Hump Day Hot Ticket: Orion's Reign “Deck the Halls”

Band photo

I hope everyone has enjoyed my forays into Christmas music so far, because there's more to be had! It is the season for sharing, right?

Once again, Wednesdays focus on Orion's Reign, whose power metal-infused renditions of classic Christmas carols have become a favorite of mine at this time of year. Their videos are also of a fun and light-hearted nature, making these festive tunes even merrier.

Like last week's video, this one is a couple of years old, but Christmas music is timeless, so the shelf life of a music video shouldn't matter too much.

The video for “Deck the Halls”  begins with the band setting up their gear in the middle of a forest. Ladies in lovely dresses sit on the grass, trying on flower crowns. After working so hard, one of the bandmembers stops to relax at a nearby tree. As he appears to drift into dreams, the music starts. The ladies stop to look at the band, headbanging in the middle of the forest. At first they seem stunned, then curious, and before long, they are smiling. They follow the sound of the music, hiding behind trees as they watch in awe. As they tiptoe around the wooded areas, it is clear to see that they are fairies, and with one wave of their magic wands, the guitars turn into giant candy canes! The magic wand is brandished a few more times, and before long, the band is “decked” out in red and green, dressed as merry elves as the fairies dance around them and join in the fun.

Was it a bit of Christmas magic, or simply the dreams of a tired musician? You'll just have to watch for yourself.

For more information on Orion's Reign, visit their official website.

Femme-Metal Friday: Tarja “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”

Photo credit: Tim Tronckoe

As I promised on Wednesday, I was going to feature artists known for being particularly fond of Christmas. If you are a fan of symphonic metal, then the name Tarja already comes to mind; but she has also become known for her beautiful holiday musical renditions.

Ever since going solo, Tarja has consistently released Christmas albums and singles, and performs Christmas concerts in her home country of Finland each year. Her first solo project was a Christmas abum; counting her side project Harus, she has released 3 Christmas albums within the last decade (along with occasional holiday singles here and there). Needless to say, Tarja really knows how to get into the spirit of the season!

Her latest Christmas album, From Spirits and Ghosts, combines Tarja's love of Christmas music with her trademark dark gothic sound. The first video from the album is the one I'm reviewing today: “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”.

The video itself is of Tarja performing the song amidst white, withered tree branches. She is also dressed completely in white—a white dress, a long white wig, and her face painted white—with a black backdrop, and dark circles painted around her eyes, the only touch of color being the crimson-painted lips, dramatically set against the stark white of her face. The imagery only seems dark and cheerless, but as Tarja sings and the light casts little orbs, the wintry color scheme is of little importance. At the end, the imagery switches to Tarja dressed all in black, but those dark red lips remain.

For more information on Tarja, visit her official website.

Hump Day Hot Ticket: Orion's Reign “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”

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As I mentioned last Friday, the review writing has been put on “cruise control”, and I am turning it over to holiday music.

With the holiday season under way, the time for playing festive songs for the occasion has arrived. We all have our favorite seasonal tunes, and each year it is guaranteed that at least one of our favorite musicians will release a Christmas album.

That being said, until Christmas, both on Wednesdays and Fridays, I am going to feature two artists within the symphonic metal genre that have come to make Christmas music their specialty.

One of these is the Greek band Orion's Reign, whom I have reviewed here before. Known for their symphonic metal renditions of Christmas classics, Orion's Reign creates a holiday soundtrack for those who like a little more heaviness in their Jingle Bell Rock.

The video for “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” is over 5 years old, but the song itself is far see than that, so who cares? I only have a short window of time to review cool metal Christmas videos, so I am gonna review this one.

Featuring vocalist Marit Børreson and symphonic metal mastermind PelleK, Orion's Reign wishes us a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in the grandiose, dramatic way that only a symphonic metal band can do. Marit and PelleK are dressed up in Santa hats, the band performs among a Christmasy backdrop, and stockings adorn the drums and guitars.

For more information on Orion's Reign, visit their official website.

Femme-Metal Friday: Leah “Winter Sun”

Leah & Eric Peterson

For the next few weeks, I think I am going to do something a little different and put the reviewing on cruise control, so to speak. The holidays are fast approaching, so why not look for some seasonally appropriate music?

