Femme-Metal Friday: A Sound of Thunder “Lifebringer”

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I know it hasn't been very long since I last wrote about A Sound of Thunder, but if you ask me, I don't write about them nearly enough! In the few short weeks since my last review, the band has been busy: in-between launching a Kickstarter, recording a new album, and preparing for their first European tour, they managed to find time to free an entire country! In case you have been living under a rock over the past month, Catalonia has seceded from Spain, and A Sound of Thunder's “Els Segadors” was heard blasting through the streets as people celebrated in victory. Now, maybe the band is too humble to say that they were responsible for this, but...didn't I predict in my last entry that their music would heal the world? One country at a time, folks. One country at a time.

Yet with all of that going on, they still had enough spare time to make another music video! Meanwhile, I think during that time, I binge-watched old reruns of Matlock and spent an afternoon trying to figure out where I left my keys.

The video for the song “Lifebringer” gives fans a taste of what they can expect not only from the upcoming album It Was Metal, but also what they can expect from the accompanying comic book that goes with the album. The artwork is stunning, there are warriors, there are tyrants, and somewhere among all that, a theremin is involved. What more do you need? It sure as hell beats another marathon of Murder, She Wrote, and it's anyone's guess which region will be liberated by this song. Maybe Sicily. It is the birthplace of my favorite Golden Girl, after all.

For more information on A Sound of Thunder, or to contribute to their Kickstarter (only 3 days left!), visit their official website.

Femme-Metal Friday: MindMaze “One More Moment”

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A couple months back, I wrote about the Pennsylvanian band MindMaze, who are one of my favorites among the female-fronted bands from the U.S. Their enthralling mix of progressive and power metal combined with melodic hard rock makes it impossible to categorize this band into a neat little box. There is enough musical influence of certain genres to recognize it when you hear them, but never so much that you can instantly slap a label on it and define the music as being that particular thing. For many fans, this is the appeal of MindMaze, and what sets them apart from their contemporaries in the scene. For many fans of female-fronted metal who have grown tired of the countless symphonic-based bands, MindMaze is a breath of fresh air with a musical approach that is less classical music and more classic rock.

The year 2017 has been a productive year for the band: their third album, Resolve, was released; they embarked on a tour with Arkona and Sirenia, which brought them to their West Coast fans for the first time. Now they are about to launch a new Kickstarter project for an EP slated for release sometime next year. So I thought this would be a perfect time to review the band's lyric video for “One More Moment”, which was released a few months back.

MindMaze has some really beautiful ballads, and this song is absolutely stunning. The lyric video shows glimpses of the band playing piano, guitar, or drums, with some footage of Sarah singing the words that we see onscreen. There is also some graphic art of a face in profile, and what appears to be a withered tree in flames. I also like the way the graphics of the flames surround Jeff's guitar during its solo, making it look like his awesome guitar-playing causes flames to appear!

For more information on MindMaze, or to learn more about their Kickstarter, visit their official website.