ZETALAMBMARY is a two-man show for people who appreciate what we feel are genres of music that have always been forced to fly under the radar. Wraith digs just about everything from indie rock to certain noise pieces, while Zen prefers to stick with melodic, epic-sounding metal and Russian folk music. But what the heck, if we dig it, we will promote it anyway!
His friends call him Pete. His fans call him Pete. So yeah, I call him Pete. See, Pete is the co-founder, and was the vocalist and lead guitarist, of the melodic death/power metal band Norther. He also joined the viking folk metal band Ensiferum in 2005, following the departure of Ensiferum's then vocalist and guitarist Jari Mäenpää, filling in the exact same roles of his predecessor.
Petri Lindroos are long-time friends with former Children of Bodom guitarist Alexander Kuoppala and it was the latter who helped Norther out a great deal when the band first started out. I s'pose that would be a huge reason why Norther's style was heavily influenced by C.o.B at first and received criticism for being copycats. But Norther has since shaped their own musical style, and Pete has played a huge part before and after this transition.
As part of Norther, Pete has played a character in the Finnish movie "Vares 2 - Jäätynyt Enkeli" and their songs "Frozen Angel" and "Reach Out" were featured as well. He is also fond of playing at gigs half-naked despite the fact that he doesn't have a sexy muscular body.
Sadly, as of March 4 this year, our beloved founding member left Norther to fully concentrate on Ensiferum, now adding war paint to his naked torso during live performances and maybe a sword hanging on his hip. *sobs* Don't get me wrong, I like Ensiferum, both during Jari's time and Pete's, but I think its a damn pity for Norther, and if you've heard Pete's replacement, former Imperanon vocalist Aleksi Shivonen, sing with his whiny high-pitched shrieks, you'd agree with me too. Sigh..
Below is the music video for "Frozen Angel", which features scenes from Vares 2.
Norther will never forget you Pete, and your awesome words of wisdom:
Floridan death metal band, The Autumn Offering will be back with a renewed attack on the metal scene with Requiem, their 3rd studio album that will be (in TAO's own words) "by far the band's most ambitious and dense material yet. Longer songs, complex rhythms, and dynamic vocals fill out this 11-track monster."
Well, the song I have uploaded onto YouTube above sounds good, and let's hope the rest of the album stays that way. The Autumn Offering has always been one of those quality metal bands on Victory Records' metal roster, and that is because they are typically melodic death metal with heavy influence from the metalcore sub-genre, something which many new American metal bands today lack. Sure, the likes of The Black Dahlia Murder may be melo-death, but their vocals suck. Sure, A7X has nice instrumentals, but again, the vocals suck (e.g. Many people I know thought "Beast And The Harlot" sounded good until M. Shadows started 'singing'). The Autumn Offering has merely okay harsh vocals, but at least, it doesn't suck so bad that you would get tired of the song after a few listens. Considered to be part of the New Wave Of American Heavy Metal (NWOAHM) movement, The Autumn Offering is one band you would not want to miss out on.
Bleeding Through is one of the more melodic bands from the deathcore genre. Deathcore is one of the most controversial of metal sub-genres, drawing criticisms from many people that principally flames its messy instrumentals, screaming vocals that sound more like monsters growling than humans spewing words out, and its lack of depth in lyrical content. Even Zen himself has called it "noise", thus, only I am left to appreciate the little-appreciated stuff (as usual).
Now, as a metalhead immersed in the non-mainstream scene might or might not already know, most deathcore bands all like to name themselves something bloody, morbid, religiously inclined, or random. Through The Eyes Of The Dead, As Blood Runs Black, WhenBloodBurns, The Taste Of Blood, Walls Of Jericho, Whitechapel, these are just the tip of the ice(blood?)berg, and this usually spells doom to a potential new fan. Why so? This is because generally speaking, most deathcore bands whom have followed this trend so far have extremely un-melodic, thrashy, dissonant music that is called noise by many to date. Even the more mainstream deathcore bands like Bring Me The Horizon have been called by punk rock band, Bayside's frontman to be "making a mockery".
