Thursday, May 21, 2009

XANDRIA



Xandria is a band, founded in Bielefeld, Germany, in 1997. The band's music combines elements of symphonic metal with light electronic elements and rock. Exact classification is difficult.

After various demos and great success on different MP3 portals, they released their first album in 2003, entitled Kill the Sun, which reached #98 on the German music charts. The follow-up album, Ravenheart (2004), stayed on the charts for 7 weeks, reaching #36. In 2005 they released their third album India, which is more oriented to the symphonic metal.

Starting December 14th, 2006 Xandria began recording their fourth album, Salomé - The Seventh Veil, which was released on May 25th, 2007.

As of April 30th, 2008, Lisa Middelhauve is no longer Xandria's singer. She has left the band citing personal reasons and discomfort at being the band's leader. The band has found a new singer, Kerstin Bischof a.k.a. Lakonia, best known by her collaborations for the band Axxis.

Members

Current members

* Kerstin Bischof a.k.a. Lakonia – Female Vocals
* Marco Heubaum – Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards
* Philip Restemeier – Guitar
* Nils Middelhauve – Bass
* Gerit Lamm – Drums


Former members

* Lisa Middelhauve (2000-2008) – Vocals, Piano
* Roland Krueger (1999-2004) – Bass
* Andreas Maske (2000-2001) – Guitar
* Jens Becker (1999-2000) – Guitar
* Niki Weltz (1994-1997) – Drums
* Andreas Litschel (1996-1997) – Keyboards
* Manuel Vinke (1996-1997) – Guitar
* Holger Vester (1997) – Bass
* Nicole Tobien (1997) – Vocals

Friday, May 8, 2009

IMPELLITTERI




Impellitteri is a heavy metal band from USA formed and led by guitarist Chris Impellitteri. Since inception, the band has released numerous albums to critical praise, mainly due to Chris Impellitteri's speed/shred style of playing. The band's style is often compared to Racer X, while Chris is compared to Yngwie Malmsteen.Impellitteri's line-up has varied through its career, featuring three lead singers: Rob Rock, Graham Bonnet, and Curtis Skelton (2003-2008). In 2009 Impellitteri released their new album Wicked Maiden with Rob Rock back on vocals.

Band history

Chris Impellitteri formed Impellitteri together with Rob Rock in Los Angeles California. They released an EP called simply Impellitteri. The self titled Black EP feature highly energetic metal music with, fast shredding guitar solos, and an insanely high vocal performance by Rob Rock. The Black Impellitteri was well-received and propelled Impellitteri into International stardom as a guitar hero.

After the EP the band regrouped, this time with Graham Bonnet as lead singer, and released A semi tribute album to the legendary metal vocalists style of music titled album Stand In Line. MTV played the Impellitteri Stand In Line video in rotation, and Chris Impellitteri was a guest host on MTV Headbangers Ball. The fans voted Impellitteri a smash on MTV's smash or trash show featured during the release of the album. The album charted in Billboards top 100 and remained there for over 5 months. However, Impellitteri stated The Black EP was Impellitteri's style of music, and Stand in line was only intended to be a tribute to the legendary vocalists past music, and not as a traditional Impellitteri metal shred record.

After some touring and label deals, Impellitteri returned (again with Rob Rock on vocals). They recorded and released the popular EP titled Victim of the System. Victim of the System was produced by Mike Tacci who was the assistant engineer on Metallica's Black album. In late 1994, they released Answer to the Master.

In 1996, Impellitteri released Screaming Symphony, which featured the legendary instrumental titled 17 Century Chicken Pickn'. The Screaming Symphony record was mixed by legendary producer Michael Wagner who produced Metallica and Ozzy Osbourne. The next year, they released another record titled: Eye of the Hurricane. In 2000 Impellitteri released Crunch. Crunch is one of the most exciting Impellitteri records and is filled with fast shredding guitar solos, screaming vocals, and an energetic drum and bass duo.

Shortly after Crunch, Rob Rock decided to pursue a solo career so Impellitteri again recruited Graham Bonnet and started working on their next album. In 2002 they released System X. That year they also released a compilation of hits called The Very Best of Impellitteri: Faster Than the Speed of Light.

The union with Bonnet would be short-lived as they parted ways some time after. Impellitteri recruited Curtis Skelton, releasing Pedal To The Metal in 2004, one of their most aggressive albums to date.

In May 2008, it was announced that Rob Rock was back in Impellitteri. They are currently finishing a new album called Wicked Maiden (that was going to be called Good and Evil in the beginning), and it will be released in mid 2009 worldwide, followed by the Impellitteri shred fest tour. February 2009.

Impellitteri's new album "Wicked Maiden" was released on Feb, 24 2009

Member

* Rob Rock – vocals
* Chris Impellitteri – guitar
* James Amelio Pulli – bass
* Edward Harris Roth – keyboard
* Glen Sobel – drums

FREEDOM CALL




Freedom Call is a German power metal band formed in 1998.

Biography

Freedom Call was formed in 1998 by old friends Chris Bay and Daniel Zimmermann during an off-period for the latter's main band, Gamma Ray. They eventually completed a six-song demo with the well-known producer Charlie Bauerfeind, who offered the tape to several record companies.

At the same time, the Freedom Call line up was completed by Ilker Ersin on the Bass guitar and Sascha Gerstner on Guitar. Chris and Dan saw Sascha in the beginning of 1998, playing in a cover band. Ilker and Chris had played together in a band called Moon Doc for some years.

The debut album, Stairway to Fairyland was released in early 1999, and on the 25th of May Freedom Call made their official live debut during a France tour as support band of Angra and Edguy. At the end of August Freedom Call started recording the 5-track Mini LP called "Taragon", with new songs, a cover version of Ultravox' "Dancing with tears in my eyes", a new-sung version of the "Stairway to Fairyland" a Japanese bonus track called "Kingdom Come" and a new version of "Tears of Taragon" with Biff Byford, singer of Saxon narrating the "Tale of Taragon" on it. By the end of 1999, Freedom Call had entered the studio again to record the second album called "Crystal Empire", which was released in late 2000.

In March 2001 Sascha Gerstner left Freedom Call (he would later join Helloween). He was eventually replaced by Cedric "Cede" Dupont, the Swiss guitarist of Symphorce.

In the middle of January 2002 the new formation of the band began recording their new album called "Eternity." Dan and Chris produced the album on their own this time as Charlie Bauerfeind was not available at the time. He was, however, responsible for the drum recordings and the final mix. Later that year, they were invited on tour with Blind Guardian. During this tour they recorded the live album, "Live Invasion" together with Charlie Bauerfeind in Düsseldorf, Stuttgart and Munich.

The keyboard player used on this tour, Nils Neumann, was soon invited to become the fifth member of the band. After an extended break, the next album The Circle of Life was recorded at Hansen Studio, Hamburg and FC Studios, Nuremberg from August to October 2004, and released in March, 2005. Shortly after the release, both Cede Dupont and Ilker Ersin decided to leave Freedom Call (independently of each other). Replacements were eventually announced in the respective form of the unknown Lars Rettkowitz and Armin Donderer, formerly of Paradox.

A new album with the title "Dimensions" was released on April 23, 2007 and, according to Dan Zimmermann, sounds closer to the Eternity album than its more experimental successor. The songs "The Wanderer" and "Dimensions" were also used in the online rhythm game "Flash Flash Revolution"

In March 2009, the band announced that they were putting the finishing touches to a new album, and that they had parted ways with bassist Amin Donderer, who would be replaced by Samy Saemann.

Lineup

* Chris Bay - Vocals & Guitar
* Lars Rettkowitz - Guitar
* Samy Saemann - Bass
* Dan Zimmermann - Drums


Former Members

* Sascha Gerstner - Guitar (1998-2001)
* Cédric "Cede" Dupont - Guitar (2001-2005)
* Ilker Ersin - Bass (1998-2005)
* Nils Neumann - Keyboards (2003-2006)
* Amin Donderer - Bass (2005-2009)

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Yngwie Malmsteen




Yngwie Johann Malmsteen (born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck on June 30, 1963) is a Swedish guitarist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and bandleader. Malmsteen became notable in the mid-1980s for his technical fluency and neo-classical metal compositions, often incorporating high speed picking and arpeggios. Four of his albums, from 1984 to 1988, Rising Force, Marching Out, Trilogy, and Odyssey, ranked in the top 100 for sales.

