Secret Rule: Criatividade e Toques de Originalidade

O Secret Rule é uma banda italiana de Melodic Metal.  A banda é liderada pela excelente cantora Angela Di Vincenzo, que além de possuir um timbre bonito e agradável, mostra técnica e versatilidade, e o atual line-up do grupo inclui músicos notáveis ​​como o tecladista Henrik Klingenberg (Sonata Arctica) e o baterista Sander Zoer (ex Delain). Em outubro de 2015 a banda entrou em estúdio para a gravação de seu segundo álbum, com participação de convidados especiais, como Stefan Helleblad (Within Temptation), Timo Somers (Delain), Fabio D 'Amore (Serenity) e Janneke De Rooy (Paper Doll Decay).  (English Version)

“Machination”  foi lançado sexta, 24 de Junho de 2016, pelo selo Scarlet Records,  e tem uma sonoridade bem moderna, mas muitos elementos tradicionais e progressivos podem ser encontrados, a primeira música “Ex – Maquina” merece atenção para os teclados em sua ótima introdução, e note que os efeitos mais eletrônicos passam um clima mais "frio" e mecânico, acompanhando o tema da letra.  O álbum segue com “The Saviour”, um pouco mais agitada, com uma pegada mais "rocker" que a canção anterior,  foi a música escolhida para divulgação do álbum.  “I have the Sun” é uma canção agradável, numa linha mais alternativa, alguns elementos progressivos e até algo de Gothic Metal, com Angela usando tons mais altos (às vezes lembra sua conterrânea Cristina Scabbia). Destaque para o solo de guitarra, sabendo como soar técnico e legal ao mesmo tempo.

Apesar de atualmente as bandas com vocais femininos estarem em evidência, a banda mostra bastante originalidade, como na canção “Dolls”, com a participação de Janneke De Rooy nos vocais  e Fabio D'Amore no baixo.  A música “I Will” tem uma ótima energia, com certeza uma das melhores do álbum. “The Image” mais lenta do que as canções anteriores também merece destaque especial, especialmente pelo trabalho de vozes. “You’re the Player”, também com uma pegada mais direta, mostra personalidade logo nos primeiros riffs, a música conta com a participação de Timo Somers guitarrista do Delain.

Durante o álbum inteiro a bateria de Sander Zoer soa de forma empolgante, variando bastante, aliás, um acréscimo com relação ao álbum anterior. As guitarras de Stefan Helleblad roubam a cena em “Your Trap”, os efeitos eletrônicos no meio da música  deixam um clima meio industrial. “Foolish Daisy” tem mais uma vez a participação de Janneke nos growling vocals, destaque aqui também para as linhas de teclado, que aliás, alternam muito bem o moderno com o tradicional durante o álbum.

A música “Short Stories” é bem pesada, Angela canta com vigor, casando perfeitamente com a velocidade da guitarra e da bateria. “A Mother” é uma boa música, mais emocional, com menos peso e mais tranquila no início e com uma explosão no refrão, escolha perfeita para o encerramento do álbum.

Foi a primeira vez que ouvi a banda e com certeza ouvirei mais vezes. O álbum é interessante do início ao fim, criativo e com toques de originalidade. Ouvi todas as canções sem pular nenhuma. Uma ótima indicação para que busca sempre conhecer novas bandas.

Texto: Raquel de Avelar
Edição e Revisão: Carlos Garcia

Ficha Técnica:
Banda: Secret Rule
Álbum: "Machination" (2016)
País: Itália
Estilo: Female Fronted Metal, Progressive/Melodic Metal
Produção: Tue Madsen
Selo: Scarlet Records

Official Facebook 

Watch "The Saviour" video


Line-Up

Angela Di Vincenzo – Vocals

Andy Menario – Guitar

Henrik Klingenberg – Keyboards

Sander Zoer – Drums

Michele Raspanti – Bass

Special Guests

Stefan Helleblad (Within Temptation)

Timo Somers (Delain)

Fabio D’Amore (Serenity)

Janneke De Rooy (Paper Doll Decay)

 

Interview: Blackbriar: "Powerful and Mystical Melodic Metal"

Portuguese Version

There is no surprise how much the Netherlands revealed names of quality and importance to the Metal scene, especially from the late 90s, also revealing a list of female singers who are also among the most important names in the scene, like Anneke Van Giersbergen, Floor Jansen, Simone Simons, Charlotte Wessels and Sharon Den Adel, to name a few, and a newer generation of bands and singers also follows the natural way of things and begin to build their own history.