Being the open-minded dude that I am, I just cannot bring myself to diss deathcore like that. Personally, my opinion is that deathcore was probably NOT MEANT to be as melodic as typical music is supposed to be like in the first place, instead being an avant-garde musical entity that provides differentiated individuals whom have either an extremely unique taste for music or an extremely weird taste for music, with an outlet to satisfy their little understood needs. Bleeding Through has given me a rather good impression, because they actually use clean vocals from time to time (not like they are good clean vocals anyway) in some of their songs, unlike the 90% others that scream and growl their way through their compositions of hatred.
Bleeding Through is: Brandan Schieppati (Lead Vocals), Jona Weinhofen (Guitar), Ryan Wombacher (Bass/Vocals), Derek Youngsma (Drums), Marta Peterson (Keyboards), Brian "Lefty" Leppke (Guitar)
Anyway, the music video above for this single is from Bleeding Through's 3rd studio album, "This Is Love, This Is Murderous" released back in 2003. If you have already watched it before reading the rest of this post, did you not find the video being romantic in a morosely dark way? Making a mannequin and all (probably as a reminder of someone you once loved but passed away), with so much time and effort spent on it, and then taking a nap because you thought you were hallucinating, only to wake up and realise even the mannequin has abandoned you in your life. Most deathcore bands probably don't bring across their meaning clearly in both their abstract lyrics and videography, but some like Bleeding Through certainly has succeeded doing so with their music videos, and even managed to induce sympathy within the view/listener's heart through their beautifully ugly music.
Finally, my favourite post-hardcore band for the past 4 years make an appearance on Zetalambmary! :D
Silverstein, the Canadian quintet has made quite a name for themselves on the indie punk scene ever since they formed back in 2000. Revitalising a dying scene with their fresh, earnest take on independent music, this band has been successful in fusing emo, hardcore, and alternative rock tunes into what I would call 'Stein-mo' for nearly a decade now. This week's featured song by them, "Vices" is the first single off Silverstein's 4th studio album, released earlier on this year at the end of March.
When the first few seconds of this epic roll in, any good ol' 'Stein fan can instantly tell that this band has finally matured into something more. Something darker. Something a wee bit more sinister. Something insinuating towards... M-E-T-A-L. Showcasing a very different kind of raw energy on this song compared to the previous few singles from their previous albums, Silverstein is now balancing on the tightrope separating indie hardcore punk from alternative metal, teasing the rope by bouncing gently on it on a few occasions, sometimes even nearly giving in to temptation to jump on it. I haven't heard the album of "A Shipwreck In The Sand" in its entirety yet, but from the sound of the single above, if the rest of the album is like that as well, this would be one of the occasions where Silverstein is boldly jumping on the tightrope, almost daring themselves to push it to its limit until it snaps. Lyrically emo at heart, Silverstein's lyrics are typical indie punk lyrics though, dealing more with human emotions and conflicts with the usual tragic love story thrown into the midst of the lyrics as a story device, or just plain rebelliousness as heard on their first studio album, "When Broken Is Easily Fixed". The song names and album title usually don't really have any synergy.
These outstanding Canadian hardcore rockers are: From left to right - Paul Koehler (Drums), Billy Hamilton (Bass Guitar), Shane Told (Vocals), Josh Bradford (Guitar), Neil Boshart (Guitar)
However, they have finally started to experiment with a conceptual album, and so came along "A Shipwreck In The Sand". Just a note of interest, conceptual albums are usually done almost exclusively by metal bands (e.g. Mastodon, Kamelot, Amon Amarth), and it is indeed very rare to see a post-hardcore band do one. Also, Silverstein's instrumentals have become overall more thunderous and foreboding, as evident from the intimidating opening of thudding drum beats and the reverberating bass line, and even the twin guitar melodies has sped up significantly while remaining capable of dishing out melancholic tunes, bearing a huge resemblance to common melo-death songs. Best of all, vocalist Shane Told's harsh vocals have improved tremendously, as they sound more aggressive yet polished instead of the previously angsty scream-growls that were much more unpolished in comparison. Oh yes, Shane's mellow clean-singing is still in tip-top condition and ready to solicit tears from the eyes of girls, and it really balances out the overall feel of the song by acting as a sort of counterpoint to the angsty, screaming alter-ego of Shane.
