Song Of the Day - CXXI - South American Metal Tour: Paraguay

In Paraguay I even found a couple of good Black Metal bands. The best of them is Sabaoth.

Sabaoth - Where Everything Is Born

Song Of the Day - CXX - South American Metal Tour: Paraguay

It's impressive the difference between today's band and Sunday's band (220 Voltios) in terms of the modernity of their sound, and by that characteristic is easy to conclude which one sings in English and which one sings in Spanish.
Just notice this more Progressive Heavy Metal from Querubes, in the title song of their 2009 album, Lost Century.

Querubes - Lost Century

Song Of the Day - CXIX - South American Metal Tour: Paraguay

Today, some not-so-old school Trash Metal and sung in English, with the band Kuazar.
Unfortunatelly I have very little info about these bands, and from sources that are not bullet proof, and I prefer to give no information than possibly false information.

Kuazar - Twenty Days In Hell

Song Of the Day - CXVIII - South American Metal Tour: Paraguay

After the usual old school Heavy Metal bands, I started getting lots of bands of other genres, still very old school and raw at times, but a much richer variety of sounds than Uruguay.

For instance, today we have old school Death Metal with the band Funeral.

Funeral - Circle of Fire

Song Of the Day - CXVII - South American Metal Tour: Paraguay

Sunday means new week, and new week means new theme. After a two week break, we are back to the South American Metal Tour, this time going into Paraguay.

And we start the week with the typical South American Metal band, playing old school Heavy Metal and singing in Spanish.
These guys are 220 Voltios.

220 Voltios - Noche de Rock y Alcohol

Song Of the Day - CXVI - 7 Great Albums Of 2011

I believe that I have never put here a Canadian band before, so this is a first timer.
And these guys are well worth it. Playing Power Metal with some Progressive influences, Borealis has just released their second album, titled Fall From Grace, a great album of 2011.

Borealis - Where we started

Song Of the Day - CXV - 7 Great Albums Of 2011

I had already mentioned Pagan's Mind in the third part of my chronicle about Norway, back in December. They just released a new album, their fifth, called Heavenly Ecstasy.
It's a great release from the Progressive Power Metal band, a must listen to anyone that enjoys Dream Theater or Symphony X.

Pagan's Mind - Intermission

Song Of the Day - CXIV - 7 Great Albums Of 2011

Today I'm showing you the new Thurisaz album, called The Cimmerian Years.
Do not confuse these guys with Turisas. Turisas is Battle Folk Metal, while Thurisaz is Atmospheric Black Metal. Both are great bands but the name and the year of foundation, 1997, is really the only things they have alike.
The Cimmerian Years is the third full length from the Belgium band and a great album of 2011.

Thurisaz - Unhealed

Song Of the Day - CXIII - 7 Great Albums Of 2011

My Great Album of today is, in fact, just plain good when talking about originality and musical talent. So why am I putting it here?
Well, the reason is called Udo Dirkschneider, the veteran singer that gives his first name to the band UDO, that has released it's thirteenth album.
And why is he important? Well, maybe in the future it becomes an ordinary thing, I hope it does, but right now, if you are 59 and singing in a Heavy Metal band, that's important!

For those of you unfamiliar with the name, Udo Dirkschneider was the original singer of Accept, back in 1971, and until 1987, when he founded UDO. Since then he has returned to Accept twice, but ended up prefering to continue with his personal project.
So Rev Raptor is an album that marks the 40 years of Udo's career in Metal. I bow to that!

U.D.O. - Leatherhead

Song Of the Day - CXII - 7 Great Albums Of 2011

Another good Female Fronted Metal release this year is the new full length from Atmospheric Symphonic Metal band Leaves' Eyes. The fourth full length (nine releases in total) of the German band, headed by Norwegian singer Liv Kristine is titled Meredead.

Leaves Eyes - Spirits Masquerade

Song Of the Day - CXI - 7 Great Albums Of 2011

Today, a band from France.
But, despite being French, Arkan has it's roots deep into the Maghreb region. That is obvious in it's musicians names, but it's also obvious in their music, a well blended mix between Melodic Death and Oriental Folk Metal.
Just listen to the beginning of their new album Salam.

Arkan - Origins

Song Of the Day - CX - 7 Great Albums Of 2011

Before going back to the South American Metal Tour, I still have another 7 Great Albums of 2011 to tell you about (well, actually with two great albums released on my birthday I now have two 7 albums series, but let's do 7 now and leave the other 7 for July).

