Dear Metalhead
Thank you for visiting this site. As you can see, it looks crap and the reason for that is because I have changed the domain. Everything looks better at www.unknownmetalbands.com. By the end of June 2013 www.an-unknown-artist.com will cease to exist so make sure to save the new domain www.unkownmetalbands.com in your favourites. I am looking forward to seeing you there and THANKS for your visit!! Keep rocking!
We’re off to Colorado and for some of us it may get a bit weird. I lean a bit out of the window by saying this but what nano cooking represents for a traditional chef, Almost Eden probably represents the same for NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) maniacs like myself. And still, we are open minded, supportive and we support after all Unknown Metal Bands. To be honest, I find Almost Eden extremely exciting!
Nate “Vintage” Vogt on vocals and live synths, Daniel “Dice” Six on guitar and programming and Ryan “Roughneck Minotaur” Winn also on guitar have been creating a truly unique kind of sound since early 2011. Initially only 2 guys wasting some precious college time in some basement, they developed into what they call a powerhouse of new metal. For once I simply copy / paste what the trio has written on their own Facebook page :
A foundation of groove influenced Djent (with bands like the Swedish Meshuggah or the Brits from Sikth being credited as the main inspirations for the djent technique), fused with tasty synths and powerful melodies. Almost Eden has changed the sound from the same old same old into a knock the wind out of you intensity….
All I can say is wow. I could not have said it any better and I am glad they have been in contact. I believe seeing these guys live would definetely be an experience and I wonder how such a performance goes down. Are they the Kraftwerk of Heavy Metal? Is this the future of Heavy Metal? Well, I hope the guys from Almost Eden will have a great future that’s for sure as their innovative approach deserves credit. On the other hand I sincerely hope that the kind of Heavy Metal I grew up with will always play an important role as well. There is room for everyone.
Please join me and listen to Molecule. The guitar skills come through most definitely. Adding the synthesizer, scrambling things up, changing the pace and taking the risk of having an underlying rhythm fucked up again by other elements makes it a weird, highly interesting and yet somehow amazing listening experience. I am no musician myself but I think to come up with such variety, modernity as well as an out of body experience from a classic Heavy Metal point of view takes a lot of balls and skill. And probably the odd beer or two 
www.an-unknown-artist.com – happy to freak you out and even happier to expand our horizons. You find more pieces from Almost Eden on Soundcloud! Have a wonderful day Warriors!
Hey, it has been sometime since I have written a more extensive article. Bad time management on my end resp. a lot of things going on. I am extremely delighted though to finally get a chance to write a bit of an article on D-Railed, managed by the wonderful Ladies from Vodoo Queen Management! I am sure you guys have seen a small piece on D-Railed before on my website – now it is time for more. I was quite moved by the background information provided by the ravishing Kimberly Brown and the amazing Vodoo Queen Yvonne Loveland. It is also important that I get a few things that I got wrong in the first place straightened out so here we go Metalheads!
Tricky to make a start – so let me introduce first of all the members of the band. Tim Standridge is doing the lead vocals, Deedz is the power behind the bass (and according to their FB page he seems to have a fog around him at all times, know the feeling Deedz….), Brian Casanover takes charge of beating the shit out of the drums, Louis Menkhausen is on rhythm guitar and Kyle Luttrell on the lead guitar. However, D-Railed also has a permanent 6th member – R.I.P. Wolf who unfortunately passed away a few years ago due to a blood cloth in his lungs. Wolf was not just band member but also a graphic artist, promoter and sound man. So in case you hear about the Wolfpack, you know what it stands for when it comes to D-Railed.
As a consequence to the passing of Wolf, D-Railed - who have been together since 2005 – released the track “Gone” as a tribute to their former bandmate and friend. A beauty of a beginning with a bit of a church bell in the background and some decent ambience. A start with some fairly emotional guitar play which repeats itself throughout the track, accompanied by solid work on bass and drums. Initially quite relaxing on the vocals, this song turns into a decent Metal track though once the refrain kicks in. Heavy and fairly aggressive guitars, controlled screaming in the background and obviously some grievous lyrics. A wonderful track and whilst the occasion is a sad one, it is also a celebration of Wolf’s life in my humble opinion.