This brings Silverstein's unique brand of hardcore to a whole new level, which creates more room for them to experiment with their music in future as the doors to the varse kingdom of metal are now thrown wide open, ready to receive them with warm, molten steel.
All in all, this song is aggressive and gritty, yet pleasant to the ears with the combination of infectious clean vocals. This would be another nice song to warm anyone up to the genres of post-hardcore and metalcore.
You say Jonas Brothers-I say Kamelot
You say Soulja Boy-I say Slipknot
You say Miley Cyrus-I say Nightwish
You say T-Pain-I say SOAD
You say Flowers-I say Deathstars
You say Pink-I say Children of Bodom
You say Hip Hop-i say shut the fuck up
You say Pop-I scream Heavy Metal!!
92% of teenagers have turned to Hip Hop and Pop.If you are part of the 8% that still listen to real music,copy and paste this message.
Hm... sorry for that random and lengthy apophthegm, but I just had to put it up to show my unwavering support for metal! Found it on YouTube by the way, the speediness of mass spreading of trivial information brought about by mass media, the perfect icon to represent the current zeitgeist I might say.
Okay going back to what I was originally supposed to talk about, if you have always been someone looking for that legendary vocalist who could handle both harsh and clean vocals brilliantly, congratulations. You have just found your Holy Grail. Ah, which reminds me, my girlfriend has asked me out for Angels & Demons next week. :D
Anyway, sorry for the diversion yet again. Genuinely good music needs no words to complement it or bring about its message, the music itself does it! But what the hell, if zesty ol' Zen and I truly adhered to that principle, we probably wouldn't have gotten this site up in the first place. Ah pardon me, there I go again, rattling off about irrelevant information.
Sharing the same name as a hit movie a few years back, this SS song certainly brings magic to the name, literally, just like how the movie had done so. Starting off with a string ensemble, the song already strikes a melancholic chord deep within the listener, connecting the listener to the surreal yet hauntingly beautiful (sound familiar, Zen? xD) world of "Pitch Black Progress", that is, the 2nd album of SS released back in 2006. It then surprises the listener with a sudden dramatic descending glissando on the good ol' electric guitar, following up with an opening that would make any power or lesser melo-death bands proud. Christian Älvestam, that guy who is superbly good at both growls and clean singing, then propels the song into an aggressive start with his quality growls that thrash just about nearly 98% of all growls out there on the metal market. Pity he left the band last year, now they have TWO vocalists to replace him, one for growls, one for clean singing. Man, you are g.o.o.d.
Of course, Christian then rapidly switches pitch to that amazingly clear and mellow voice in the chorus, and it certainly sets the new benchmark for aspiring Metal's-Next-Kamelot/Scar Symmetry metal bands who want to stop turning new fans off with unprofessional growls 24/7 throughout the typical catalog of headbanger numbers. The keyboards are particularly prominent in this song too, which certainly gives the 'melo' in 'melo-death' for all melo-death bands apart from SS. Noticed how the keyboardist was windmilling his hair about in the video? Now, that is what long hair is for!
