What introduction can I prepare since Amon Amarth surely are one of the ‘biggest’ names within the international Extreme Metal scene. I do follow them since the earliest years and I’ve always appreciated what they did, for Amon Amarth are one of those bands that pay tribute to the Old School, but translate this passion with a very own, specific interpretation. For sure Amon Amarth are one of the best bands ever in their specific genre.
Holy smokes! The crap they throw on my to-do list of reviews these days...oh, wait a minute, before spewing any more of my personal feeling of this Phoenix, Arizona based band, let's first dig into its history!
I ain't sure when exactly this band first set foot on a stage (because info about that is simply missing), but Kim and Scott Collins (the husband-wife couple at the core of it) have been married for 14 years (got engaged only 6 months after meeting each other the first time...when Scott came looking for a summer job at Nashville's 12th & Porter venue, where Kim happened to be the floor manager at the time), and both were already active in music at the time.
At the time when our editor-in-chief gave me this album for review (alongside a shitload of other albums, I daresay) I kinda relaxed, feeling I was dealing with an “old friend” which I already knew from having done a review previously...and this new review would amount to doing a simple follow-up. Turns out, I was mistaken, my knowledge of the band relating to having bought one of their albums a year ago, and having come across the band in a review of Swiss band Coilguns's debut album (review posted on May ? of this year).
This San Francisco based band was formed in 2012 around singer-songwriters/ guitarists Christa DiBiase (a native of Portland, Maine, born and raised in a very musical and large Italian family; until junior high school, she played the flute, and switched to drums when a girlfriend asked her to join her band; since moving to San Francisco, she played with Girlband and the celebrated drum/guitar duo Sassy; picked up the guitar a couple of ears ago, and found herself amazed at the Country feel in the songs she composed) and Amanda Guilb
I dunno where I got the feeling, but somehow I had the idea that I'd come across this Dutch Electro/ Rock act before, namely through buying an early EP of them at a local second-hand record store...but a double check learned me that I was apparently mistaken.
My personal introduction to this Nevada based American Post-Hardcore/ Emo band came with its sophomore album This War Is Ours, which (like 2006's debut EP There's No Sympathy For The Dead and debut album Dying Is Your Latest Fashion, ànd the ensuing 2007 EP Situations) was released through Epitaph Records (review of the album with elaborate history-of-the-band up to that point was posted 12/10/2008, and still available for your scrutiny in this website's “Archive” section).
On the international Rock and Metal scene, Iceland may be but a small player which only very occasionally spews forth new bands, but as a rule they all make it onto the markets abroad (the local market being typified by an abundance of Folk bands), and fare pretty well in the process.
You may not have heard of one Duncan Evans in the music scene yet, as this Leeds (UK) based musician is better known under his surname of Henry Hyde Bronsdon, name under which he operates wit 7-man Psychedelic Black Metal act A Forest Of Stars (formed in 2007, they now have 3 full-length albums to their name so far) and Progressive/ Stoner Metal band Electric Mud Generator (formed in 2002 and, although still active, the band's second album To The Disdain Of Polyhymnia dates back to 2008).
Edited soundtrack of the video filmed in 2006, at Philadelphia's Spectrum venue, when the band Dio was out on a two-year trek in promotion of their 1995 and third album Sacred Heart. First recorded appearance with guitarist Craig Goldy (whom had recently before replaced original guitarist Vivian Campbell), it includes songs of Dio (the band) 's first 3 albums, as well as material of Ronnie's days with Rainbow and Black Sabbath.
