Spoil Engine – Stormsleeper EP

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Once upon a time, there was a band that seemed to have something very special going on. With a woman behind the microphone, the heavy Arch Enemy attracted people because of their music, and because of this screaming and grunting female appearance. The music business has changed since then. The metal world has been thoroughly convinced that women can, actually, scream, grunt and gurgle as good, or even better, then men. This is why the Belgian Spoil Engine shows off their freshly appointed vocalist Iris Goessens on their new EP ‘Stormsleeper’.

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Xandria – Fire & Ashes EP

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When you look at the history of most symphonic, female-fronted metal bands, the vocalist is a very important person, who barely parts ways with a successful band. Most of the time the woman behind the mic is an iconic figure, the eye catcher in front of the band. But that’s not really how the German Xandria works, apparently, because they already made it to their fifth vocalist. To showcase Dianne van Giersbergen’s abilities Xandria releases the EP ‘Fire & Ashes’.

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District 97 – In Vaults

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Is it possible to fall in love with a voice? Not the physical kind of love, of course, but the sound, coloring and timbre of someone’s vocals? To me the new album by District 97 has definitely made an enormous impression. Some of the female vocals that grace the new record called ‘In Vaults’ are simply electrifying. Will we be able to salvage more than just the vocals from this record?

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“We don’t want to be one of those many bands”

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With it’s seventh album released, Sirenia has delivered another very solid album. ‘The Seventh Life Path’ is the latest work by the mastermind Morten Veland. Overall Loudness talked to him about the new album, about the numerology in the title. And also, what does a band have to do to get on top of it’s competition nowadays?

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End Of The Dream – All I Am

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You might think that I’m promoting Dutch and Belgian bands more than others, because they’re close to home. That is not the case, but it’s true that I get a lot of Dutch bands for review. It’s also true that the Dutch symphonic metal scene is blooming like never before. Following the footsteps of bands like Delain, Within Temptation and After Forever is End Of The Dream. ‘All I Am’ is their first album and it’s very solid.

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10: Within Temptation – Hydra

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Releases from the beginning of the year always seem to slip away at the end. “Is this really a 2014 release?”, is a question that I ask myself way to much. Also, as a Dutchman, it is inevitable that there is a Dutch release in my list. It is listed on the last place, but the fact that it’s good enough to be in the list, says enough.

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