Early life

Malmsteen was born in Stockholm, Sweden, as the third child of a musically talented family. At age seven, he saw a television news report on the death of Jimi Hendrix. To quote his official website, "The day Jimi Hendrix died, the guitar-playing Malmsteen was born". At the age of 10 he took his mother's maiden name Malmsten as his surname, slightly changed it to Malmsteen, and Anglicised his given name Yngve to "Yngwie". Yngwie also created his first band "Track On Earth" at the age of 10, consisting of himself and a friend from school on drums. Malmsteen was a teenager when he first encountered the music of the 19th century violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini, whom he cites as his biggest classical music influence.

Through his emulation of Paganini concerto pieces on guitar, Malmsteen developed a prodigious technical fluency. Malmsteen's guitar style includes a wide, violin-like vibrato inspired by classical violinists, and use of such minor scales as the Harmonic minor, and minor modes such as Phrygian, and Aeolian. Malmsteen also cites Brian May of Queen, Steve Hackett of Genesis, Uli Jon Roth, Alex Lifeson of Rush, and Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple as influences.

1980s

In late 1982 Malmsteen was brought to the U.S. by Mike Varney of Shrapnel Records, who had heard a demo tape of Malmsteen's playing. He had brief engagements with Steeler, for their self-titled album of 1983, then Alcatrazz, for their 1983 debut No Parole From Rock N' Roll, and the 1984 live album Live Sentence. Malmsteen released his first solo album Rising Force in 1984, which featured Barrie Barlow of Jethro Tull on drums. His album was really meant to be an instrumental side-project of Alcatrazz, but it contained vocals, and Malmsteen left Alcatrazz soon after the release of Rising Force.

Rising Force won the Guitar Player Magazine's award for Best Rock Album and was also nominated for a Grammy for 'Best Rock Instrumental', achieving #60 on the Billboard album chart. Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force (as his band was thereafter known) next released Marching Out (1985). Jeff Scott Soto filled vocal duties on these initial albums. His third album, Trilogy, featuring the vocals of Mark Boals, was released in 1986. In 1987, another singer, former Rainbow vocalist Joe Lynn Turner joined his band. That year, Malmsteen was in a serious car accident, smashing his Jaguar E-Type into a tree and putting him in a coma for a week. Nerve damage to his right hand was reported. During his time in the hospital, Malmsteen's mother died from cancer. In the summer of 1988 he released his fourth album, Odyssey. Odyssey would be his biggest hit album, mainly because of its first single "Heaven Tonight". Shows in Russia during the Odyssey tour were recorded, and released in 1989 as his fifth album Trial By Fire: Live in Leningrad.

Malmsteen's "Neo-classical" style of metal became widely popular among guitarists during the mid 1980s, with contemporaries such as Jason Becker, Paul Gilbert, Marty Friedman, Tony MacAlpine and Vinnie Moore becoming prominent. MacAlpine came to the neoclassical/shred field by applying his classical piano training to his guitar playing and Moore arrived at a similar style because he shared Malmsteen's major influences. In late 1988, Malmsteen's signature Fender Stratocaster guitar was released, making him and Eric Clapton the first artists to be honored by Fender.

1990s

In the early 1990s Malmsteen released the albums Eclipse (1990), The Yngwie Malmsteen Collection (1991), Fire and Ice (1992) and The Seventh Sign (1994). Despite his early success, and continuous success in Europe and Asia, by the early 1990s 1980s heavy metal styles such as neoclassical metal and lengthy, virtuoso shred guitar solos had become unfashionable in the US. In 1993, Malmsteen's mother-in-law, who was opposed to his engagement with her daughter, had him arrested for threatening her with a shotgun and holding her daughter against her will. The charges against Malmsteen were dropped when he denied the incident.

In the 1990s, Malmsteen continued to record and release albums under the Japanese record label Pony Canyon, and maintained a devoted following from some fans in Europe and Japan, and to a lesser extent in the USA. In 2000, he once again acquired a contract with a US record label, Spitfire, and released his 1990s catalog into the US market for the first time, including what he regards as his masterpiece, Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra, recorded with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in Prague.

2000s

After the release of War to End All Wars in 2000, singer Mark Boals left the band. Malmsteen went on tour with former Ark vocalist Jorn Lande. Due to various tensions on tour, Jorn left before the recording of Malmsteen's next album, Attack!!. He was replaced by former Rainbow vocalist Doogie White. White's vocals were well received by fans. In 2003, Malmsteen joined Joe Satriani and Steve Vai as part of the G3 supergroup. Malmsteen made two guest appearances on keyboardist Derek Sherinian's albums Black Utopia (2003), and Blood of the Snake (2006) where Malmsteen is heard on the same tracks as Al Di Meola and Zakk Wylde. In 2004, Malmsteen made two cameo appearances on Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law- possibly alluded to his status as a guitarist.

Malmsteen released Unleash the Fury in 2005. (This title may be a reference to an audio recording that supposedly captured Malmsteen's immoderate response to a flight attendant who spilled a beverage on him. The recording found popularity in filesharing networks as an example of the absurd behavior of celebrities.) He is married to April and has a son named Antonio after Antonio Vivaldi, and they live in Miami, Florida. A noted Ferrari enthusiast, he owned a black 1985 308 GTS for 18 years before selling it on eBay, and a red 1962 250 GTO.[4] In the mid-2000s, he gave up smoking and drinking alcohol (date: April 2007).

In 2007, Malmsteen was honored in the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero II. Players can receive the "Yngwie Malmsteen" award by hitting 1000 or more notes in succession. February 2008 saw the replacement of singer Doogie White with former Iced Earth and Judas Priest and current Beyond Fear singer Tim Owens, with whom Malmsteen had once recorded a cover of Ozzy Osbourne's song "Mr. Crowley", for the 2000 Osbourne tribute album Bat Head Soup: A Tribute to Ozzy. The first Malmsteen album to feature Owens is titled Perpetual Flame and was released on October 14. On November 25, 2008, Malmsteen had three of his songs ("Caprici Di Diablo", "Damnation Game", and "Red Devil") released as downloadable content for the video games Rock Band and Rock Band 2. In 2008 Malmsteen was a special guest on the VH1 Classic show "That Metal Show". In the 10th of March 2009, Malmsteen's label Rising Force has launched his new release Angels Of Love, an instrumental album which features acoustic arrangements of some of his best-known ballads.

Technique and Playing Style

Malmsteen is most well known for his guitar playing, which is primarily an extremely fast method of playing known as shredding, a style which he is widely credited for beginning in the early 1980s, which is usually also dubbed neoclassical metal. He favors minor scales, particularly harmonic minor, and draws notable influence from Bach. He is considered by many to be one of the fastest guitarists in the world, along with other seminal figures such as Paul Gilbert, Vinnie Moore, Tony MacAlpine, Jason Becker, and Michael Angelo Batio. Most of these guitarists are widely considered to also be pioneers of the shred guitar movement, also springing up in the 1980s, primarily because of Shrapnel Records's head Mike Varney.

Malmsteen is considered one of the finest practitioners of the sweep picking technique, and also has a very fast and accurate alternate picking technique. However, most people pay particular attention to his left hand's legato technique.

Band members

Previous members

* Jeff Scott Soto - lead vocals (1984-1985)
* Mark Boals - lead vocals (1986-1996-1999-2001)
* Joe Lynn Turner - lead vocals (1988-1989)
* Göran Edman - lead vocals (1990-1992)
* Mike Vescera - lead vocals (1994-1995)
* Mats Leven - lead vocals (1997-1998)
* Jorn Lande - lead vocals (2000 tour only)
* Doogie White - lead vocals (2001-2008)
* Anders Johansson - drums (1985-1989)
* Michael Von Knorring - drums (1990-1991)
* Bo Werner - drums (1992-1993)
* John Macaluso - drums (1999-2000)
* Mike Terrana - drums (1994)
* Jens Johansson - keyboards (1984-1989)
* Mats Olausson - keyboards (1990-2001)
* Derek Sherinian - keyboards (2001-2003-2004; 2007-2008)
* Svante Henrysson - bass (1990-1992)
* Barry Sparks - bass (1994-1995)


Current members

* Tim "Ripper" Owens - lead vocals (2008-present)
* Yngwie Malmsteen - guitars (1978-present)
* Michael Troy - keyboards (2007-present)
* Bjorn Englen - bass (2008-present)
* Patrick Johansson - drums, percussion (2001-present)

ANDRE MATOS



Andre Coelho Matos (born September 14, 1971 in São Paulo, Brazil) is the former vocalist, pianist and composer for the heavy metal and power metal bands Viper, Angra and Shaaman. Since October 2006 Andre Matos is dedicated to his solo band.