And we start with a Spanish band singing in Castellano, and playing old school Power Metal (actually I haven't heard anything sung in Castellano that isn't old school ... but I've talked about that enough already).
WarCry is a band like dozens of others in Spain or in South America, the difference is that this album, called Alfa, is actually very good old school Power Metal, and Power Metal when it's good, no matter how old school it is, is always a pleasure to listen.

WarCry - Amistad

Song Of the Day - CIX - My History with Metal

The last magical moment that happened to me in a store was in 2001. Once again in our "lucky charm" store, but this time it wasn't anything that one of us spotted in the shelves.
At the time, we were already part of the regular customers of the store, and the owner called us.
"Guys, I have something new and very cool that isn't there yet. I had 4 of this one, but I have showed it to some people and now I only have one, so I have already ordered more, and I'm waiting for the new ones to arrive so I can put it on display. Just listen to this!"
And on the store speakers starts the heaviest symphonic song I had ever heard ... epic-ness in a raw and pure state. Just awesome!
No need to say that I took that last CD of Hollenthon's With Villest Worms to Dwell back home with me.

Hollenthon - Y Draig Goch



So My History with Metal ends in 2001? Nothing happened in the last ten years?
Well, in 2002 I got married (and eventually we all did) with someone that is not a Metal fan, expenses increased, and I stopped having that monthly savings to spend on CDs.
Metal became an hibernating part of my life. I listened to the stuff I had, but I didn't looked for new bands, new albums.
And that lasted until last year, when I decided that I wanted back that part of my identity as an individual, and I started searching about the Portuguese Metal bands I knew, what were they doing, using the new free ways to listen to new stuff without having to go to the store MySpace and YouTube, and eventually that led to the birth of this blog.
Of course I had a few magical moments in the last year, but I was alone when they happened, so the impact is not even comparable to the magical moments in the store. Maybe next year I'll do a week about my magical moments on YouTube :)

Song Of the Day - CVIII - My History with Metal

Only a few months later, in the next excursion trip to the same store (they were really cool and didn't mind to let us listen to 20 CDs, and often had good advices on "bands like the X or Y band"), we had another magical moment.
This time, was the band name that caught my attention: Nightwish. The CD cover was purple (hummmm...) and depicted a woman floating in a river, an owl bringing a message, and a planet earth as the eye of an evil-ish grin. It was named Oceanborn.

We were ecstatic with the mix between the keyboards leading the instruments and Tarja's powerful voice. It was love at the first listen.

Nightwish - Stargazers

Song Of the Day - CVII - My History with Metal

In the end of 1998 I graduated from college and started working, and this was another huge leap in my relationship with Metal.
For five years (from 1993 to 1998) I went though a process of guided discovery. First from the guys with whom I lived, just listening to what they listened, then with my two "mentors", really good friends, with whom I was able to do a really guided discovery, a conscious process where they lend me one or two CDs each time, so that I could really find out which genres I was more fond of, and allowing me the opportunity to exchange ideas and knowledge about Metal.

Now, finally I had money on my hands and I could start my process of self discovery, diving into some of the few stores that sold Metal music, alone or with my "mentors", choosing CDs by their covers, of bands we never heard before, and asking to listen, with the hope of finding some great band.
And, fortunately, it happened often. I would need several weeks to tell you about all the great discoveries we made, but there were a couple of moments that were really, really, magical!
Moments where we looked at each other, smiles in our faces, ears in ecstasy, thinking that we just strike gold!

One of those moments was in January 1999. We had an extra cash savings from our Christmas bonus and with money received in Christmas, so we went to our favourite store.
That time my senses were awaken by a purple cover with a red dragon. It said Rhapsody, Symphony Of Enchanted Lands.
We were smiling after 10 seconds and completely surrendered after two minutes. This beginning still gives me chills down my spine.

Rhapsody Of Fire - Epicus Furor & Emerald Sword



It was the first time that I felt I was being able to repay the time these two guys had invested in simply sharing what they knew about Metal.

Song Of the Day - CVI - My History with Metal

Another thing that I discovered around that time, from the same person that introduced me to Amorphis and to Melodic Death Metal, was that Folk music and Metal can be a perfect match, when he introduced me to Skyclad.
I never grew to be a big Skyclad fan, although the memory of the first Folk Metal band still remains, but right there I grasped the potential of that great mix, and I knew that great things would eventually appear on that musical niche.

Skyclad - Spinning Jenny

Song Of the Day - CV - My History with Metal

In 1995 I met one of my best friends to date, also a big Metal fan and kept getting acquainted with the eighties Metal classics. I discovered Helloween and Manowar at this stage.
But then I got introduced to my friend's older brother, already working and with money in his hands that he could spend in Metal, and a whole new world of bands was unveiled.