At the same time – this information I obtained from an article in the St. Louis Sinner (check it out it has pictures…) – the band had apparantly some issues themselves. No need for details, you got the link, read it up if you’re nosy enough (this is not the National Enquirer). Nevertheless, with their song “The Fallen” D-Railed hit several radio stations around the U.S. and even got to the top of the radio charts in some of these markets.
“The Fallen” highlights once more the great variety Tim brings along with his vocals – this has already impressed me on “Gone”. Even though the job is really well done on all instruments, I enjoy the bass in particular. My view of course. The two tracks just mentioned beforehand are part of D-Railed’s EP “The Fallen”. The third track on this disc is “Frontline”: Dominated by the power of the guitar and vocals, this piece is about war – against war. Not having found the lyrics online but listening carefully, I believe it is from the point of view of a tired soldier who is basically sick and tired of the war and simply wants to return home. In a different article I read online it says that the guys from D-Railed actually worn dog tags on stage that were sent to them by soldiers who were moved by this track.
Now, I need to go a few steps back as the line up I have mentioned before is not the original one. Whilst normally I would not bother with all the details, I believe in the case of D-Railed it is fairly important. At the very beginning there were also Justin Ruesch (rhytm guitars), Pablo De Pacas (lead guitar and vocals) and PJ (on bass). Despite the success of their song ”The Fallen” trouble was not far away as PJ had reached his breaking point with D-Railed.
Nevertheless – and this is quite unusual in this industry – he agreed to record the mentioned 3 piece EP with the band, leaving them on good terms! As no replacement for PJ was found, it almost seemed that this was the end of D-Railed, especially because Pablo took more and more distance between himself and the other guys. When saying distance I mean it literally – Pablo moved to New York to persue his career as a website programmer. However, he never officially left the band and he was only replaced due to his long distant living arrangement.
There has been a bit of turmoil and it did not look good for D-Railed, especially seeing that Justin and Brian at the time created their own project with Sonic Recoil – eventually joined by Tim as well. Funny enough though, D-Railed were just then offered a record deal! An opportunity to work everything out! And they did. The guys sat down with each other and talked it out. Even though PJ did not stay with the band for a very long time, a replacement was found quickly this time (with Deedz who took over the bass duties).
While driving around in the past, we may as well take a listen to one of the above tracks: Gone!
D-Railed is a hard working band who started by playing in small venues around the St. Louis area. They are known for great live shows. The heat built up further with word of mouth propaganda and tireless self-promotion. They have shared the stage with many well known national acts such as Breaking Benjamin, Seether or Psychostick – just to name some of them. All of their songs from ”The Fallen” EP were picked up by various radio stations.
With this success in their luggage, the guys went over to Boston in 2010 to record their next extended play: D-Railed. They worked together with well known producer David Adam Monroe (not the one from the Monroe Republic guys) and the result is amazing. I agree with what it says on the Vodoo Queen Management website: These are the band’s strongest tracks to date and you can notice the huge progress the guys have made.
Some people suggest that the different backgrounds and influences of the band members would be a winning formula to create something unique. I have to disagree. It is almost impossible to create something unique in the music industry and even though I very much enjoy their tunes, there are frequent reminders to other bands. Those who read here frequently will know that I don’t really compare artists though as at the end of the day, the credit always goes to the musicians that I feature.
To me the sound of D-Railed is somewhere in the area of Nu Metal with some old school elements here and there. This is nothing negative and by no means any kind of criticism as I believe that many well known gigs would struggle to achieve this level of performance. What matters even more to me is the fact that D-Railed has a story to tell with their music, they did go through a lot of shit in the past which brings me straight to the amazing track of “Burried Inside”.
When I featured that video a few months back, I refused to show the video as I am not fond of seeing people shooting up. Having seen too much of this when attending school in Zurich (the infamous Needle Park), I simply did not appreciate the grim reminder of this sad chapter. Luckily, people do read my blog and Yvonne Loveland left a comment. The woman in the beginning of the video represents Tim’s mother, a sad but unfortunately true story. This is also the background of this song.