Biography

Matos grew up in his hometown of São Paulo, Brazil. Matos began his musical education at the age of ten, when he received his first piano from his parents. As a teen, he would gather with his friends to listen to their favorite bands. Soon they began learning to play the music too, and Matos joined his first band, Viper. The band first performed on 8 April 1985, when he was just thirteen years old. That same year, they recorded their first demo tape, "The Killera Sword".

Within a short while, Viper had become a phenomenon in the Brazilian heavy metal scene. Though Matos continued on vocals, he had no pretention of remaining a vocalist, a role he assumed only because he had the "least poor vocals of all of them", and because he physically resembled Iron Maiden's vocalist, Bruce Dickinson. His instruments of choice were always the piano and keyboards. Matos left Viper when the band began to change its musical style. He had become interested in classical music, and felt that his musical vision had begun to diverge from that of the other band members, who wanted to focus on heavier, more "crude" music.

After leaving Viper, Andre went back to school and finished his education in music, specializing in orchestral conducting and composition.

In 1991 Angra was formed, and with the first album, Angels Cry, released in 1993, the band became famous in Japan and Europe. Later Holy Land and Fireworks were released. Angra's style evolved from a Helloween-inspired melodic speed metal to a unique blend of heavy-metal, classical music and traditional Brazilian influences which brought them worldwide critical appraise.

Andre took part in a worldwide contest for replacing Bruce Dickinson in Iron Maiden and was in the Top 3 finalists alongside James LaBrie and eventual winner, Blaze Bayley.

In 2001, he left the band Angra alongside the rhythm section composed of Luis Mariutti (bass) and Ricardo Confessori (drums) because of a disagreement with guitar players Rafael Bittencourt and Kiko Loureiro concerning the band's management. The two guitar players then recruited Edu Falaschi (vocals), Aquiles Priester (drums) and Felipe Andreoli (bass), and kept the name "Angra". Andre stayed with Angra's former rhythm section and recruited Luis' brother Hugo Mariutti on the guitar : together they formed the band Shaman, who had to change names to Shaaman before the release of their second album for legal reasons.

After leaving Shaaman along with the Mariutti brothers, Hugo and Luis, he released his first solo record Time To Be Free under the name "Andre Matos", in August 2007.

Andre Matos band members

* Andre Matos - Vocals & piano
* Andre Hernandes - Guitars
* Hugo Mariutti - Guitars
* Luís Mariutti - Bass Guitar
* Rafael Rosa - Drums
* Fabio Ribeiro - keyboards

Sunday, April 26, 2009

TARJA TURUNEN




Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen Cabuli (born August 17, 1977, Finland) is a full lyric soprano and songwriter, best known as co-founder and the former female vocalist of Finnish heavy metal quintet Nightwish. She was dismissed from the band on October 22, 2005 after nine years. Turunen is now devoting her time to her solo career under the stage name of Tarja. She is married to Argentine businessman Marcelo Cabuli. Tarja has also appeared in various Finnish television programs, and was a guest judge on "Idols" on March 27, 2007. She is seen as one of Finland's biggest singers, having been called "the voice of Finland" by Tarja Halonen, the Finnish president.


Career

Tarja with Nightwish

Nightwish demo (1996)

After playing keyboards in several heavy metal bands in the 1990s, including for example Nattvindens Gråt and Darkwoods My Betrothed, Tuomas Holopainen decided to create his own project while sitting around a campfire with friends in 1996. He immediately had a clear idea of the music: experimentally acoustic music he wrote by himself, similar to the music usually played around campfires, but with a distinct sound of atmosphere, played on his keyboards. He soon invited friend and schoolmate Erno "Emppu" Vuorinen to play acoustic guitars, and the classical vocalist Tarja Turunen, who had the same music teacher as they, Plamen Dimov. The three musicians recorded their self-titled acoustic demo in the winter of 1996. The name “Nightwish” was derived from the first song the band recorded together, and the demo also included the song “The Forever Moments”, and an early version of “Etiäinen”. After recording the Nightwish demo, Holopainen decided that Turunen’s operatic voice was too powerful for an acoustic band, and decided to add in heavy metal elements, including electric guitars and drums.

Angels Fall First (1997)

In early 1997, following the release of the Nightwish demo, Jukka “Julius” Nevalainen joined the band, and acoustic guitar was replaced with electric guitar. The addition of heavy metal elements to the band's existing experimental style gave the band a unique sound, forming the core of the Nightwish sound. The band entered the studio in April 1997 to record seven songs for their second demo, entitled Angels Fall First. As a precursor to their debut full length album of the same name, the demo made its way to the Finnish record label Spinefarm Records in May 1997. The label signed Nightwish to a two album deal, and the band returned to the studio to re-record songs from their second demo. The full length album Angels Fall First was released internationally in November 1997 and reached number 31 on the Finnish album charts, with the single “The Carpenter” reaching number 3 on the Finnish singles chart. “The Carpenter” single was released as a split with label mates Children of Bodom and Thy Serpent.

Angels Fall First is one of the two albums which features keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen's vocals, appearing on four of the album's eleven tracks, alongside vocalist Tarja Turunen. Critical reception of Angels Fall First was mixed, with Allmusic rating the album 3 out of 5 stars, and The Metal Observer would later state that Nightwish’s debut album “paled drastically in comparison to their later work". In December 1997, after over a year of existence, Nightwish made their live debut in their hometown Kitee, Finland. Since they were missing a bass player, Samppa Hirvonen joined them as a sessional live member. Marjaana Pellinen was also a sessional live member on an additional keyboard and was a sessional backing vocalist for Tarja. The band had considered making Samppa Hirvonen a permanent member until they met Sami Vänskä in 1998. During the winter of 1997 and 1998, the band performed only seven times, due to Nevalainen and Vuorinen’s obligatory Finnish military service, and Turunen finishing her schooling.

Oceanborn (1998–1999)

Following a string of live shows in Finland, the band filmed their first video clip for “The Carpenter” in April 1998. Nightwish completed their touring line up in the summer of 1998 when bassist Sami Vänskä, an old friend of Holopainen, joined the band. Nightwish then returned to the studio in August 1998 as a five-piece, to record their follow up album for Spinefarm records.

On October 7, 1998, Nightwish released their second full length album, Oceanborn, in Finland only. Adopting a more technical and progressive sound than Angels Fall First, Oceanborn saw the band abandon much of the ambient and folk elements present on their debut release, the only folk song is "Moondance". In contrast to the female vocals of Turunen, the album also featured guest growling vocals by Tapio Wilska (ex-Finntroll). Oceanborn was well received, with Allmusic writing that the album “as a whole works great”, with songs that are “very strong”. Oceanborn was an instant success in Finland, reaching number 5 on the Finnish album charts. The album’s first single, “Sacrament of Wilderness”, hit number 1 on the Finnish singles charts, where it stayed for several weeks. The album’s release was initially limited to Finland, but due to the success of “Sacrament of Wilderness”, Spinefarm released Oceanborn internationally in the spring of 1999.

In May 1999, Nightwish recorded the single “Sleeping Sun (Four Ballads of the Eclipse)”. In one month the single sold 15,000 copies in Germany alone. Following the band’s first international success, Nightwish was added as the opening band for Rage’s 1999 European tour. Both the album Oceanborn and the single “Sacrament of Wilderness” were certified gold in Finland in August 1999.

Wishmaster (2000)

While in the studio in early 2000 working on their third album, Nightwish was accepted in the Finnish Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Sleepwalker”. (Nightwish-sleepwalker.ogg sample (help·info)) Despite winning the public vote, Nightwish eventually finished in second place, with the jury choosing local gospel singer Nina Åström to represent Finland.