One of the first things that he lend me to listen, was an EP, from a band made of angel faced long blond haired young guys. They looked like The Kelly Family but they played Melodic Death Metal with such epicness that it became a moment marked in my path in Metal. The EP was called Black Winter Day and the band was, of course, Amorphis.

Amorphis - Black Winter Day

Song Of the Day - CIV - My History with Metal

So, it all started with Metallica, and then Megadeth, the American stuff that flooded Europe.
Until I saw this very same video that you can see below, that introduced me to Iron Maiden and to European Metal.
Not one of Maiden's best songs, by far, but it grabbed my attention.

Iron Maiden - Be Quick or be dead

Song Of the Day - CIII - My History with Metal

We interrupt our South American Metal Tour for this week, for a very personal week in the Song Of the Day.
This week, yours truly reaches it's 35th birthday and I though it was nice to do something more personal, with songs that represent moments of discovery in my relationship with Metal music.

I acquired the taste for Metal pretty late on my life.
My youth, in early eighties, was spent listening to music my parents had at home, and discovering that the seventies weren't my thing, but the sixties were ok. And then seeing the music shows I could get on TV (Top Disco from Portugal and Countdown from Music Box with Adam Curry and later with Nino Firetto) that introduced me to eighties Pop and Rock - nothing heavier than Europe or Bon Jovi at this stage.
Then I went into high school and had in friends a new source of musical input. At this time I found Hard-Rock, Punk and witnessed the appearance of Grunge. DAD, Clash, Transvision Vamp, Guns n' Roses, Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains were the bands I listened to.
It was only in 1993 when I went to college that I became a Metal head. I had rented an apartment with two colleagues in a building that was completely empty during the day, and we had a small stereo. Someone put the sound in the max and slipped in ...And Justice for All from Metallica.

Metallica - Blackened

Song Of the Day - CII - South American Metal Tour: Argentina

We finish the Argentinean week here in the Song Of the Day - South American Metal Tour, with a Power Metal band singing in English. They are Dream Master, were founded in 2001 and have just released their third full length, Spread Your Wings.

Dream Master - Silence

Song Of the Day - CI - South American Metal Tour: Argentina

Today, heavier sounds from Argentina.
JesusMartyr is a Death Trash Metal band formed in 1994, that has released three full lengths.

JesusMartyr - Fire to Burn



Another interesting Death Trash band from Argentina is Mastifal.

Sylosys - Edge of the Earth

01. Procession
02. Sands of Time
03. Empyreal (Part 1)
04. Empyreal (Part 2) (Instrumental)
05. A Serpent's Tongue
06. Awakening
07. Kingdom of Solitude
08. Where the Sky Ends (Instrumental)
09. Dystopia
10. Apparitions
11. Altered States of Consciousness
12. Beyond the Resurrected
13. Eclipsed
14. From the Edge of the Earth


I must start by admitting to having gotten this album over a month ago and sitting on this review for a while. It's always a good idea to mull over your thoughts on something and, in the case of music, spin an album a few more times so you can have a fairer review. But for a few reasons I felt this particular album had to mature a bit more in my mind to make a better assessment of it.

I actually bought this CD on a whim: I had never heard of the band but somehow the cover caught my eye. I briefly previewed it in store and it sounded "good" which is probably as far as you can go by listening to 1 minute samples.

This is apparently Sylosis' second album and I read that their debut was quite well received. I don't really know if they kept their overall sound across albums but what I can say is that this is a hard album to peg in style terms. Although the album can generally be described as riff-heavy Thrash, you frequently get hints of metalcore, progressive metal and even melodeath. This may look like too much is happening for its own good but it's not really the case. The album sounds quite cohesive and at a whopping 73 minutes in length there's plenty here to take in.

The opened "Procession" sets the tone for the album: plenty of fast drumming and fast melodic riffing will bring a smile to the face of Testament fans while the slower interludes with layered vocals nod more towards the melodeath crowd. It has to be said that with Sylosis you don't get a clear alternation between growling and clean vocals as Scar Symmetry or Raintime do. And here's my sole point of contention with their overall sound: the singer generally opted for a slightly screamo/core approach that is really not my favourite style. I tend to prefer my thrash with raspy but clearer vocals more in the vein of Chuck Billy (Testament), old Hetfield or newcomers Evile. This is, of course, a matter of personal preference and your mileage may vary. It has to be said that the vocals are done with care and a good amount of feeling so it's not like they suck or anything, but it's only fair that I stress that I had to wrestle a bit with this when doing this review and that I feel that this album would be better served with a different vocal delivery.

