| CD REVIEW Talisman Stone – The Last Flight – Twistsak – Valium – Virgin Island |
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Alkemist Fanatix Europe special, August 2011, part 4 : Talisman Stone – The Last Flight – Twistsak – Valium – Virgin Island Okay, temporarily the last special of bands from the Alkemist Fanatix Europe agency, and again we find ourselves going outside Italian borders in several directions and styles...check beneath articles for details, and enjoy discovering the bands' music afterward! ----------------------------------------------------- From Ravenna, Italy comes a weird (and that's always a positive thing in my book) trio of musicians. Weird, because they have no use for the guitar, except for some sitar! I'm not sure when exactly the band was formed, but I dó know that lead singer/ bassist (5-string fretless)/ sitar & synth player Andrea Giuliani was at the basis of the band's foundation. During his teen days, the man had already been playing guitar and singing, then developed a passion for the bass. Following a short diversion into saxophone playing, he began a keen study of classical Indian music and learned to handle the sitar. Before starting TalismanStone, he played in several experimental and genre-exploring projects, such as Dead Channel Sky (which played an Industrial Electronic Noise) and It Came From The Desert (Noise/ Post-Rock). Along with 7 co-writers, he also wrote a book entitled La Citta Dei Fossili. His first partner in crime was drummer and tabla player Lucia Centolani. Pushed by her father (the town band's trumpetist) into playing any musical instrument possible, she started singing and took piano and guitar lessons as a child, but soon got bored with that. Possibly in a reaction, she started playing synth and singing growled and screamed vocals, before picking up the drums...the latter primarily as a joke. But she couldn't stop! She finally found the instrument that suited her best, and is still taking lessons. Since something more than a year she also started studying and taking lessons in tabla. Eventually she was noticed by Andrea, whom recruited her for his new band. Third person in the equation, is bassist/ backing singer Erica Bassani. Following a year of classical guitar studies, she fell in love with the electric bass, 4-string instrument she's been taking lessons for from the tender age of 16. Following a first band experience in a Nirvana cover band, she was recruited into TalismanStone, making the project a threesome. The two info sources I got put the band's foundation as 2007, with first concerts/ recordings done in 2008...but this (Sunya) is their debut full-length. The band's untypical sound is a result from influences taken from Shoegaze, Noise Rock, Post-Punk, Post-Hardcore, Industrial, Dark, Metal, and Indie, and therefore hard to put away in any one category, except “Experimental”. Although there's two basses in the band, they're used at different octave ends, and the sitar embellishes 3 intros (and used somewhere ín one of those songs as well). The synth is apparently (I may have missed a couple of short passages) used only in the album opening song. But the icing on the cake comes from Erica's very occasional vocal intervention (on 4 songs)...because frankly, on his own Andrea would've been a bit boring in the end. However, as things stand, this band has brought a devil of an album which has had me spellbound for several weeks now! You can listen to samples of all songs in the “Music”section of the band's own website (www.) talismanstone.it (a compilation of those samples can be found in a “video” promotion of the album in the site's “Video” section...and there's a complete song in the form of video as well)...and at (www.) myspace.com/talismanstone there's a couple of samples and a couple of full-length tracks, but really you should listen to the whole album to appreciate it to its fullest. Then again, once you've done that...only once...you'll probably want to hàve a copy of the album all of your own, so you can play the music whenever and wherever you feel like it. I know that to be a possibility, because I had those feelings myself. But where all of you out there can indulge in such niceties, this one needs to turn his head and start listening to other music for reviewing. The only thing I've left for device, is to add the album to my year-lists! 