In May 2000, Nightwish released their third studio album Wishmaster which debuted at #1 on the Finnish album charts, and following three weeks at number one, was certified gold in Finland. Critical response to the album was mixed, with Allmusic citing the album as repetitive, and saying “as a whole album, it can be a little annoying, even frustrating”. However, German magazine Rock Hard declared Wishmaster “Album of the Month”, despite competing against long-awaited May releases from Iron Maiden and Bon Jovi.Following the release of Wishmaster, Nightwish embarked on their first world tour, playing dates in South America, Mexico, Canada, and the first headlining European tour with Sinergy and Eternal Tears of Sorrow. In the summer the band returned to Europe, appearing at the Wacken Open Air festival and the Biebop Metal Fest.

Over the Hills and Far Away EP (2001)

In 2001, Nightwish recorded a cover of Gary Moore’s “Over the Hills and Far Away” together with two new songs (“10th Man Down” and “Away”) and a remake of “Astral Romance” (from the Angels Fall First album) with Tony Kakko (Sonata Arctica) singing Tuomas' part. This was released as their first, EP - "Over the Hills and Far Away". The record also included guest performances by Tapio Wilska (ex-Finntroll) once again. They also released a VHS, DVD and CD with live material recorded in a show in Tampere, on December 29, 2000. All of these were entitled From Wishes to Eternity.

Nightwish’s version of "Over the Hills and Far Away" was well received by fans, becoming a frequent part of the band’s live performances. The song is included on several compilation albums as well as the End of an Era DVD released in 2006. However, the other new songs never had a great break-through and have not been re-released, with the exception of a live performance of 10th Man Down on the "End of Innocence" DVD with Marco Hietala (current bass player and male vocalist). Soon after the release, Nightwish met what's been described as one of their hardest points as a band. The problem mostly relied on the bassist, Sami Vänskä who had started misbehaving towards the band by, for example, missing appointments and failing to take gigs as seriously as the other members would. After the band discussed this with Vänskä several times, without change, everyone simply stopped caring and tensions grew.

Meanwhile, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen had started complaining about his role in the band, feeling like "a hired gun who would only do what he's asked to". According to their music teacher, Plamen Dimov, he and Holopainen were totally different characters, and thus difficulties were expected to arise. But Vuorinen was told to stay cool and "bite the bullet", and no more was spoken about the problem. Soon, Holopainen seriously started thinking about breaking Nightwish up. After a gig in Russia, he sent a text message to fellow musician Tony Kakko of power metal band Sonata Arctica, telling him that he did not think he had a band any longer, and asked him what plans he had for next year. After Nightwish's last gig for the Over the Hills and Far Away tour in 2001, Holopainen called Drakkar and Spinefarm, unofficially declaring Nightwish over. He told them he might produce another album, but he would never perform another show with the band. The same message was also written on the band's message board.

Straight after the last gig, Holopainen went on a week-long hiking trip to Lapland with Tony Kakko feeling relieved after finally breaking Nightwish up, albeit only unofficially. But during the hiking trip, something obviously happened and even though they barely discussed the matter alone in the wilderness, they both understood he could not break up Nightwish that easily. When he returned from Lapland he immediately received a phone call from Ewo Pohjola offering himself to become their manager and help him straighten things up. And Holopainen agreed. In order to continue with Nightwish, Holopainen decided there had to be changes. Apart from agreeing for Ewo to become their new manager, he also decided to ask Sami Vänskä to leave the band. Marco Hietala (Tarot and Sinergy) was asked to join the band, effectively leaving Sinergy. As well as playing bass guitar, Hietala would also perform male vocals. Earlier, as required, either Holopainen (on the Angels Fall First album) or a guest musician performed the male vocals. Holopainen has since said publicly that he and Vänskä still keep in touch, contrary to rumours saying that they have not met since. However, they are not interested in making another project together.

Century Child (2002–2003)

In 2002, Nightwish released Century Child, along with the singles “Ever Dream” and “Bless the Child”. The main difference from previous albums is the use of a live orchestra from Finland on “Bless the Child”, “Ever Dream”, “Feel For You” and “The Beauty of the Beast”, to get a more present feeling of classical music. An enduring favorite of fans, though, is the band’s version of “The Phantom of the Opera”, from the famous musical of the same name by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. The song was repeatedly played in concerts until vocalist Tarja Turunen was replaced with Anette Olzon, whereupon the band announced that they would never play the song live again. Century Child was certified gold two hours after its release, and platinum two weeks afterwards. It set a record on the Finnish album charts as well; never before had the second been so distant from the first place. After the “Bless the Child” video, a second one was recorded, without any single support. The chosen track was “End of All Hope”. The clip contains pieces from the Finnish movie, Kohtalon kirja (English: The Book of Fate).

In 2003, Nightwish released their second DVD, entitled End of Innocence. The DVD tells the story of the band in Holopainen, Nevalainen and Tapio Wilska’s words for two hours. The documentary also features bits of live concerts, exclusive footage, etc. Vocalist Tarja Turunen also got married during the summer of 2003, and there were rumours that the band was about to be dissolved. These rumours were, at the time, proven to be false, as the band continued to play concerts for another year and released another album. The marriage was later to play a part in Tarja’s dismissal from the band in the autumn of 2005.

Once (2004–2005)

A new album entitled Once was released on June 7, 2004, along with their first single, “Nemo” (Latin: “No one”), from that album. The single topped the charts in Finland and Hungary, and reached the top ten in five additional countries. “Nemo” therefore remains the band's most successful single release to date. With Once, Nightwish started to produce orchestral versions of some of their songs. Songs that have been produced as orchestral versions include “Nemo”, “Ghost Love Score”, Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan and Creek Mary's Blood.

Once utilizes a full orchestra in nine of the eleven songs on the album. Unlike Century Child, Nightwish decided to look for an orchestra outside of Finland this time, choosing the London Philharmonic Orchestra. It is also their second album to feature a full-length song in Finnish, “Kuolema tekee taiteilijan” (English: “Death Makes an Artist”). Once has sold triple platinum in Finland, platinum in Germany, gold in Sweden and reached #1 in the Greek, Norwegian and Hungarian album charts. The following singles were: “Wish I Had an Angel” (featured on the soundtrack of the film Alone in the Dark), “Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan” (released only in Finland and Japan) and “The Siren”. Besides the commercial success, Once was also accepted by critics, with many positive reviewers drawing comparisons with Oceanborn.

The success of the album allowed them to perform the Once World Tour, which enabled them to play in many countries the band had never visited before. Nightwish performed at the opening ceremony of the 2005 World Championships in Athletics, held in Helsinki, highlighting acclaim the band has recently gained. A “best of” album was released in September 2005, containing songs from their whole discography. The compilation is entitled Highest Hopes, also featuring a live cover of Pink Floyd’s song “High Hopes” (from the The Division Bell album) (sample). Besides High Hopes, a remake of “Sleeping Sun” (from Oceanborn) was put on the album, which was also released as a single. A new video for “Sleeping Sun” was shot, featuring a medieval battle, and can be found on the German release of the single and as a separate DVD released by Spinefarm.

End of an Era (2005–2006)

After the recording in the Hartwall Areena (Helsinki) on October 21, 2005, of the new live DVD End of an Era (released June 2006), the four other members of Nightwish decided that it was best to continue Nightwish without Tarja Turunen, a feeling they expressed through an open letter which was given to Turunen by Tuomas Holopainen after the concert, and afterwards posted on the band’s website. It was written by Holopainen but signed by the other band members. The main justification given in the letter for Turunen’s dismissal was that the band felt that both her husband Marcelo Cabuli (an Argentine businessman) and commercial interests had changed her attitude towards the band. Turunen responded to the incident twice, during a press conference in Finland and in Germany, saying that her dismissal came entirely as a shock to her, given that she had not been notified before the letter was given to her. She felt that the personal attacks on her husband were unwarranted, and that playing the issue out in public was “senselessly cruel”. She expressed these feelings through her own open letter, which was published on her personal website, and through various TV, magazine, and newspaper interviews.

Since then, Turunen has focused on her own solo career, however she is still often covering Nightwish songs in live concerts.

Independent career

In December 2005, Turunen performed several Christmas concerts in Finland, Germany, Spain and Romania. 2006 was not a break year for Turunen, who recorded a Christmas album and vocals for her brother Timo Turunen's debut album. She also made an appearance at the Savonlinna Opera Festival. The following day, September 17, Tarja's solo dates were announced across Europe. The currently confirmed cities are Berlin, London, Moscow, Budapest, Athens, Cologne, Paris, Amsterdam and Zurich.