The original Scar Symmetry: From left to right - Jonas Kjellgren (Lead/Rhythm Guitar), Christian Älvestam (Growls/Clean Singing), Per Nilsson (Lead/Rhythm Guitar), Henrik Ohlsson (Drums), Kenneth Seil (Bass Guitar)
You know, there really is one thing about Amorphis you should know. They were all old school death metal back in their early years, which were the '90s. After numerous line-up changes (which Zenny and I are vehemently opposed to since it taints the original sound of the band), they finally have mellowed all the way down the rungs of the metal ladder into the boundary separating rock from metal, as they sound really alternative rock-like on "House Of Sleep". Luckily, the overall thunderous presence of dual electric guitars, and the sombre thudding of the bass guitar are still there, signs which indicate that this song is still a brethren of our beloved genre. :)
Overall, this is one song which would be classified as what many people would call "emo", and yes, it is "emo" in both videography (for the music video, as seen above from vocalist Tomi Joutsen's moody moment in the pre-climax) and melody. The guitars may not be particularly melodic in the celestial kind of way, but you really cannot deny that their emotional wailing throughout the entire length of the song doesn't tug at your heartstrings. The incorporation of the piano as the main accompaniment for Tomi's moving voice is also a nice element, as most progressive metal bands hardly ever do this. Instead, they mostly prefer to have repetitive guitar riffs that generally tend to lull one into a state of hibernation, as heard on Opeth's "The Drapery Falls". Being a pianist myself, I really admire the keyboardist's skill in creating a sorrowful musical line with simple notes and chords alone, that are even in fact repetitive, but which still effectively dissipate into an atmosphere of sadness and yearning. It also has a very lethargic feel to it, making it the perfect solution to insomnia for metalheads. This is "Rock-a-bye Baby" for metalheads indeed.
The Patriots: From left to right - Santeri Kallio (Keyboards), Esa Holopainen (Guitar), Tomi Joutsen (Vocals), Niclas Etelävuori (Bass Guitar), Tomi Koivusaari (Guitar), Jan Rechberger (Drums)
Lyrical-wise, Amorphis might be a little boring. Apparently, they base their lyrical themes largely and mostly on the Finnish epic poem, the Kalevala. Thus, fans of meaningful lyrics that deals with the questioning of human existence, ethics and the likes probably will not be wowed by this band's somewhat uncreative songwriting.
If you have trouble sleeping at night, this is the song to blast! Err... I mean nod off to. Let's hope Amorphis stick with their current style all the way.
Arch Enemy, with their female harsh vocalist (who actually looks quite hot =P) and their seemingly telepathically-linked guitarist siblings. They're so good, they're one of the only melodic death metal bands that I actually like who doesn't have a keyboardist. And this song, "Revolution Begins", from their 2007 album Rise of the Tyrant, pretty much exemplifies why.
Angela Gossow's voice is distinctly feminine and yet few harsh vocalists can sounds as menacing, as ... feral. It exudes energy, the growls sound really filled with hatred and the screams are definitely not whines, which is what most vocalists, especially American ones, tend to do when they start trying to reach a higher octave. While such a perpetually angry voice can hardly bring out any other emotion, Arch Enemy balances out that aggression with their metal ballads, which is usually where the Amott brothers start to shine, but that's for another time, probably in an album review.
The guitars get lots of credit here already as it is with the melodies crafted. "Revolution Begins" is heavy and not particularly fast but, despite the lack of a 'boardist, is still very melodic while retaining its headbanging qualities. And I find it somehow a rather uplifting song. Lyrically, its about not conforming to the system, and the voice, the solos and the overall feel of the song just transmits that energy which really brings out that f*ck-you-world-I'm-gonna-live-my-life attitude within you. So yeah, cast off the mental chains that's holding you back, let your metal revolution begin and take a listen! ^^
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His friends call him Pete. His fans call him Pete. So yeah, I call him Pete. See, Pete is the co-founder, and was the vocalist and lead guitarist, of the melodic death/power metal band Norther. He also joined the viking folk metal band Ensiferum in 2005, following the departure of Ensiferum's then vocalist and guitarist Jari Mäenpää, filling in the exact same roles of his predecessor.
Sadly, as of March 4 this year, our beloved founding member left Norther to fully concentrate on Ensiferum, now adding war paint to his naked torso during live performances and maybe a sword hanging on his hip. *sobs* Don't get me wrong, I like Ensiferum, both during Jari's time and Pete's, but I think its a damn pity for Norther, and if you've heard Pete's replacement, former Imperanon vocalist Aleksi Shivonen, sing with his whiny high-pitched shrieks, you'd agree with me too. Sigh..