Granted, I am really putting it on cruise control this week: it's a lyric video, and it's also from two years ago. But good music is timeless, right?

This week, I am reviewing the “Celtic folk metal” vocalist Leah, whose musical description sounds pretty bad-ass. Further solidifying her bad-assery, she has joined forces with Testament guitarist Eric Peterson. Then, they proceeded to write this song in 3 days, in different countries altogether, using nothing but smartphone apps to compose the song! That's bad-ass, in my book!

Using background images of Leah (who sings beautifully), Eric (who sheds masterfully), and a frozen stream in the snow-capped wilderness, it's the perfect song for ushering in the winter season without being a holiday song. It's perfect for those who want to celebrate the season, but either hate Christmas music or are sick to death of hearing it. Christmas is not the only winter holiday, and this is perfect for Solstice, or just for welcoming in winter.

For more information on Leah, visit her official website.

Hump Day Hot Ticket: Iliad “He Knows You Know”

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In my search for music, I write about bands of varying age and popularity. Usually a quick Google search provides the most basic information about any band from any area. However, this might be a first for me: a band so new that even Google can't find them!

I wish I had more to write about this band, Iliad—I think they might be from the UK—but all I have is this video, which is how I found this band in the first place. The song is a cover, originally done by Marillion, one of my favorite prog-rock bands (at this point, prog purists will jump in and insist that Marillion is “neo-prog”—whatever that's supposed to mean—have fun with your labels!). The song was shared on the official Facebook page of Marillion's original singer, Fish, which is how I heard this cover.

“He Knows You Know” is a dark song with even darker lyrical content; it's sinister tone always so perfect for metal. Iliad takes the song's underlying frantic anxiety, and pushes it to the forefront, giving this song about drug addiction that extra degree of delirious obsession.

The lyric video provides perfect visuals: a sketch of clawing fingernails during the line “crawling up your bathroom wall”; a shot of a toilet at the lyric “singing psychedelic phrases to the depths of the china bowl”, and the image of a pale, strung-out junkie staring into a mirror, dark circles under his emotionless eyes. The most jarring visual comes when an image is displayed of a faceless addict sorting out lines of cocaine, as the lyric “he's got experience...he knows you know” scrolls across the screen.

For more information on Iliad, visit their official Facebook page.

Femme-Metal Friday: Ann my Guard “Obsidian Tears”

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Since yesterday was Thanksgiving in the U.S., that means the holiday season has officially started. While everyone else is pushing and shoving at the mall for the best Black Friday sales, I am going to take advantage of the long weekend and spend some time catching up on the music that has flown by my radar, but up to now has not been given rightful attention. So yes, the video is several months old, but good music doesn't have a time limit, and neither should discussion of that music.

Several months back, the Hungarian band Ann my Guard was one of these bands. They define themselves as “doll metal, space witch metal, whatever”, which may not be the most detailed description, but it is certainly an interesting one! What exactly does “doll metal” or “space witch metal” sound like, anyway?

Whatever the categorization, the music is good: a little bit of hard rock, some goth, some alternative...it all fits together nicely. The band's vocalist, Anna (clearly where the group gets its namesake) sounds as though she could have fit right into one of those female-fronted alternative bands from the early ’90s.

The music video itself is filmed in black-and-white, and starts with Anna in the middle of a field, dressed in black. Then a quick shot Anna again, this time dressed in white, clutching a bouquet of wilted flowers, laying perfectly still and unblinking, as if dead. Snakes writhe around her bed, and the band is shown playing in a shed or barn of some kind. A new shot of Anna, looking very bad-ass with a pair of scimitars, of which she wears one on each arm, looking like she's about to do serious business with those snakes!

The video sets a frenzied pace throughout, blurred or frantic glimpses of the band, Anna in white, Anna in black, and the snakes symbolically coiling around an apple. There is a rain (or blood?)-streaked mirror that separates Anna in white from Anna in black. It also sounds like she is singing in Hungarian toward the end of the song. I always like when bands from non English-speaking countries sing in their own native language, so that was a bonus I was not expecting!