From Assen, the Blackbriar, band of the singer Zora Cock, is another promising emerging band that are already fighting for their space. Formed in 2012, the band has been working hard, releasing singles and is preparing ground for their first full-length, and Zora tells us a bit more about the band, wich sound she describes as "melodic metal, mystic and powerful." Check out the interview right now :

RtM: To begin with, I would like you to tell us a little about how the band started the activities?

Zora Cock: I met René (Drums) at the music college we both attended and we started a project together. The music we made was fairly dark pop-music, influenced by Kate Bush. A couple of years later, we were at a show where Slash headlined and Halestorm was the support act. Halestorm completely blew our minds and triggered us into making harder music.

Together, we wrote and recorded two songs (I Like The Taste & Creatures of the Night). These first two songs sounded so good to us that we decided to go and look for other band members. Bart was the first we crossed paths with. We had never met him, but knew him from other bands he played in. After the first meeting Bart introduced a friend of his (Rene S.) to the band, to play the bass.

The four of us started rehearsing together, but soon we thought that we needed a second guitar player to make out songs more complete. Although Rene S. played the bass, he really is a guitar player. Rene S. introduced Frank to the band to play the bass, and that’s how our line-up was formed, in February 2012.

RtM: And how would you describe the sound of Blackbriar for people who do not know the band?

ZC: Blackbriar's music is best described as 'Melodic Metal' it’s powerful, mystical  and mostly unique.

RtM: And what are the major musical influences of the band? I see that you bring a lot of inspiration from the pioneers of Gothic Metal bands but also bring something fresh, a modern sound, emotional and intense.

ZC: Kate Bush has been a great source of inspiration to me. Her singing style, lyrics and melody have had a great influence on my writing.

Modern metal bands such as Periphery, In This Moment and Textures have been a great source of inspiration to Blackbriar’s band members. These bands have an incredible sound and their songs are amazing

RtM: You recently released a video for the song “Until Eternity”. Talk to us a little more about this song and thevideo's production?

ZC: First of all, the recording of the audio for this song was a bitch. We rented a studio for a weekend and had a hard time getting it all together. This studio was not operational at all, and we basically had to rebuild it from the ground up. Fortunately, we managed without losing too much sleep.

The script for the video and arranging everything has been hard work, but well worth the effort.

Until Eternity is about a  never ending love between two people, that find each other in every life they live. The song is inspired by Lauren Kate’s book.

Doing this particular video has been a good learning experience which will be useful to us in the future.

RtM: And how you have felt the receptivity of the public to this music and video? 

ZC: From the moment we uploaded the video on YouTube and social media it all went fast. Many people shared the video and by now it has been watched quite a lot. Reactions to the video have been very positive.

RtM: The band is now preparing a full-length? How are the recordings, the album will be produced by the band? And do you already have a release date?

ZC: We are preparing an EP for now. We do have plenty of material to fill a full length album, but we're not satisfied with it as it is yet.  No release date has been set, but we are aiming for early February!

RtM: Do youu want to release the album independently or already have proposal from some label?

ZC: Independently is most likely.

RtM: What about you Zora? Tell us how you began your career in music, your influences and inspirations?

ZC: After secondary school I went to music college for 4 years. I experimented with lots of different styles of music because I didn’t really know what I wanted. At school, I met Rene and we made two albums together. It wasn’t Metal, but they were dark pop songs. Soon after, we started Blackbriar and I finally found what I was looking for.

A couple of my influences are Kate bush, Lana Del Rey, In This Moment, Halestorm, Flyleaf..and I mostly get my inspiration from books, music, or my own experiences.

Zora, thanks for your attention, we hope to talk again soon your EP to be released! I let the final space to you to send a message to the readers!

ZC: Thank you all for your support! Carlos, thank you for doing this interview. Our first EP is in the making so keep an eye on us!

www.facebook.com/blackbriarmusic
https://blackbriarmusic.bandcamp.com/

Zora Cock – Lead Vocals

Bart Winters – Lead Guitar

René Sempel – Rhythm Guitar

Frank Akkerman – Bass

René Boxem – Drums

Watch here "Until Eternity" Video