In October 2007 a street team endorsed by Universal Music and Spinefarm UK was launched for Tarja through UK-based company Worst Decision. The team's aim is to help promote Tarja's upcoming single, album and tour with the help of dedicated fans, the most dedicated of which will be eligible to receive free gifts for their work . While currently aimed mainly at the UK market it is hoped that many members from all over the world will join to help spread the word about Tarja throughout the UK, Europe and around the world. Tarja's first independent album, My Winter Storm, was released in November 2007 and achieved gold status in Finland on the day of release. The album took the number 1 spot on the Finnish charts, went platinum in Finland and gold in Russia, her first ever in Russia. My Winter Storm has also achieved gold in Hungary and in the Czech Republic. Tarja also sings on the track "In The Picture" on Nuclear Blast Allstars' album Into The Light, 2007.

In late 2007 Tarja was nominated for two awards, an "ECHO" as best newcomer and an "Emma" for best Finnish artist. She is also confirmed to headline day one of the 2008 Metal Female Voices Fest in Wieze, Belgium. On 9 May 2008, Tarja embarked on a long European tour to promote My Winter Storm, Storm Tour. She chose to open the tour by performing at Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Leipzig, Germany. Turunen has also told fans via her My Winter Storm blog that she is relocating to Antigua to work with the same producer as before, and that she has many ideas for her third album, currently in progress.

In July 2008, she announced two tracks in the My Winter Storm blog: "The Crying Moon" for the new album, and "Enough", for one special edition of My Winter Storm. So, on August 2008 she played "Enough" in her Storm Tour, in South America 2008. On 10 September 2008, a Spinefarm UK representative announced that they will be releasing an EP for Tarja on 1 December which will include new material. In December 2008 The Seer EP was released in the U.K. and the new extended edition of My Winter Storm released on January 2, 2009. Tarja is currently recording her second album "What Lies Beneath" which is set for a 2009 release.

Friday, April 24, 2009

WINTERSUN



Genre Epic Melodic Death Metal
Lyrical theme Life, Winter, Emotions, Hallucinations, Dreams
Origin Finland (Helsinki)
Formed in 2004
Current label Nuclear Blast
Status Active

Current line-up
Jari Mäenpää - Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards (2004-) (Ensiferum, Arthemesia, Immemorial (Fin))
Teemu Mäntysaari - Guitar (2005-) (Imperanon)
Jukka Koskinen - Bass (2005-) (Norther, Cain's Offering)
Kai Hahto - Drums (2004-) (Rotten Sound, Cartilage (Fin), Arthemesia, Enochian Crescent, Vomiturition, Wings (Fin), Swallow The Sun)

Former/past member
Oliver Fokin - Guitar (2004) (Arthemesia, Ensiferum, Immemorial (Fin))


Discography

Winter Madness Demo, 2004
Wintersun Full-length, 2004
Live at Summer Breeze 2005 DVD, 2006

Links

Official
Kai Hahto's Official Homepage
Official Homepage
Wintersun @ MySpace
Wintersun @ Bebo
Jari Mäenpää @ YouTube
Kai Hahto @ YouTube

Labels
Wintersun @ Nuclear Blast
Wintersun @ King Records

Thursday, April 23, 2009

THERION


Genre Death Metal (early), Symphonic/Operatic Metal (later)
Lyrical theme Mythology, Occult/Pagan Religions
Origin Sweden (Stockholm)
Formed in 1987
Current label Nuclear Blast
Status Active

Current line-up
Thomas Vikström - Vocals (2009-) (previously live, 2007-2009) (Candlemass, 7days, Stormwind (Swe), Mehida, Audiovision, Crash the System, Steel Seal, Dark Illusion, Enlighted)
Christofer Johnsson - Guitars, Keyboards (1987-) (Vocals 1987-2006) (Carbonized (Swe), Messiah (Che), Procreation (Swe), Demonoid, Liers in Wait, Crematory (Swe))
Christian Vidal - Guitars (2010-)
Nalle Påhlsson - Bass (2008-) (Vindictiv, Treat, Zan Clan)
Johan Kullberg - Drums (2008-) (Lion's Share, Animal, Zan Clan)

Session/touring vocalists:
Snowy Shaw (2006-) (Notre Dame, King Diamond, Illwill, Mercyful Fate, Memento Mori (Swe), Cans, Dream Evil, XXX, Eyes Of Noctum)
Katarina Lilja (2006-) (Sobre Nocturne)
Hannah Holgersson (Studio only, 2006-)
Lori Lewis (Touring only, 2007-) (Aesma Daeva)

Former/past member
Guitars:
Peter Hansson (1987-1993, also keyboards)
Magnus Barthelson (1993-1994, Live 2008) (Feeble Lies, Formicide (Swe))
Tommy Eriksson (1994, 1997-1998, also live drums) (Ligament, Nocturnal Rites, Saturnalia Temple, Shadowseeds)
Jonas Mellberg (1995-1996, also keyboards) (Unanimated)
Kristian Niemann (1999-2008) (Demonoid)

Bass:
Erik Gustafsson (1987-1992) (Dismember (Swe), Lust Murder box)
Andreas Wallan Wahl (1993-1994) (Serpent, Formicide (Swe), Concrete Sleep)
Fredrik Isaksson (1994) (Grave, Excruciate (Swe))
Lars Rosenberg (1994-1996) (Entombed, Monastery (Nld), Serpent, Mental Distortion, Furcas, Roachpowder, Carbonized (Swe))
Kim Blomkvist (1998) (Internal Decay (Swe))
Jan Kazda (1998-1999)
Johan Niemann (1999-2008) (Afterglow (Swe)/Mind's Eye (Swe), Demonoid, Hubi Meisel, Tears of Anger, Evil Masquerade, Crash the System, Tiamat, The Murder of my Sweet)

Drums:
Oskar Forss (1987-1992)
Piotr "Docent" Wawrzeniuk (1993-1996, also vocals) (Monev, Carbonized (Swe), Serpent)
Wolf Simon (1998-1999)
Sami Karppinen (Ruoska) (1998-2001)
Richard Evensand (2001-2004) (Chimaira, Demonoid, Dog Faced Gods, Ebony Tears, Lion's Share, Soilwork (Tour), Sorcerer (Swe), Southpaw)
Petter Karlsson (2004-2008) (Argento (Swe), Kajarr, Conspiracy, Holocoaster, Diablo Swing Orchestra)

Vocals:
Matti Kärki (1989) (Carnage (Swe), Carbonized (Swe), Dismember (Swe), Murder Squad, General Surgery)
Sarah Jezebel Deva (1997-2002) (Sarah Jane Ferridge) (Angtoria, Cradle of Filth, Covenant (Nor), Mortiis, Tulus, The Gathering, Mystic Circle, The Kovenant)
Martina Astner (Hornbacher) (1998-1999) (Dreams of Sanity, Alas, Korovakill/Korova)
Suvi Virtanen (Live 2001, 2004-2006) (Dying Daylight, Silent Rites, Echoterra)
Karin Fjellander (2004-2006)
Mats Levén (2004-2008) (Abstrakt Algebra, Southpaw, Krux, Yngwie J. Malmsteen, At Vance, Fatal Force (Dnk), Audiovision, Sabbtail, Treat, Jupiter Society, Amaseffer, Crash the System, Adagio (Fra))

Keyboards:
Kimberly Goss (1996-1997, also vocals) (Ancient (Nor), Sinergy, Avernus, Warmen, Dimmu Borgir)

Discography

Paroxysmal Holocaust Demo, 1989
Beyond the Darkest Veils of Inner Wickedness Demo, 1989
Time Shall Tell EP, 1990
Rehearsal Demo, 1990
Of Darkness... Full-length, 1991
Beyond Sanctorum Full-length, 1992
Symphony Masses: Ho Drakon Ho Megas Full-length, 1993
The Beauty in Black Single, 1995
Lepaca Kliffoth Full-length, 1995
Siren of the Woods Single, 1996
Theli Full-length, 1996
A'arab Zaraq - Lucid Dreaming Best of/Compilation, 1997
Eye of Shiva Single, 1998
Vovin Full-length, 1998
Crowning of Atlantis EP, 1999
The Early Chapters of Revelation Boxed set, 2000
Deggial Full-length, 2000
Secret of the Runes Full-length, 2001
Bells of Doom Best of/Compilation, 2001
Live in Midgard Live album, 2002
Lemuria Full-length, 2004
Sirius B Full-length, 2004
Atlantis Lucid Dreaming Best of/Compilation, 2005
Celebrators of Becoming - Live in Mexico Live album, 2006
Celebrators of Becoming Boxed set, 2006
Wand of Abaris Single, 2006
Passenger Sampler Split album, 2006
The Wand of Abaris / Path to Arcady Single, 2007
Gothic Kabbalah Full-length, 2007
Live Gothic DVD, 2008
Live Gothic Live album, 2008
The Miskolc Experience Live album, 2009

