courtney's hubby Mike Stringer on guitar. They dropped their second LP yesterday and if this doesn't land them some more award nominations (and maybe finally some wins) I'll be surprised and sad. This is one of the best of a bunch of great tracks.
The old bookshop owner had something special for Dave.
Dash - Writer's Block competition entry
Just listened to The Way by Dorothy and it's a great album. The band (named for it's lead singer, also Dorothy) does nice blues-inflected hard rock with a bit of a heavy edge to it. Lead singer Dorothy Martin packs a powerful "shouter" voice and has the skills to use it to great effect. Here's a track from the album as a sample.
The old bookshop owner had something special for Dave.
Dash - Writer's Block competition entry
New track from the upcoming album A Thousand Little Deaths by Dutch goth symphonic metal (or is symphonic goth metal?) band Blackbriar. Solid, if dark, metal punctuated by captivating, deceptively girlish voice of vocalist and lyricist Zora Cock.
The old bookshop owner had something special for Dave.
Dash - Writer's Block competition entry
A prog fan on another site pointed me at this rather cute, silly video by guitarist Charlie Griffiths of the UK prog metal band Haken. Cute silly video but some hellagood guitar work from Charlie. There's a whole album of this from 2022 (this track is the title song) and he recently released a followup with Tiktaalika now serving as the band name.
And from the new album Gods of Pangaea, "The Lost Continent"
The old bookshop owner had something special for Dave.
Dash - Writer's Block competition entry
Symphonic metal is distinguished from other metal styles in its use of orchestral and choral backing tracks (or actual orchestras and choirs in some cases) along with more typical metal instrumentation like guitars and drums. Epica is one of the pre-eminent bands in the genre and is working up to the release of a new album. This take on T.I.M.E., the most recent single from that album, does something interesting, though. They take out the band. Epica vocalists Simone Simons and Mark Jansen (Simone's the pretty one 😊) perform the song backed by just Hellscore, a rock/metal choir founded and led by Noa Gruman, who also sings in the band Scardust.
The old bookshop owner had something special for Dave.
Dash - Writer's Block competition entry
Magdalena Bay came to my attention because of this cover of David Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes". They are an electronic alt-pop duo with some prog influences with three albums and myriad singles out in their 9 years to date. The group consists of Mica Tenenbaum on vocals and keytar and her partner Matthew Lewin on assorted instruments. The add a tour/session drummer and a second instrumentalist for live performances.
The old bookshop owner had something special for Dave.
Dash - Writer's Block competition entry
Envy of None is sort of a supergroup. Three members, guitarist Alex Lifeson (Rush), bassist and backing vocalist Andy Curran (Coney Hatch), and keyboard and guitarist Alf Annibalini are music industry vets with probably over a century of experience among them. Lifeson alone has been around for over 50 years.
However, Maiah Wynne the singer-songwriter fronting the band is only 28 with maybe a decade of experience. She's a solid singer and songwriter though, holding her own with the three veterans, every one of them old enough to be her father or even grandfather. Oddly, the band doesn't have a fixed drummer, using various drummers from the Canadian music scene as session players.
Cute note: not only is Lifeson in the band with Wynne, but he plays on some of her solo work, too.
The old bookshop owner had something special for Dave.
Dash - Writer's Block competition entry