98/100 ----------------------------------------------------- Italian Modern Hard Rock band The Last Fight consists of only a trio (lead singer/ guitarist James D. Fini, bassist Dave Montorio, drummer Gigi Colombo), but together this threesome produces a truly fat sound. When you'll hear the songs posted at (www.) myspace.com/thelastfightband (also check the live videos on the band's own website (www.) thelastfight.net), you'll immediately hear where this band's success comes from. After all, they deal in rather catchy and melodic Modern Rock (occasional influences from Grunge cannot be denied), which has nice commercial possibilities. Occasionally the guitarist uses some really nice effects, and on a couple of songs keyboards were added (in different modes : as piano here, as strings elsewhere), but...except for the fact that I feel the band has taken the less “troublesome” road musically, what I miss here is a singer whom stands out, gives the music an identity of its own. As things are, the singer could be replaced by a number of replacements without anyone noticing the difference but those close to him. Hum...gotta give him sóme good points for singing in an almost accent-free voice, though! Nah, to me this is too slick, and too easy...but I happen to know there's a whole lot of people exactly into this type of Rock...so I guess other people will rate the album higher (or not, because I have a habit of giving nice ratings, after all). 80/100 ----------------------------------------------------- Oh my...for the Alternative Death Metal act Twistsak we have to move all the way to St. Petersburg, Russia, where SS Teaass (samples handler) and Esty Gee (guitarist) founded the band towards the end of June 2009 (current line-up being completed by singer Efty Em and second guitarist Peety Gee – by the way, if you hadn't noticed, these “names” are simply the vocalisation of the abreviations SSTS, STG, FTM and PTG). Things moved very fast for the quartet from the very beginning, as on August 27 of the same year the guys already released their debut video for the track “What It Takes To Me”, and on September 9th they issued their debut EP The Beginning Of New World Domination (containing 3 original Twistsak songs, a cover of Beastie Boys' “Sabotage” - recorded, mixed and mastered at the band's own Rocket Shiter 21 Records home studio, with vocals recorded at Black Studio – and the aforementioned video). That same year (December 20) the band released a mastered live version of their song “Everything” (previously it was exclusively available to fanclub members) and on New Year's Eve the guys released a special Happy New Year home video for a mastered live version of their song “Burn”. All of that in just over half a year...busy buddies, those Ruskies! On March 1st, 2010 the band announced having signed a deal with Alkemist, and after that their band history becomes shrouded in a veil. As far as I can gather, a second version of their debut EP also included the live “Everything”. It was followed by the Revival EP, which included the debut EP's “Better Than Anyone”, and a studio recording of “Burn”, plus 3 other new songs (all songs can he enjoyed at (www.) myspace.com/twistsak...as can the videos mentioned above). Also, a special European promo was made, a soundclip lasting a mere 2:59! And three of those songs (“Measure Wasted”, “Better Than Anyone”, and “Burn”), plus a studio version of “What It Takes To Me”, is what we got on the special European promo they prepared. What can you expect to hear? A down-tuned Death Metal/ Nu Metal with sampling which to my taste is a bit too much in the background. At times there's a lunacy in the vocals as well, with one of the other guys helping FTM to make the vocals real wacky! But really...words are just words, and as far as Twistsak music is concerned, I rather waste as little words as possible...gives me more time to continue listening to the Ep just one more time (before I have to turn over to the next album to review, you know?)! Guess what? A very nice addition to the year-lists, this Russian troupe! I dó hope they come out with a full-length soon enough!!! 98/100 ----------------------------------------------------- Although this Salerno based Italian Garage/ Indie Rock band Valium (which today consists of singer/ rhythm guitarist and occasional synth player Marco Sabino, backing singer/ lead guitarist/ occasional piano and Hammond organ player Luigi Sabino, bassist Alain Fortunati, and drummer Buoniconti) has remained a relatively unknown entity outside Italy so far, the band was founded back in 1999! For those needing a reminder, Salerno is the next big town after Naples, going furter down South along the Tyrrhenian Sea coast line. The band started its recording career with a first self-titled 3-track demo (2001) influenced by a certain '60s Garage Rock, mixed by the scorching English overdrive of bands such as Oasis, Blur, and Supergrass. Their 2002 2-track release Tnt – I Giorni Dark sees the band turn a more Psychedelic leaf, which befalls the the critics a lot better and finds positive reviews from all over Italy. Returning to a more “catchy 'n' scratchy” Rock 