While the songs aren't exceedingly distinct from each other for the most part, every single one of them is very well structured, with enough flow change to keep things interesting. You'll keep being surprised by syncopated drum fills that hint at progressive elements and relieve you of the double-bass drum rut that grabs most extreme metal albums. Upon repeated listens you realize that there really is a lot of thought put into the 14 songs to keep you engaged throughout. Halfway through, when attention tends to decline, the band offers us "Where the Sky ends", a beautiful instrumental that brings back memories of old Metallica and breaths a second wind into the listener. Unlike most albums, the song quality is consistent throughout and the 8 minute closer "From the Edge of the Earth" may very well be the best song on the album with it's melodic passages and fusion-influenced middle solo.

It's rare that I listen to a full album for the first time in one sitting as I did when I first got it, especially one this long. And it's very rare indeed that well over a month later I still listen to an album as much as I do this one. Yes, I would have picked a different vocalist, but when an album is this resilient I am forced to admit that the vocals issue is, comparatively, a minor thing.

A true contender for album of the year in my opinion.

Song Of the Day - C - South American Metal Tour: Argentina

The Symphonic Power Metal one man band Beto Vasquez Infinity, where the musician invites several singers to interpret his songs, is another very interesting Argentinean act.
He has released four full lengths.

Beto Vazquez Infinity - Beyond Myself

Song Of the Day - XCIX - South American Metal Tour: Argentina

But forgetting about the more classic Heavy Metal sounds (we'll have more than enough of that here in South America), I want to highlight the different sounds comming from Argentina, and today we have a Blackened Gothic Metal band, called Vampiria (maybe inspired by Moonspell's song!) that exists since 1997 and has released three full lengths.
The name gives away everything you need to know about the band: their sound is Gothic and the theme of the songs is always somewhat related to vampirism.

Vampiria - Legacy in Blood



For a more Industrial Gothic Metal, checkout another Argentinian band with vampiric thematic, Bloodparade.

Song Of the Day - XCVIII - South American Metal Tour: Argentina

Another classic Argentinean band is Heavy Metal veterans Almafuerte. They have more than 15 years of career and have released seven full lengths.

Almafuerte - Toro y Pampa

Song Of the Day - XCVII - South American Metal Tour: Argentina

Besides the usual eighties Hard-Rock/Heavy Metal bands, Argentina also has a few bands going into more modern Metal styles.
Skiltron looks like a scottish Metal band with their Celtic themes and heavy usage of Pipes. They exist since 2004 and have released three albums of pure Folk Metal.

Skiltron - Awating your Confession


Another good Folk Metal band from Argentina is Tengwar.

Song Of the Day - XCVI - South American Metal Tour: Argentina

Leaving Uruguay and moving west to Argentina.
Argentina has a Metal scene that is somewhat between the Uruguayan and the Brazilian. More evolved than Uruguay, but still with the problems that are common to all Spanish speaking countries.
And we start with a true legend in Argentinian Metal, and in all spanish spoken Metal, Rata Blanca.
They were founded in 1985 and have released ten albums of Hard-Rock and Heavy / Power Metal.

Rata Blanca - El Reino Olvidado

Song Of the Day - XCV - South American Metal Tour: Uruguay

I reserved for today, my biggest hope for Uruguayan Metal. A band formed in 2005, that release last year their first EP, called Resiliens. The band is Ecliptica, I presume that inspired by Sonata Arctica's first album name, and listening to their songs is understandable why.
So, just forget about the low sound quality, and grasp the quality within.

Ecliptica - Mas Alla de los Sueños

Song Of the Day - XCIV - South American Metal Tour: Uruguay

Today, a band with a more up to date sound, and singing in english (don't know if you noticed, but the two things seem to be related).
Deep Dream exist since 1999, playing Melodic Black/Gothic Metal, but released just an EP in 2008, called The Twilight Of Silence. They are not brilliant, but there are clearly good things in their sound.

Deep Dream - Lace Of Death

Song Of the Day - XCIII - South American Metal Tour: Uruguay

More old school Heavy Metal from Uruguay. Crepar, with two full lengths released.

Crepar - Ambición

Song Of the Day - XCII - South American Metal Tour: Uruguay

After a very harsh song of the day, a very peaceful one. A Metal ballad from the Uruguayan Heavy Metal band, ReyToro, founded in 1998, and that has released two full lengths.

ReyToro - Sin Querer