Modified seem to be on fire lately, winning both our most recent Band of the Month poll and our first ever annual Reader’s Choice Awards! Now, they’d like to present to you their first ever music video for the song “Die to Resist,” one of a number of excellent tracks from their self-titled debut that shows you just what this band is all about. Watch the video below and prepared to be blown away!
You can pick up a digital copy of the album at Amazon or CDbaby, and make sure to ‘like’ Modified on facebook!
Ok, so it’s a little awkward to write about a band who’s only (officially) released one song so far, but I feel like Huntress is a good enough discovery for me to do just that. Formed in Highland Park, California in 2009, Huntress signed a deal with Napalm Records last year and released a badass music video for their equally badass single, “Eight of Swords.” Check it out below:
Ok, that banshee scream by vocalist Jill might be a turn-off for some, but I personally am damn impressed! Add to that the fantastic instrumental work and that classic metal sound with a bit of pagan flair, and I’m sold! If the rest of the band’s debut, Spell Eater, due out April 27th in Europe and May 8th in the US, is anything like this song, the CD is bound to melt before I’ve listened to it enough.
Don’t think you can wait to hear more? Huntress is one of the band’s featured on this year’s Paganfest America tour this spring, supporting Turisas, Alestorm, Ex Deo and Arkona! Make sure to check them out, along with the other fantastic bands on the bill (especially Arkona!)
Thanks once again to everyone who voted in our 1st Annual Readers Choice Awards! Over 1,100 votes were cast and 46 albums nominated!
Our original plan was to feature the top 10 vote-getting albums. However, due to a three-way tie for the last spot, we have 12 albums instead! Let’s see if you can identify the albums in the collage below!
Thanks very much to Mimi of the UtF staff for putting this image together!
So, now you see the covers of the honored albums. Here is a more detailed list of the winners:
1. Modified – Modified
2. Dama – Eirwen
3. (tie) Stream of Passion – Darker Days
3. (tie) Echoterra – Land of the Midnight Sun
5. Crysalys – The Awakening of Gaia
6. Nemesea – The Quiet Resistance
7. Amaranthe – Amaranthe
8. Only Fate Remains – Breathe
9. Benedictum – Dominion
10. (tie) Cassandra Syndrome – Satire X
10. (tie) Draconian – A Rose for the Apocalypse
10. (tie) Noctura – Surrender the Sun
Once again, thanks to everyone who voted this year! The Awards were a great success – so let’s have it again next year, shall we?
This latest poll was a fight to the finish between French symphonic metallers Opus Doria and Canadian hard rockers Modified. Every day we saw a flip-flop in the leaderboard: Opus Doria, Modified, Opus Doria, Modified… And in the final days of voting, Modified made a big enough push to claim the Band of the Month honors for February 2012!
Over 5,000 votes were cast this past month! Here are the final results:
Modified – 2,783 votes (54.59%)
Opus Doria – 2,143 votes (42.04%)
The Mariana Hollow – 90 votes (1.77%)
Voices of Destiny – 57 votes (1.12%)
Evenoire – 25 votes (0.49%)
It’s now time to start our March 2012 Band of the Month Poll! Your choices are:
Alpine Fault, a progressive metal band originally from Auckland, New Zealand. The band now resides in Brisbane, Australia, where they’re promoting their recently released debut album Iraena’s Ashes.
Elyose, an electro-symphonic metal band from Paris, France. Elyose will release its debut album Théogyne on March 1st.
Midnight Cry, a symphonic rock band from Spokane, Washington, USA. Originally a Christmas and Trans-Siberian Orchestra cover band, Midnight Cry finally released their first album of original music, Fight For This Crime, last November.
Nightqueen, a heavy metal band from Genk, Belgium. Nightqueen will release its debut album For Queen and Metal via Massacre Records on February 24th.
Pythia, a classical/gothic metal band from London, United Kingdom. Pythia’s second album, The Serpent’s Curse, will be released on February 27th.
As always, visit our WordPress site and scroll down to find the poll on the right-hand sidebar. Vote once a day, every day through Wednesday, February 29th!
Which bands would you like to see featured in our next Band of the Month Poll? Let us know by sending an email to unleashthefuriesmetal@gmail.com.
Yup, it’s that time of year: to take a look back on the year that was 2011. In female-fronted rock and metal music, of course. However, while every other media outlet out there shares Top 10 or Top 20 lists of favorite albums, we decided to do a different kind of year-end wrap-up.
Instead of highlighting albums, we chose to highlight bands. All of us at Unleash The Furies discovered a wealth of female-fronted rock and metal bands this past year – some of which didn’t actually release any albums in 2011, but got heavy rotation in our music players regardless. With this idea in mind, four of our staff writers sat down and picked their favorite discoveries of 2011. They also shared their predictions for up-and-coming bands who could make major breakthroughs in 2012.
Our October 2011 Band of the Month, EarlyRise, released their first music video earlier this month. Here is a gorgeous acoustic version of their song “Old Friend.” You can find the original version on EarlyRise’s debut CD, What If.
At Unleash The Furies, we enjoy involving our readers in our mission to promote up-and-coming female-fronted rock and metal bands. That’s the reason why we run a Band of the Month Poll at our blog. And now, to celebrate the best female-fronted albums of 2011, we invite YOU to help us out!
Today, we launch our 1st Annual Readers’ Choice Awards! The instructions are simple: We’ve set up a poll on Facebook where readers can vote for all of their favorite female-fronted rock and metal albums released in 2011. Facebook polls allow for write-in votes. So if you can’t find one of your favorites on the list, feel free to add it to the list!