Links

Official
Official Therion Website
Official Japanese Therion Website
Official Therion Facebook Page
Therion @ Myspace
Official Therion French Website (Site officiel Francais)
Official Russian Therion Website
Therion @ Bebo

Labels
Therion @ Nuclear Blast
Nuclear Blast MySpace

Fan site
Therion Polish Website
Detailed discography @ musik-sammler.de
Therion French Fan Site
Therion in Spanish
Croatian Therion MySpace fan page
NTSMS Forum (Non-Therion Society Members' Society)
Therion @ Vf
Therion @ Metalseek
Foro Therion Chile

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

SLAYER



Genre Thrash Metal
Lyrical theme Satanism (early), Anti-Religion, Violence, Warfare
Origin United States of America (Huntington Park, Los Angeles County, California)
Formed in 1982
Current label American Recordings
Status Active

Current line-up

Tom Araya - Vocals, Bass (1982-) (Tradewinds, Quits)
Jeff Hanneman - Guitar (1982-) (Pap Smear)
Kerry King - Guitar (1982-) (Quits, Megadeth)
Dave Lombardo - Drums (1982-1986, 1987-1992, 2001-) (Escape, Sabotage, Testament, Grip Inc., Fantômas, Voodoocult, John Zorn, Philm, Pap Smear, Apocalyptica)

Former/past member
Drums:
Paul Bostaph (1992-1996, 1997-2001) (Testament, Forbidden (USA), Exodus, Systematic)

Discography

Show No Mercy Full-length, 1983
Haunting the Chapel EP, 1984
Live Undead Live album, 1984
Combat Tour Live: The Ultimate Revenge Split DVD / video, 1985
Hell Awaits Full-length, 1985
Postmortem Single, 1986
Raining Blood Single, 1986
Angel of Death Single, 1986
Reign in Blood Full-length, 1986
Criminally Insane Single, 1987
South of Heaven Single, 1988
Mandatory Suicide Single, 1988
South of Heaven Full-length, 1988
Seasons in the Abyss Single, 1990
Seasons in the Abyss Full-length, 1990
Decade of Aggression Live album, 1991
Dittohead Single, 1994
Divine Intervention Full-length, 1994
Live Intrusion Single, 1995
Serenity in Murder Single, 1995
Serenity in Murder EP, 1995
Live Intrusion Video/VHS, 1995
I Hate You Single, 1996
Undisputed Attitude Full-length, 1996
Slayer / T.S.O.L. Split album, 1996
Diabolus in Musica Full-length, 1998
Stain of Mind Single, 1998
Bloodline Single, 2001
God Send Death Single, 2001
God Hates Us All Single, 2001
God Hates Us All Full-length, 2001
War at the Warfield DVD, 2003
Soundtrack to the Apocalypse Boxed set, 2003
Still Reigning DVD, 2004
Eternal Pyre Single, 2006
Cult Single, 2006
Christ Illusion Full-length, 2006
Eyes of the Insane Single, 2006
Unholy Alliance Split DVD / video, 2007
Psychopathy Red Single, 2009
Hate Worldwide Single, 2009
World Painted Blood Single, 2009
World Painted Blood Full-length, 2009

Links

Official
Slayer Official Website
Slayer Official MySpace
Slayer Official YouTube Channel
Tom Araya @ ESP Guitars
Jeff Hanneman @ ESP Guitars
Kerry King @ BCRich.com
Slayer Official Twitter

Labels
Metal Blade artist's page

Fan site
Slayerized
Slayer: The Abyss
German Fanpage
Slayercollector Fanpage
Devil Man's Realm-Slayer
Slayer Saves
Slayergraph - Polish Fan Site
Polish Fan Site
Hell Awaits (in Polish)
Thrash N Blades
Slayer FC Finland
Detailed discography @ musik-sammler.de
Hungarian fan page
SLAYER Shirt Collection @ Oldschoolmetalshirts.com
National Day of Slayer
Slayer @ NoLifeTilMetal

Sunday, March 29, 2009

SATYRICON



Satyricon is a Norwegian black metal band, formerly known as zema.

Biography

Satyricon was formed in 1990 by Czral (Carl-Michael Eide) and Wargod. Haavard (Ulver) soon joined them. Satyr took over lead vocals in 1991. Satyricon's current drummer, Frost, who joined the band in 1992, has appeared in 1349, Keep of Kalessin, Gorgoroth, and Gehenna. Members of many other black metal bands have contributed to Satyricon either in the studio or live, including Samoth and Ihsahn of Emperor, Fenriz and Nocturno Culto of Darkthrone, and Obsidian C. of Keep of Kalessin.

The band's first album Dark Medieval Times showed off the fascination Satyricon had with the Middle Ages and featured raw black metal blastbeats produced by Frost, mixed with acoustic guitar and flute. On their next album, The Shadowthrone, this medieval spirit was continued. Satyricon’s third album, Nemesis Divina, contains Norwegian black metal influenced by medieval metal and was released in 1996. Rebel Extravaganza, Satyricon’s fourth album, was released in 1999. It contained more industrial metal influences than the previous albums.

In April and May of 2000 Satyricon toured as a supporting band for Pantera. Phil Anselmo has spoken of his love for black metal numerous times, and has participated in some extreme metal projects with Satyricon frontman Satyr. Regarding one of their latest albums, Volcano, frontman Satyr stated in a press release / biography on their homepage that "the music is rock based but more extreme; it is black metal pushing the boundaries that began with bands like Venom and Bathory, reinventing ourselves based on a foundation of rock oriented black metal is our philosophy." It resulted in a total of 4 Awards for Volcano being, the Norwegian Grammy for "Best Metal Album", an Alarm award for "Fuel For Hatred" in the category for "Song of the Year", as well as The Alarm Award for "Metal Album of the Year" and The Oslo awards for "Best Overall Album".

Satyricon participated in the Darkthrone tribute Darkthrone Holy Darkthrone, released by Moonfog Productions in 1998, covering the song Kathaarian Life Code. Also in 1998, Satyricon participated in the Bathory tribute In Conspiracy With Satan, released by Hellspawn/No Fashion Records, covering the song Born For Burning. In 2006, Satyricon released Now, Diabolical. The album was somewhat controversial among black metal fans due to its somewhat “radio friendly” take on black metal.

In March 2008, the band headlined the Inferno Metal Festival in Oslo for the first time. The EP My Skin Is Cold is also included on their latest album, The Age of Nero which was released on
November 3, 2008.

Band members

* Satyr (Sigurd Wongraven) – lead vocals, lead & rhythm guitars, bass, keyboards (1990–present)
* Frost (Kjetil-Vidar Haraldstad) – drums, percussion (1992–present)

with:


* Azarak (Steinar Gundersen) – guitars (1999–present)
* Jonna Nikula – keyboards (2003–present)
* Victor Brandt – bass (2007–present)
* Gildas Le Pape – guitars (2007–pre
sent)

Former members

* Exhurtum (Carl-Michael Eide) – drums, percussion (1990)
* Lord Deadmeat (Goran Basso) – bass (1990)
* Vargen (Joakim Jensen) – guitars (1990–1992)
* PrimeEvil (Steinar Henriksen) – drums, percussion (1990–1992)
* Wargod (Vegard Blomberg) – bass (1990–1993)
* Torden (Tord Vardøen) – keyboards (1993)
* Morfar Blodtann (Anders Ørjebu) – percussion (1990–1996)
* Kveldulv (Ted Skjellum/Nocturno Culto) – guitars (1996–1997)
* Samoth (Tomas Thormodsæter Haugen)– bass (1993–1996)

RAMMSTEIN


Rammstein (pronounced is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band, founded in Berlin in 1994, and consisting of Till Lindemann (lead vocals), Richard Z. Kruspe (lead guitar and backing vocals), Paul H. Landers (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Oliver "Ollie" Riedel (bass guitar), Christoph "Doom" Schneider (drums and electronic percussion) and Christian "Flake" Lorenz (keyboards). The band is widely accepted as part of the Neue Deutsche Härte scene, alongside bands such as Oomph! and Die Krupps. Their sound has been dubbed as Tanz-Metal (lit. "Dance Metal"). Their songs are performed almost exclusively in German, but they have also performed some sections of their songs in other languages such as Russian ("Moskau"), English ("Amerika", "Stripped"), French ("Amour") and Spanish ("Te Quiero Puta"). As of 2005, they had sold over 10 million records worldwide. Rammstein's entire catalogue is published by Universal Music Group. Since its formation, Rammstein has had no changes in lineup.