Tim has made it through all these terrible things that happened in his life and for that he earns not just a few pounds of respect but a few hundred tons. For many people such traumatic experiences would simply be an excuse to do it the same way and to blame their childhood for whatever goes wrong with their lives. Not Tim – he has found his passion in music and he has come through.
So what has the self-titled EP to offer apart from Burried Inside?
For starters I’ll Be There! Tune in and you know what I meant with “old school elements”. If you don’t get it, give me a shout! Great lead and rhythm guitar, a catchy melody (you know that this is quite important to me) and the drumming comes through in particular. Less noticeable for once is Deedz but listening carefully it is quite the pleasure to see how well the bass blends in. Quasi incognito this time round. Tim keeps impressing with his vocals and shows us an even bigger variety.
The New Anthem – also the track featured at the end of this article is my favorite. We have parts that are seriously anthem like, there are also fast paced and rhythmic parts. Different elements throughout, quite the melting pot that would bring to light the various influences by each and every band member. Enough talking, take a listen. If you like it, which I know you will, give the guys at least a LIKE on their Facebook Page and send some flowers or a few bottles of champagne to the lovely Ladies at VQM! Watch this space Metalheads as D-Railed will be releasing some new music around may 2013 and I will make sure to write about it!
I was thinking for ages whether I should write a few lines about Jan Fikáček (Drums), Tomáš Tomis (Vocals & Guitar), Vítězslav Dostál (Bass) and Vašek Homola (Guitar) and their band Blackshard. Maybe a touch too though for my gusto, maybe I am too old and stuck somewhere between Saxon and Sister Sin – I don’t know.
Listening though through their tracks on Youtube, I got to like this band from the North East of the Czech Republic – Šenov to be exact. The band, founded by Tomáš Tomis and Jan Fikáček, has been together for the past 5 years and started playing in clubs already in 2009. A first demo was released the same year in October and has now been followed by their debut album Mankind Disorder, released in 2012. Decent Trash Metal from the Eastern part of Europe. Take a listen to Mankind Disorder – the title track of the album. About 25 seconds into the track we have the pleasure of appreciating heavy, though and rhytmic riffs, provided by Tomáš and Vašek. I would have to say just another Trash Metal Band if it weren’t for the vocals of Tomáš.
Take a look at their FB page and give them a like – the guys seem to do pretty well since the album was released.
A wonderful good morning to all of you. Writing live and exclusive from the wonderful city of Hong Kong where I am spending a good 3 weeks holidays! Finally I get a chance to work a bit on this website, which is more than overdue. My apologies for the delays I have taken.
Gaslight! Dark Rock from Budapest, Hungary. I don’t have tons of information on these 5 guys. It does not matter as I am sure their music will give you the information you are looking for. When they approached me through my Facebook page they simply said: Just some stuff from us. Some stuff? I think that is putting it mildly.
Gábriel Géza, József Forgács, Krisztián Barassevich, Zsolt Kis and Daniel Sütő got together under the name of Gaslight back in 2005. The band’s name is after the 1944 Psycho Thriller with the name of Gaslight. When I got back to Zsolt on their message I mentioned that I love the different influences in their music, the fact that the song presented below includes a great variety of nice sounding elements and that they have managed to come up with their own style. I know, I am an enthusiastic person and I see things more often positive than negative – I think when it comes to Gaslight that is more than ok. I love it. I love it when bands come up with a melody and demonstrate that they are serious about making music.
When you listen to Black Dye on Youtube also make sure to check out their Youtube channel where you find many more amazing tracks from Gaslight. Connect with Gaslight on Facebook - one recommendation to the guys from Budapest would be to change the language on their FB to English as I am sure they will have more and more fans all over the world
Seeing that I have around 2 bands contacting me per day I will first of all have to catch up. I do hope however that at a later stage we can have a fat article with reviews on Gaslight’s tracks. They deserve it. Probably the best Unknown Metal Band so far in 2013! Now enjoy Black Dye:
Ladies and Gentlemen
Just so you know it right away: The picture has nothing to do with the article below. I did not have a photo for these few lines so I took a random one in order to attract your attention! Nice one, it worked.
