Single Review: Lady Beast - The Gift (True Power Metal, 2020)

The single "The Gift" is a appetizer to the upcoming Lady Beast album called "The Vulture's Amulet" (Release Date: April 3rd 2020) . It's kept in a 80s Metal soundshell but hold's some extra's that prevent it from being one of the many releases out there.

The cover already spreads a classic vibe but taking a closer look reveals a lot of details.

The guitars spread a riff that feels a bit unusual. It starts out in the first seconds of the digital release. In those moments a melody can be heard that works as a introduction moment that opens up the listeners ears wide. It's those seconds that made me listen closer to what's to come. It creates a little mystic atmosphere.

Next to go are the vocals which follow a more modern format without a highlighted refrain in it. Instead it feels more like a constant telling of a ongoing plot divided into several sections but with higher pitched parts like in the classic days. All those is packed in another riff that constantly let's a difference shine through. It' s cleverly mixed into the sound so it won't ruin the listening experience but let you continue to enjoy the track further.

Finally the only thing I disliked was the mix of the drums. It would have been great to have that element a bit louder. Don't let that keep you from listening to the new material in the YouTube player below.

Make sure to keep the eye on the band on Facebook or support them on Bandcamp with a follow click.

Malice support fight against human trafficking on upcoming US tour

I love to see band's that say something against the bad things that are happening in our world. They use their power to bring topics to the table that many people surely would like to be kept in silence or ignored.

One of them are american true metal heads Malice who have announced to play a charity show in Las Vegas to raise money and awareness in the fight against human trafficking on their next touring cycle. Read the announcement to find out more about this and what you can expect of the upcoming Malice shows from bassist RayMan James directly:

"In a couple of weeks, Malice will bring the fight for heavy metal to the southwestern US on their "Slaying the Dragon" tour.

The tourposter for the "Slaying the Dragon Tour" from Malice, (c) by Malice, used with kind permission

We will be playing brand new songs off the band's upcoming 2nd album such as "Slaying the Dragon", "SwordMetal" and "Wheels of Steel", as well as songs that Malice fans have grown accustom to hearing at the live shows from our 2014 debut album "Triumph And Glory".

Along the way, Malice will be playing a charity show in Las Vegas to raise money and awareness in the fight against human trafficking, a cause that the members of Malice have been very passionate and outspoken about.

In addition, we will also be filming the new Malice music video while on tour. Malice is pleased to announce that power metal kings CAGE will be joining them for two shows on the tour, in their hometown of San Diego and the charity fund raiser against human trafficking in Las Vegas where they will showcase songs from their latest 7th album "Ancient Evil". This is a call to arms for all soldiers of steel to join Malice in the fight for pure heavy metal! Let the Battle begin."

"Slaying The Dragon" Southwest US tour dates

1/20/17 - House of Metal (Malone's) - Santa Ana, CA (with GRAHAM BONNET)
1/21/17 - Frogees - Apple Valley, CA (with KANTATION)
1/22/17 - The Lexington - Downtown Los Angeles, CA
1/23/17 - Brick by Brick - San Diego, CA (with CAGE)
1/25/17 - The Dive Bar - Las Vegas, NV (with CAGE)
1/27/17 - Club X - Salt Lake City, UT
2/13/17 - The Cabooze - Minneapolis, MN (with LORDI)

For updates make sure to see the homepage or Facebook site of the band.

Here's a video of the band in case you don't know them and / or to shorten the waiting time 'till the tour starts.

Let's speak with...Malice (2016)

Malice came around to me as sort a positive sign of the truemetal side of the Heavy Metal genre. I can remember a couple of years ago when I used to listen to more bands of this sidearm of our beloved music but somehow things changed as they do ever so often in life and I began to listen more to other bands.

This band and their debut album "Triumph and Glory" brought back a lot of the good memories to me of the old days so I started to wonder who may be behind this band and what their intentions are to bring on music in such a subgenre of metal that is not heard too often these days when a lot of bands tend to go into the metalcore direction.

Gladly "THE METAL WARRIOR" Rayman James, Bassist and founder of Malice picked up my questions and gave a good insight into what keeps him motivated and how music influences the day to day life as well a a memory of his time on stage.

