Cav's Place

At the end of the previous post from this series, written on the last day of 2015, I was saying I’ll set a clear goal for two more in 2016, and a tentative one for either three regular ones or two bigger ones, to include a total of at least 15 bands. However, it’s the second half of September and this is only the first, so we’ll see about even managing a second before the end of the year. And I’m hoping to finish this tonight, so no way I’ll include more than the regular five bands, even if it was quite easy to select that many as I glanced through the list.

Decided to go alphabetically this time around, so I’ll start with Aeternitas, definitely brought back to my attention these days thanks to Madeline, which I got rather stuck on. I had initially added them to the list probably over two years ago, judging by the upload date of Ethelred, since that’s the first song of theirs that I heard and apparently the first one that could have caught my attention, since their first three albums, released between 2000 and 2009, were in German, this song marking their switch to English. And now their first English album is about to be released next month, and if Madeline is anything to judge by, I have reasons to hope it’ll be a good one.

Next comes a Romanian band, Between Colors. Now I’ll readily admit they’re not something I’d actually listen to, the sound being rather too harsh for my liking, and I’d have probably dismissed them if they wouldn’t have been from here, but as it is and considering the low number of active Romanian bands that caught my attention in any way and that they’ll release their first album in November, let’s say I’m adding them here as encouragement. Sadly, though they actually list themselves as melodic metal, they don’t fit my definition of the term, seeing as for me that requires a lack of growls and they’re actually struggling to include some, which you can notice for just a couple of moments even on the older and softer Ghost Dance, which was probably the song that initially made me think I could hope for something more to my liking from them. However, Dark Side sure seems to indicate that they’re heading in the opposite direction.

Moving on, Imperial Age is a band I randomly stumbled into when YouTube happened to recommend the live version of Turn the Sun Off! to me and I clicked that link. Now I normally avoid linking to live performances, but I was completely stuck on this, the sound is definitely not a problem and this is in fact the proper version of the song, which was also included on their second album, which I’d actually consider their first proper one. Did try to listen to the original version of the song and to the first album as a whole, but I’d advise others to stay away from that, since I gather it was a one-person affair that’s quite worthless in my opinion. However, following the model of Therion, which they actually receive a lot of direct support from, other musicians were later gathered to fill the available positions and, while they may and do get changed, the end result at that point sure was awesome. That said, the second song I’ll link to will be another live version from that same concert: Aryavarta.

An actual recent find is Reagal, who are about to successfully crowdfund their first album after finding their way through some very difficult times. Admittedly, that success is largely due to the low target, of only £1100, and a few generous donors, but if they’ll manage with what at the moment, three days before the deadline, is 125% of that amount, good for them. Meanwhile, they seem to have plenty of gigs and also sing a fair number of covers, but The Flames and Wild Heart are their songs that are properly recorded and available at the moment and they definitely show a lot of promise.

And now allow me to finish this post with Trees of Eternity. Apparently first stumbled into them three years and a few days ago, seeing as that’s when I shared A Million Tears, and last month they announced that their album will finally be released in November, more than half a year after Aleah’s death. It’s a tragic story I don’t know enough about to say more, and it wouldn’t be my place to do so even if I did. As such, I will limit myself to simply sharing the other two songs officially available, Sinking Ships and Broken Mirror, and leaving it at that. Enjoy the music and, if you will, spare a good thought for her and those she left behind.

Guess that’s it, and I have to say at one point I was beginning to wonder whether I’ll manage to post this tonight after all, since it took quite a while. But here it is, and now let’s see how I’ll manage to post at least one more of these before the end of this year. There’s absolutely no chance I’ll post one including ten bands, so that idea of 15 bands included in such posts this year even if there will only be two of them is definitely abandoned, but I guess it’s not entirely impossible that I’ll have two more such posts by the end of the year. It is highly unlikely, however.