David Kuri just sent me a message so I can shout out that he is looking for fantastic underground Heavy Metal Bands that bring back the spirit of the 80′s! The best will be put onto one sampler to spread the word!
David has a dedicated website with lots more information so I suggest you click on the link below once you finnished reading. So far I have written around 70 articles, many of them are quite long. I am proud to have come accross so many talented people and I trust that one of you basterds can make it onto this fantasmic sampler! Be confident, be proud and be fucking loud!
Here is the deal on my end to all the musicians which I have mentioned so far on my website or my Facebook page: If you make it onto this sampler then I want to know about it! I will cover the 50 Euro to get an extra 100 fucking CDs in – only condition is that you send me one of them! Terms and conditions apply obviously (such as if more than one band makes it, I will have to draw….shit like that).
For more information:
Facebook: NWOTHM Sampler
Website: Heavy Metal’s going strong again
Please note that I am not involved in this competition however, I am proud to share this with you. Give it your all and show David and his buddies what you’ve got.
Wow folks this is a tricky one. Or not. Sabaium – a band from Eastern Europe as far as I know who shared a video on my Facebook Page (if you don’t like it already you know what you’ve got to do). After scrolling through some other Metal Band’s stories, I appreciated Sabaium as a welcome change as there have been many great bands but mainly in the Death Metal genre which here and there is a bit too though on me.
It seems that these guys – supported by the beautiful Vesna on keyboards – have been together for some time. If I were 100% that they are from Slovenia then I might have translated the bands biography. But I let them confirm back at first It seems though that Sabaium have been together for a decent amount of time especially as they have already Facebook Posts from 2009 and their biography shows dates from 1994….
I prepared for writing a long(ish) article when I discovered that they also had a website but nope….all it says when you hit that link … Kmalu….which probably means soon. Anyhow, we know that Milko Kranker is the guy on vocals, David Kupcic is on guitar and vocals, Jure Vandur dito, Vesna Kupcic as mentioned on keyboards, Mark Strnad takes the bass and Jure Hadler is obviously on drums.
Why the fuck am I writing about them anyway and why take the time? Being baked should be reason enough but obviously it is their music. It is not way too hard and despite it being great Metal, in my view it has also really quiet and mellow parts, surely thanks to the angel-like male voice. The vocals in the background make this a real pleasure for fans of all kinds of Metal but also elsewhere. Beautiful melody, a quite noticeable bass and solid work all around. I recommend that you check out their Youtube channel once you have watched this video.
Let’s hope the band gets to see this article and shares a few links with me so I can write a bigger piece next time.
This band from Thessaloniki in Greece (not the first time we hear the name of this place) is together since October 2011. Members from the frist moment are Anastasis Zarogoulidis (Keyboards), Alexander Vasil (Rythm guitar) and Stefos Gkogkos (Lead Guitar). The band is purely into melodic death metal initially. They went under the name of By The Fall Of Light but things did not turn the way they imagined at first. So there was a bit of a short break up also because they had some issues in recruiting / finding the rest of the crew.
In June 2012 they reunited. By now Nestoras Axel (Drums) , Giannis Kirakou (Bass) and Chris Bonos. (Guitar) had joined the band. They changed the name of the band to SpellBounD (yep, written that way). Nestoras brought the band to another level due to his high speed and excellent drum skills. Apparantely the change to Spellbound is also due to the feeling they had until they had found the new band members. Their music is influenced by different kinds of Metal (as you will hear) but they remain mainly true to their roots of melodic death.
I proudly present you the track called Spellbound. Its not something you can sing along to but due to its variety and frequent changes in speed I fell for this track. Added value comes along in the sound of a keyboard which I consider a brave move. Nice one again Thessaloniki!
Morning all. It has been a while. Seeing that the wife went to Hong Kong a couple of weeks ago I got into the habit of sleeping until 4pm on a Saturday and Sunday so there was not much time for writing. Understandable.
