Hump Day Hot Ticket: Helion Prime “Life Finds a Way”

Helion Prime band photo

For this week's edition of “Hump Day Hot Ticket”, I decided to venture a little closer to home. Sacramento's Helion Prime has released their self-titled debut album this year, and their brand of “science metal” is light-years ahead of many of their contemporaries on the scene (pun intended). The project of Graveshadow vocalist Heather Michele, and Dire Peril guitarist Jason Ashcraft; Helion Prime boasts an impressive résumé. Because of their combined experience, they have crafted quite a mature, well-rounded sound for a band just getting started. As I mentioned in my review of their album, Helion Prime's debut is already a strong contender for making my list of favorite albums in 2016.

Now, two months after the album's release, the band has made an official music video for the first single, “Life Finds a Way”. The video's concept is fairly simple: the band rocks out, as images flash across the screen. This no-frills approach just further draws attention to the music itself, rather than relying on complicated storytelling or elaborate visuals to explain the lyrical content.

So turn it up and enjoy the music!

Hump Day Hot Ticket: Serenity “My Final Chapter”

Serenity band photo

My second week of this feature, and this installment is a good one! (Well, I would like to think all of my picks are good ones, but I am particularly pleased with this one.)

I only discovered the Austrian symphonic metal band Serenity about a year ago, but I instantly adored their music and they have quickly become a regular staple on my playlist. Their new album, Codex Atlanticus, is a concept album chronicling the life of Leonardo da Vinci (which goes perfectly with symphonic metal, right?). The band has released a lyric video and two conceptual videos to promote the album already, and last week the band premiered their latest video, “My Final Chapter”. It's a beautiful ballad set to black-and-white footage of the band in a wooded area.

And a huge thanks to Georg Neuhauser, Serenity's vocalist, who was kind enough to allow me to share it with all of you.

So without further ado, here is this week's Hot Ticket. Enjoy!

Hump Day Hot Ticket: Celestial Ruin “Sense of Exile”

Celestial Ruin band photo

Considering that I have been somewhat idle on this blog for quite some time, and because I want to become more active here, I have decided to start a new weekly feature; where I will share videos from bands I am currently listening to, have just discovered, or who are old favorites. Because I am not the best at coming up with catchy names, we'll just call this “Hump Day Hot Ticket”. If any of you can come up with a better name, feel free to suggest one!

This weekly item serves a triple purpose: 1) for me to keep this blog more up-to-date, 2) to continue drawing attention to up-and-coming talent, and 3) because nothing gets you through the Hump Day slump better than good music!

In the future, I may share videos from more well-known bands, but for now, I will be sharing music from bands I have reviewed or interviewed in the past, or newer bands I will be reviewing here or at Sonic Cathedral at a later time.

This week's pick for the inaugural edition of “Hump Day Hot Ticket” comes from Celestial Ruin, a symphonic metal band from Vancouver, BC. This is the lyric video for the song “Sense of Exile”, from their upcoming album Pandora, which will be released on April 22nd. Give it a listen!

Let me know what you think of the song and of the new weekly installment in the comments section. If you have a request for a future “Hump Day Hot Ticket”, or you'd like to see your band's video featured here, just drop me a line in the comments section or use the “Contact Me” widget at the right-hand side of the page to send me an e-mail.

Happy Hump Day!