The poll will run from Sunday, January 1, 2012 through Tuesday, January 31, 2012. The 10 albums with the most votes will be our official Readers’ Choice Award winners, and will be featured in an article we’ll post on our blog in mid-February.
We do have some rules for the Awards:
To keep in line with our mission, we will only accept votes for albums released by up-and-coming female-fronted bands. Any votes for albums by more famous bands (i.e., Within Temptation, Arch Enemy, Nightwish, Leaves’ Eyes) will not be counted.
Only albums released during the year 2011 are eligible for the poll.
According to Facebook restrictions, you can only vote in our Readers’ Choice Awards poll if you like Unleash The Furies on Facebook.
Also according to Facebook restrictions, each Facebook user can only vote once for each album.
Remember, however, that you can vote for as many albums as you like!
All write-in votes must contain the album title and the artist name. We want to be 100% sure of which albums by which artists you’re voting for!
We had an awesome turn-out for our tribute poll to Flight of the Valkyries V! Most of it was due to the top two vote-getters: Benedictum, and Cassandra Syndrome. Benedictum jumped to an early lead in December, but Cassandra Syndrome gradually caught up to take the lead. In the end, the difference was 202 votes – in Cassandra Syndrome’s favor. That’s why the operatic metallers from Maryland are our first Band of the Month for 2012!
Just one vote shy of 4,000 were cast this month! Here is how the results shaped up:
Cassandra Syndrome – 1946 votes (48.66%)
Benedictum – 1,744 votes (43.61%)
Brave– 110 votes (2.75%)
Serpent Witch – 60 votes (1.5%)
Desdemon – 56 votes (1.4%)
Echoterra – 48 votes (1.2%)
Flames of Fury – 35 votes (0.88%)
Now, it’s time to announce the nominees for February 2012 Band of the Month. Here they are:
Evenoire, a gothic folk metal band from Cremona, Italy. Evenoire’s full-length debut album is due out later this year and features guest appearances by German soprano singer Gaby Koss and Derdian keyboardist Marco “Garry” Garau.
The Mariana Hollow, a progressive/alternative metal band from London, United Kingdom. The Mariana Hollow will release their second album, Velvet Black Sky, on February 13th and is in the midst of planning a headlining tour across the UK to promote the album.
Modified, a hard rock trio from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Modified’s self-titled full-length debut album, which was released at the end of December, is now available on CD Baby.
Opus Doria, a symphonic metal band from Aquitaine, France. Like with Modified, Opus Doria released its debut album Infraworld at the end of December.
Voices of Destiny, a melodic/symphonic metal band from Germany. Voices of Destiny’s second album, Power Dive, will be released on January 27th in Europe via Massacre Records.
As always, visit our WordPress site and scroll down to find the poll on the right-hand sidebar. Vote once a day, every day through Tuesday, January 31st!
Which bands would you like to see featured in our next Band of the Month Poll? Let us know by sending an email to unleashthefuriesmetal@gmail.com.
Oh, by the way – Happy 2012 from Unleash The Furies!
No matter what you celebrate at this time of year, Unleash the Furies wishes you all the love, warmth, happiness, delicious food, and rock and metal music that you could ask for. And while you make merry, be sure to do so safely and responsibly.
Also, a quick apology for our lack of articles recently. We’ve all been super busy with the upcoming holidays, work, school, and other things. So, we’ve accidentally let the blog slide a bit. We hope to catch up on things as soon as life slows down for us!
Time to feature yet another gem from The Netherlands! Cardamon hails from Utrecht and sounds similar to our previous Check It Out band (and fellow countrymen/woman), Only Fate Remains. What makes Cardamon different from OFR is its balance of sounds: their songs contain metallic riffs, semi-progressive structures, acoustic passages, and enchanting melodies courtesy of Floortje Donia. The best word I can use to describe Cardamon’s music is “melancholy.” You can hear and sense that emotion in the lyrics, the vocals, and the moods created by the music. Think of Cardamon as a female-fronted version of Katatonia during their Last Fair Deal Gone Down days – or a mix of Katatonia, Autumn, The Gathering, and circa-1999 Anathema.
Cardamon has played a number of shows in their homeland over the past couple years. A number of those gigs were opening slots for Delain, Stream of Passion, Kingfisher Sky, and Autumn. So, this band has had a lot of great opportunity to get their name out there in Holland. Oh, and two trivia bits for you: Cardamon guitarist Koen Romeijn is the lead singer of the melodic death metal band Detonation. And, bassist Luuk van Gerven played the same instrument for After Forever until that band split up in 2009. Just goes to show that Cardamon’s members have a wide range of tastes in metal music!
Cardamon has two albums under their belt: The Primrose Path, released in 2007; and Sun As Never (pictured above), which came out last month. Sun As Never sees the band going in a heavier direction. As a result, the music has a stronger electric-guitar base and is generally more uptempo. The lyrics and prevailing moods, however, are still dark, somber, and introspective. Cardamon has actually released Sun As Never for free download only at their website. So if you haven’t heard of Cardamon before, this is a good opportunity to do so – without opening your wallet!
Out of both Cardamon albums, however, I prefer The Primrose Path a smidge more. I find something charming about that record’s delicate balance of electric and acoustic moments as well as Floortje’s clear, lilting harmonies. A great example of all of the elements that make up The Primrose Path is the song “Sleepless World.” The intro grabs your attention while building in intensity, and the song as a whole is full of those contrasts that make up Cardamon’s signature sound.