Rammstein takes its name indirectly from the West German town of Ramstein-Miesenbach, the site of the flight show disaster on 28 August 1988. The band's signature song, "Rammstein", is a commemoration of the tragedy that took place at the Ramstein Air Base. The extra "m" in the band's name makes it translate literally as "ramming stone" to convey the Teutonic sound of their music. In a short period before the band became well known, they performed using the name "Rammstein-Flugschau" (literally meaning Rammstein-Airshow).

Although the majority of their songs are written in German, Rammstein has had success across the world. It has been confirmed that in 2007, the band has reunited from their vacation and has begun working on their sixth studio album, which has been planned for release in Autumn 2009.

History

Rammstein was founded by guitarist Richard Z. Kruspe. In 1989, he escaped to West Berlin and started the band, Orgasm Death Gimmicks. At that time, he was heavily influenced by American music, especially that of Kiss. After the Berlin Wall came down, he moved back home to chwerin, where Till Lindemann worked as a basket-weaver and played drums in the band First Arsch (loosely translated as "Apex Ass"). At this time, Richard lived with Oliver Riedel, of the band The Inchtabokatables, and Christoph "Doom" Schneider (of Die Firma). Richard realized that the music he had previously created did not properly suit him; He envisioned something that would combine machines as well as the sound of hard guitars. The three started working together on a new project. Richard soon found it extremely difficult to write both music and lyrics at the same time, so he persuaded Lindemann to join Rammstein. Richard first discovered Till when he overheard him singing while he was working. A contest was held in Berlin for amateur bands in 1994, the winner of which would receive the opportunity to record a four track demo CD in a professional studio. Kruspe, Schneider, Riedel and Lindemann entered and won the contest, which caught the attention of Paul H. Landers, who wanted in on the project upon hearing their demo. To complete their sound, Rammstein then attempted to recruit Christian "Flake" Lorenz, who had played with Paul H. Landers previously in Feeling B. At first Lorenz was hesitant, but eventually agreed to join the band. Rammstein began to record their first studio album entitled Herzeleid in March 1995 with producer Jacob Hellner. They released their first single Du riechst so gut on 17 August and later released the album on 24 September 1995. Later that same year, they toured with Clawfinger in Warsaw and Prague. Rammstein headlined a tour of their own through Germany from 2 December to 22 December consisting of 17 shows which helped to boost the band’s popularity. They then went on several tours throughout early 1996, releasing their second single entitled Seemann on 8 January 1996. On 27 March, Rammstein performed on MTV's Hanging Out in London; their first performance in the UK. Rammstein's first major boost in popularity outside Germany came when music director Trent Reznor chose two Rammstein songs, "Heirate Mich" and "Rammstein", for David Lynch's film, Lost Highway. The soundtrack for the film was released in the US in the fall of 1996 and later throughout Europe in April 1997. Rammstein then went on to tour through Germany, Austria and Switzerland from September to October 1996, performing an anniversary concert on 27 September called "100 years of Rammstein". Guests to the concert included Moby, Bobo and The Berlin Session Orchestra, Berlin director Gert Hof was responsible for the light show. Rammstein started recording Sehnsucht in November 1996 at the Temple Studios in Malta. The album was again produced by Jacob Hellner. The first single off of the album, entitled Engel was released on 1 April 1997 and later reached gold status in Germany on 23 May. This prompted the release of a fan edition of the single, named Engel Fan Edition. This contained two previously unreleased songs, "Feuerräder" and "Wilder Wein". Release of the second single from the album "Sehnsucht" was "Du Hast", which hit the German single charts August 1997 at number 5. Rammstein then continued touring in the summer whilst Sehnsucht was released on 22 August 1997. The album reached number 1 after only two weeks in the charts. Simultaneously, Herzeleid and both the singles off Sehnsucht (Du Hast and Engel) were in the Top 20 of the German charts. Rammstein continued to headline sold out shows throughout Europe in September, October and November 1997 before releasing their cover of the Kraftwerk song, "Das Modell". The single included another unreleased song entitled Kokain. On 5 December 1997, Rammstein embarked on their first tour of the United States with KMFDM. On 22–23 August 1998, Rammstein played to over 17,000 fans at the Wuhlheide in Berlin; the biggest show the band have ever played there up to that date. Supporting acts were Danzig, Nina Hagen, Joachim Witt and Alaska. The show was professionally filmed, intended to be released on their upcoming live DVD, Live aus Berlin. Rammstein embarked on a live tour with Korn, Ice Cube, Orgy and Limp Bizkit called the Family Values tour in September through to late October 1998. To further continue their success in the US, Sehnsucht received Gold record status on 2 November. The Band was nominated at the MTV European Music Awards for Best Rock Act and performed Du Hast live on 12 November of that year. Rammstein had further success in 1999, starting off the year in February with a nomination for Best Metal Performance at the 42nd-annual Grammy Awards. A year after it was filmed, the Live aus Berlin concert was released on CD on 30 August 1999, with a limited edition double CD also available. Two weeks after it was released, Live aus Berlin went to number one in the German Album Charts. On 13 September and 26 November 1999 the video and DVD versions of the concert were released respectively. Rammstein's album Mutter recording took place in the south of France between May 2000 and June 2000, and was later mixed in Stockholm in October of that year. During Christmas 2000, Rammstein released an MP3 of "Links 2 3 4" as a taster for their new album. 2001 was a busy year for Rammstein, starting in January and February with the band playing the Big Day Out festival in Australia and New Zealand. January also heralded the shooting of the video for their upcoming single, "Sonne", recorded in Potsdam at Babelsberger Filmstudios from 13–15 January 2001. The video was released on 29 January 2001. The single for "Sonne" was released on 12 February 2001 in Europe, featuring an instrumental version of the song, two remixes by Clawfinger and "Adios" from the upcoming album. Mutter was released on 2 April 2001, sparking another Rammstein tour through Germany, Austria and Switzerland. On 14 May, the second single off the album, "Links 2 3 4", was released, along with a video of the single on 18 May. After a tour throughout Europe in June, the band then toured the U.S., Canada and Mexico from June to August 2001. "Ich will", the third single from the album, was released on 10 September 2001 and a Tour edition of the Mutter album was released, featuring alternative artwork and live versions of "Ich will", "Links 2-3-4", "Sonne" and "Spieluhr". From 8–12 January 2002, Rammstein traveled to Prague to participate in a minor scene from the film xXx. The band is seen in the opening scene of the action film performing their song "Feuer frei!" in a concert. "Feuer frei!" was released across Europe as the first single from the xXx soundtrack on 14 October 2002. Rammstein released two remixes of the song, Furthermore, the single's track listing included "Du Hast" and "Bück Dich" cover versions by Battery. The video for the single was edited by Rob Cohen, which contains part Rammstein performance at the beginning of the film and part snippets from the film itself. Rammstein recorded Reise, Reise at the El Cortijo studio in southern Spain between November 2003 and December 2003, it was later mixed at Toytown studio in Stockholm, Sweden in April and May 2004. The first single from the album was "Mein Teil", released on 26 July 2004. The video was shot in the Arena, in the Treptow district of Berlin. Outdoor shooting took place at the Deutsche Oper (Opera House) U-Bahn station on Bismarckstrasse. The director was Zoran Bihac, who also filmed the "Links 2-3-4" video. The "Amerika" video was filmed on 6–7 August 2004 in the ruins of the former cement works in Rüdersdorf near Berlin, Germany under the direction of Jörn Heitmann (who also directed the "Ich will" video, among others). The space suits for the moon scenes were borrowed from Hollywood and 240 tons of ash were needed to create the moon landscape. The video premiered on 20 August 2004. The second single from Reise, Reise was "Amerika", released on 13 September 2004. With the album released on 27 September, it went straight to top 10 charts throughout Europe. According to the Billboard charts, Rammstein were now the most successful German-language band of all time. Rammstein then toured Germany through November and some of December 2004, releasing the single "Ohne Dich" on 22 November. In February 2005, Rammstein toured Europe again. By 28 February 2005, Rammstein had played 21 concerts in front of more than 200,000 spectators in ten countries. It was on this tour that the band was faced with several lawsuits resulting from severe fire breathing accidents involving audience members. "Keine Lust" was the fourth single released from Reise, Reise on 28 February 2005. From 27 May to 30 July 2005, Rammstein played festivals across Europe. Footage from these concerts eventually ended up on Rammstein's live DVD Völkerball, released in November 2006. In August 2005, Rammstein revealed the name of their latest studio album, Rosenrot. Their first single from the new album, "Benzin", was released on 5 October 2005, with its video premiere on 16 September 2005. The album Rosenrot was released worldwide on 28 October 2005. Directly following the release, the album continued the success of its predecessor, Reise, Reise, placing on top 10 charts in 20 different countries. 16 December 2005 marked the release of the title track on the album Rosenrot. The video for Mann Gegen Mann was released on 6 February 2006, with the single being released on 3 March. On 19 February 2006, Rammstein had an asteroid named after them, 110393 Rammstein. On 17 November the first Rammstein Live DVD since Live aus Berlin from 1998 was released. Völkerball shows concert-performances by the band in England, France, Japan and Russia. The Special Edition is extended by a second DVD, which contains the documentaries "Anaconda in the net" by Mathilde Bonnefoy and the "Making of the album Reise, Reise" by Rammstein guitarist Paul Landers. The limited edition was released as a large black and white photo-book with photos by Frederic Batier, who had accompanied the band through their recent tours. The photo-book edition contains two DVDs and two live albums. The band took a time out in 2006, and began work again in 2007. In an interview with German rapper Bushido, who contributed to the Electro Ghetto Remix of Amerika, on 21 January 2007, Bushido reported recording a song with Rammstein, called "Vergiss uns nicht" ("Don't forget us"). In this interview, Bushido also mentioned that he was unsure whether it would be on their "Best of" album or not. This was the first mention of a "Best of" album, or the new album all together. In addition, keyboardist Christian "Flake" Lorenz confirmed this in an interview with Metal Hammer Germany in November, stating that they would have most likely released a new album in 2008. The band did not tour during 2007 due to album production. Their website confirmed work on a new album, but no word of a "Best of" album has yet been mentioned. In January 2008, guitarist Richard Kruspe confirmed on the Talking Metal Podcast that Rammstein was recording an album as they spoke, during that same interview he confirmed a "big world tour" following the next album to contain U.S. dates. On 4 November, the band finished the pre-production in Berlin and went to the Henson Studio in LA. After 7 intensive weeks they had recorded the drums, guitars and most of the vocals. According to the newsletter, the production of the album will take some time and a release is not planned before autumn 2009 and the first single will be released before summer 2009. Two very short (less than two minutes) "making of" videos have been released during the development of the album. One video, released on the band's website, shows drummer Christoph "Doom" Schneider recording drums for one of the tracks, and the second, released on the band's MySpace page, features keyboardist Flake Lorenz practicing notes for another track.