Going through all the posts on my Facebook Page I started with Brutal Exuberancia’s Video: Futuro Incerto – which is from their album Territorio Perdido Em Breve. I have no idea what it means – something about a lost territory.
Afranio Pires (Bass and backing vocals), Sandinho (Drums), Naldo (Guitars and vocals) and Evaldo Castro (Guitars) are from Manaus which is in the Amazon state of Brazil. Manaus became quite famous between 1870 and 1910 through the boom of caoutchouc….Manaus is at the banks of the Rio Negro, only 11km before this river flows into the Amazon river.
This piece of Trash Metal starts of slowly and I even got the impression it was going to be an instrumental piece but I was mistaken. Really enjoyable when they pick up the pace almost 2 minutes into the song. A pleasant surprise for me were the vocals which seem to fully match the setting of this video. Great music from Brazil – once again. You find the guys from Brutal Exuberancia also on their Facebook page which unfortunately is in Portugese (I think).
It took me a while to get back into the game and now I have the wonderful task to go through all the posts that I received on my Facebook Page. How amazing is that! If there is anyone out there who feels like donating a few million Euro (I also take US Dollars, British Pounds or Swiss Francs) then by all means do not hesitate so I can write my shit full time from some amazing beach bar!
So, Sorronia contacted me quite a while ago and I guess not writing for a couple of weeks is not a bad thing as in the meantime Sorronia have released what I believe is their first video! Time to get to know them a bit better.
Sorronia are from Budapest which is in Hungary, Eastern Europe. In the band we have the beautiful Anna Király who has also written the lyrics for Enemy Of Yourself – the track that is going to be featured at the end of this article. Once again we have here a band with keyboards, played by István Biró. László “Hümer” Szabó is on guitars accompanied by Kevin Beri on bass. Last but definetely not least is Kristóf Vizi on drums.
Sorronia have been together since the end of 2011 after Anna and István have both been involved in other bands previously. Initially I believe they appeared as Thristana were Anna was already the singer and István on keyboards. As Thristana they have celebrated their name change to Sorronia in their gig on November 16th 2011.
Their ambitious objective is to make an unique music project which will hopefully expand at some stage on an international level – providing us fans also with a wonderful music experience. Sorronia is currently in the studio, working very hard on their debut album! They are sharing their progress on their Facebook page – so hop over to see how they are doing and what it looks like.
Back to their short story – in spring 2012 the guys have co-operated with several musicians. Due to these connections, László “Hümer” Szabó has joined as Sorronia’s guitarist. They went to the studio and released Devil’s Destiny which I believe was released under their old name of Thristana. It is a bit confusing to be honest as the small biographies I found say on both band names pretty much the same thing. If you want to take a listen to Devil’s Destiny, just pay a visit to Youtube.
The track starts off with an intro that consists of a medieval choir combined with organs and a speech that unfortunately is to my ears not understandable. Looking at the title it might as well be the devil talking. A minute into the track dark sounding guitars take over accompanied by decent drumming. Anna’s vocals are on most parts very clear and quite unique. Still, it is quite the contrast as the voice comes across as very gentle. There are some weaker parts in this 7:41 minutes track – I believe though that it is a solid first track that is enjoyable due to its variety throughout the 7 and a half minutes. I don’t know yet what to think about the band singing together 5:20 into the song – I felt it was a bit odd at first but having listened several times, I all of a sudden find it quite ok actually.
Anyhow, the story does not end here. Kristóf Vizi and Kevin Beri joined the band in October 2012 and in January 2013 their track Enemy Of Yourself was released – this time there is no confusion whether it is Thristana or Sorronia: It is 100% Sorronia Their Facebook Page says that the band is into Symphonic Metal with classic female vocals. The basis of their sound are the keyboards, the choirs and orchestral elements obviously combined with guitars, bass and drums. Especially on Enemy Of Yourself this is 100% spot on and I notice already quite the step forward from Devil’s Destiny. Let’s hope they can keep up this level so they can amaze us soon with their debut album.
Enjoy Enemy Of Yourself Ladies and Gentlemen – with a very passionate Anna and some beautiful keyboard parts!