For more information on Ann my Guard, visit their official Tumblr page.

Special thanks to Costa Miccas of The Metal Syndicate.

Hump Day Hot Ticket: My Indigo “My Indigo”

My Indigo: Solo project of Within Temptation vocalist Sharon den Adel

There used to be a time when the words “going solo” was the equivalent of a death sentence for a band; a poison that led to an imminent breakup or major bandmember change that would forever fracture the “classic” lineup. Whenever a singer or key bandmember announced their desire to work on a solo project, fans took it as the beginning of the end, and that their favorite band would soon be no more.

Thankfully, things are no longer this way (why they ever had to be in the first place, I'll never know). While for some bands, a solo project may still hearken these things, these days it seems to be rarer of a case than it was in the ’70s or ’80s. Nowadays, a band can break apart, pursue solo interests or form entirely new bands altogether, then come back together; sometimes even with a renewed sense of purpose, because they were able to do something creatively that could not be fulfilled within a band. Even fan reaction to these side projects are different: many fans now embrace the idea of hearing their favorite musicians in new settings, and the possibilities it opens up for the band once they reconvene to make a new album.

Personally, I like when a favorite artist goes solo, or embarks on a project different than their primary band. It gives me a chance to hear the other sides of their musicianship; to hear what they might have sounded like if they had chosen another musical path. Even if the final result is not something I end up liking, I still appreciate the artistry of it, and respect their need as an artist to create.

That being said, when Within Temptation frontwoman Sharon den Adel announced about 2 weeks ago that she had been working on a solo album, I was very excited. Sharon has one of the most beautiful voices, not just in metal, but overall (this is only my opinion, of course). She has a voice that pierces my heart whenever I hear it—she could sing the phone book, and I would be in tears by the time she got to Mr. Abraham! As Within Temptation has grown as a band, they have incorporated more experimental sounds into their music, therefore it was not surprising that Sharon had a need to express herself musically in ways outside of WT. She has lent her voice to various projects from prog rock to dance music, so I had no doubts that whatever style her solo album was, it would sound great. (This is also why I chose this as Wednesday's feature, and not Friday, because while it does have female vocals, this is not considered metal.)

The project, titled My Indigo (which seems to be the name of the band as well as the album), which is described as “alternative pop”. The first single is also called “My Indigo”, and the video is a conceptual piece—my favorite kind.

The video's concept is quite dark for a song that sounds so upbeat and cheery. It begins with a crime scene, and the separation of a mother and child. Desperately trying to run to her one last time, the young boy manages to grab the bracelet off his mother's wrist before he is taken away, and she is hauled off to jail. As they are each taken to their own separate prisons and begin the painful reality of life without each other, the boy finds comfort in music: an old-school walkman with a mixtape labeled “My Indigo”.

The boy is taken to foster care while his mother is placed behind bars. He finds a friendly hand reach out to him in this strange place, as his mother's bracelet falls out of his bag and is returned to him by a girl bunking next to him. We see shots of the mother and son, each one alone at night, thinking of the other. Restless, the boy wanders into the library, where he finds drawings of some kind of flying machine, his face registering some sort of interest or idea. As he sneaks off to a nearby shed in the middle of the night, he does not see his bunkmate watching him through the window.

As the days go on (seen by the marks on the mother's prison wall), the boy is secretly working in the shed to recreate the flying machine in the pictures. His new friend joins in to help him along. Soon, it becomes a group project, as all the children in the home take part in putting this machine together, everyone sneaking objects out of the house and the school to complete the machine.

Then the boy is caught, and makes a mad dash on his bicycle to reach his machine, which he rides off a cliff. It flies into the air, as he pedals faster away. His mother's bracelet, serving as a charm, suddenly falls off in mid-flight. As he tries to grab it, he loses control and begins to plummet. At the same time, his mother is freed from jail; as she walks out to freedom, she sees a strange flying object falling from the sky. Her mother's instinct somehow tells her that it is her son, and she runs frantically into the woods nearby. As the boy looks around the wreckage, disoriented, he sees a familiar sight, and everything is right again...or is it? You don't expect me to give away the little twist at the end, do you?

For more information on My Indigo, visit the official website.