Style

Although Rammstein is often generalized as Neue Deutsche Härte, its music spans a variety of related styles, including industrial hard rock, heavy metal, grunge and electronic music with influences of punk rock, pop music and gothic rock, due to their use of keyboards to emulate strings, choirs or pianos. The band was influenced by Laibach, a Slovenian neo-classical and industrial group. Other influences include Oomph! and Ministry, but the contrast between individual songs, such as "Du riechst so gut", "Bestrafe mich", "Ohne dich" and "Te quiero puta!" makes the band difficult to classify, though most simply refer to them as industrial metal.

The band has a flair for costumes of all sorts, both in live shows and in videos. In the "Keine Lust" video, all members of the band except Flake were dressed in fat suits. In the "Amerika" video, all members of the band wore space suits. Live, the band experiments even more with costumes. In the Völkerball concert, among others, Till changed costumes between songs, dressed accordingly for each. For example, in "Mein Teil", he was dressed as a butcher, in "Reise, Reise", a sailor. The rest of the band each wears their own preferred costume, but none as outlandish or themed as Till's. Rammstein's style has tended to divide critics, some of whom have responded with memorable comments. Jam Showbiz (April 2001) described Mutter as "music to invade Poland to". New Zealand's Southland Times (December 17, 1999) suggested that Till Lindemann's "booming, sub-sonic voice" would send "the peasants fleeing into their barns and bolting their doors", while the New York Times (January 9, 2005) commented that on the stage, "Mr. Lindemann gave off an air of such brute masculinity and barely contained violence that it seemed that he could have reached into the crowd, snatched up a fan, and bitten off his head." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic commented that "their blend of industrial noise, grinding metal guitars, and operatic vocals is staggeringly powerful." "We just push boundaries", said Till Lindemann in an interview with rock magazine Kerrang!. "We can't help it if people don't like those boundaries being pushed."

Lyrics

Nearly all of Rammstein's songs are in German. However, the band has recorded English versions of Engel ("Angel"), Du hast ("You have", which is most commonly confused with "You hate", since "hast" and "hasst" sound phonetically identical. In the English version of the song, the lyric is translated to "You hate" for stylization purposes.), and Amerika, as well as covers of the songs Stripped (Depeche Mode) and Pet Sematary (The Ramones). There is also a cover of a song Schtiel (Aria) entirely in Russian. In addition, the songs Amerika, Stirb nicht vor mir//Don't die before I do and Moskau ("Moscow") contain not only German verses, but also English and Russian choruses, respectively; Te quiero puta! ("I want you, whore!") is entirely in Spanish. Oliver Riedel commented that, "German language suits heavy metal music. French might be the language of love, but German is the language of anger". The lyrics of Rammstein and above all their talk by singer Till Lindemann are an essential element of music and shape the perception by fans and a wider public. This is, among other things that are often very controversial, and taboo subjects such as sadomasochism ("Bück Dich", "Rein Raus" and "Bestrafe Mich"), homosexuality ("Mann gegen Mann"), incest ("Spiel mit mir" and "Tier"), pedophilia ("Tier" and "Halleluja"), necrophilia ("Heirate mich"), Pyromania ("Benzin" and "Hilf mir"), cannibalism ("Mein Teil"), the game with religious images ("Asche zu Asche", "Engel") having sex and violence ("Wollt ihr das Bett in Flammen sehen").

Wordplay is a fundamental component of Rammstein's lyrics. In many instances, the lyrics are phrased such that they can be interpreted in several ways. The song "Du hast", for example, is a play on German marriage vows (Willst Du, bis der Tod euch scheidet, treu ihr sein für alle Tage? – "Will you, until Death separates you, be faithful to her for the rest of your days?"). In the song, the traditional affirmative response, Ja ("Yes"), is replaced by its negation Nein ("No"). The final repetition of this line further perverts the meaning of the original vows through a minor change in the wording Willst Du, bis zum Tod der Scheide ... (Will you, until the Death of the vagina ...). The song starts, in fact, with a play on words: Du... Du hast... Du hast mich... meaning "You have me". This line is often mistaken for "You hate me", because in German, there is only a very subtle distinction (hast is pronounced slightly softer than hasst) between the pronunciation of Du hasst which means "you hate" and "Du hast" which means "you have". The word game is later resolved as the line is completed; Du hast mich gefragt ("You [have] asked me"). Confusingly, the band did also make an English version of the song named "You hate" which was not translated directly from "Du hast".

While many arguments about "Du Hast" are around, it is known that Rammstein used this wording to mislead and create humour in the song. It was a play with the pronunciation of words, causing many non-native speakers of German to be confused.

Members


* Richard Z. Kruspe - lead guitar, backing vocals
* Paul H. Landers - rhythm guitar, backing vocals

* Till Lindemann - lead vocals

* Oliver "Ollie" Riedel - bass guitar

* Christoph "Doom" Schneider - drums, percussion

* Christian "Flake" Lorenz - keyboards, samples