The cover of the Malice album "Triumph and Glory", (c) by Malice, used with kind permission

 Q. )How did the band come together?

A.) Like Magic it just happened.   I was trying to get it going for a while then the pieces all just fell into Place

Q.)Which sources do you use as inspiration for writing new songs?

A.) Inspiration is all around, in other music, or books and movies different stories will inspire things or certain moments in my life will inspire me to write something.  Its really in everything

Q.)Do you feel that writing and performing music helps you to push on further with your own personal lifes?

A.)  Well music kinda is my own personal life.  If anything writing and performing kinda hurts the social life and dating life I guess.  But i write or try to write more inspiring and empowering music so in that way It keeps me strong in my day to day life I would say cause I cant write about something I dont live or believe myself.   As far as the personal life and dating life goes it does hurt that. 

Q.)Social media surely plays a big role in the communication between a band and their fans. Do you feel that fans contact you more or less personally at gigs these days?

A.) well at gigs it just depends on if we are around before we play or how long we are able to hang out after we play.   We always have a few fans able to catch us and chat a bit, and we do enjoy talking to them as well and knowing they had a good time.   It just dont always work with our schedule to be able to stick around and chat.  Lot of times after we finish its very late and the venue is closing and we have to pack our stuff up and get going. 

Q.)Do you still prefer releasing music on traditional media like LPs, CDs and the like or do you feel the same satisfaction when putting out music digitally?

A.) I still prefer to have a hard copy of everything, if I buy music I buy a cd, I am an old timer I guess.

Malice live on stage, Photo credit: MtLProductions.com, used with kind permission

Q.) Have you ever experimented with other styles over the years and thought about changing?

A.) is there other styles?  I am who I am and write exactly what I think and believe.   I like this style and genre so this is what I play I couldnt have it any other way.

Q.) Did you come along points where you thought about leaving it all behind? If you reached that point: how did you keep the motivation up to move on?

A.) Never give up never surrender.  Music is my blood, my oxygen my life.

The Malice band logo, (c) by Malice, used with kind permission

Q.) What was the funniest story that came along your way when you performed live? Or did things happen that you would have never thought of to occur (not only at gigs but maybe anywhere else as well)?

A.) Oh well there are many things I guess for me the first thing that comes to mind is that I ran onto stage and busted the laces on my leather pants.   These were side lace pants and the spread started to go further down my leg and I started to fall our of my pants.  So I was attempting to still play the guitar while holding my pants from coming open and trying to signal my stage manager to come help me out.   Soon as the song ended I was able to fix the problem but that first song we play is MALICE and lasts a little more than 7 minutes so yeah it was a bit of a situation for me there.

Make sure you'll keep a eye upon Malice. Take a look from time to time on their homepage or give their Facebook page a thumbs up.

Sacred Steel / Break the ground festival

Hey, some people seems to have a similar opion to me. You can see some new festivals coming up through the last years, a lot of them dedicated to young bands. That's what I like. :-)

One of them is the Break the ground festival I'd like to intoduce you today. It's a small festival located at Ahnsbeck, Germany and is taking place from 6/21/2012.-6/24/2012. Currently the complete line-up lists the following bands:

Antropophagist
Bloodwork
Cripper
Discreation
Hail Of Bullets
Headshot
Milking The Goatmachine
Mob Rules
Nebukadnezar
Out Of Mind
Plenty Of Nails
Rage
Rezet
Sacred Steel
Steelpreacher
The Vision Bleak

For detailed info visit the festival website that is linked below. Tickets are already on sale. It's quite a fair price, the all-in-ticket goes for 29,95 Euro including camping and entrance fee to the festival for all days.

Break the ground Homepage

One of the bands that plays are called Sacred Steel. They do play true metal of the very core sort. That means it goes back to the old standards, putting hard and heavy hitting guitars together with brutal attacking double-bass drums and most of all you can recall the band for the siren-like vocals of Gerrit P. Mutz. His voice reminds me a lot of the traditional bands of the 80's like Omen or Mercyful Fate. That said it means the band will surely split up the fans, some of them loving them for what they do while others surely hate them. Their optical appeareance along with the Manowar-alike texts do put some more very traditional marks on them. Just check out one of their songs with the video here and let me know what you think.

If you want to know more about this band, that is already around for over twenty yeard then jump to the bands official website