'n' Roll with a sound more akin to the band's live appearances of the era, the guys then issued Valium III in 2004. However, with a couple of line-up changes happening soon after, the release remained quite un-promoted, and spread online only. In 2007 the band came back with the self-produced conceptual EP Willy and a fatter two-guitar sound which was clearly infuenced by the likes of Small Faces and Equipe84. The use of a concept was a clear further wink to the mid-70s, when such albums were somewhat common practice. Thanks to good relationships with Italy's specialized press and the fact that they can play a nice 'n' mean tune, the band has had its fair share of appearances at small and bigger festivals throughout their native country. Over the years, Valium has gained the reputation of being the inventors of the “New Beat” scene (referring, by the way, to the “Beat” scene of the '60s!!!) in Italy. On the band's MySpace page, the guys answer the question “sounds like” with the following elucidating words : “Figure it out as Rolling Stones, The Beatles, the Who, The Small Faces, Equipe84, Lucio Battisti, Oasis, Ash, and The Stone Roses going together to a Friday night party...catchy vintage Rock 'n' Roll plus a scorching '90s British overdrive, all sung in Italian”. Yeah...in Italian, and that's what gives this band an extra which it otherwize would not have had. In fact, the band closes the album with the beautiful (sung with a rather fragile voice) and unannounced “With A Glimpse”, which has English lyrics (I also could've sworn it is a cover, but was unable to find out by whom it might've been originally...hum, could be it's an original after all, but I doubt it!), and when you hear Marco sing that song you'll understand why the band does their thing in their native language. Still, it's great music alright, a statement I'm sure the songs posted at (www.) myspace.com/valiumspace (off the new album that's the songs “L'Infidele” and “Lucienne”, which were issued as a single in March 2010 – by the way, the songs' videos are also posted) will no doubt convince you of...and if it weren't for that small mistake on the bonus track's choice, the album would've made my year-lists! 95/100 ----------------------------------------------------- Aha...another outlandish band (oh my, what a way/ play of words to indicate a group of musicians not residing in Italy – this is, after all, a special about bands on the roster of an Italian promotion and management agency), comes to us from the small village Vilshofen an der Donau (situated near the Austrian border, some 90 km SSE from Regensburg or, in the direction of Linz in Austria). Not having found any history of the band, I'm unable to tell you how long the Melodic Heavy Rock/ Gothic Rock band has been around, but in that time they already released a first album entitled Light Of Life, the 6-track mini-album ...Till The End Of Days, and the band's newest full-length Fantasy Or Reality?...which together already gained 'em quite considerable attention from several German local newspapers, magazines, and webzines. In the middle of it all we find lead guitarist Lorenz Kunkel's typical Heavy Rock style guitar play, and his wife Ulrike Peetz-Kunkel's specific voice. Combined, they dwindle between being reminiscent of Nightwish on the one side (when Ulrike goes into a near-soprano mode) and Robin Beck on the other side (when she leaves her pseudo-Operatic aspirations aside). Reminiscent, I said, because she never quite gets there...and her singing doés have a slight accent as well (least noticeable when she goes Opera-tic)! The rest of the band is really only there in a supporting role, with keyboards in an atmospheric, but never adventurous modus. In essence, it's the concentrating of the band on the singer and lead guitarist which will prevent 'em from ever breaking through in any big way outside their own neck of the woods. They may get quite a reputation for themselves on a regional or even national level, but without a change on the part of the singer (maybe she could follow a crash course in the English language, then keep taking lessons to keep in form) I doubt they will ever get beyond those boundaries. Those not minding a little accent, check the song samples of all albums at the “Discography” section of the band's own website (www.) virgin-island.de (also check the live videos in the “Video” section. Ow...I'd almost forget to mention the other people in the band...these being rhythm guitarist Johnson Zitselsberger, new keyboardist Viktor Schlegel (replaces Thomas Urlbauer whom played on the album), and drummer Markus Urlbauer. Hah...not my cup of tea, this...but feel free to disagree with me! 78/100 ----------------------------------------------------- Tony. |
