Cav's Place

At least I’m not leaving this for the last day of the year, like I did last year. Was saying then that I’ll try to either write three regular posts or two bigger ones in this series in 2016, so there will be 15 bands in total, but that’s definitely not happening. However, after stumbling into a new one after making the initial selection for this post last night and then also remembering another one I was quite stuck on earlier this year yet didn’t include in the previous post, I’m trying to squeeze seven instead of five in this one, so there will at least be 12 bands included in such posts this year.

The new band I stumbled into last night is Crystal Gates, so I’m starting with it. Little choice in what to share, but The Soul of Rain and Wild Sons of the Earth are on the official YouTube channel and I definitely have no problem using them as the two picks. Didn’t look for anything else and really don’t know anything more about them, so little to say other than that, except that they seem to be the first band from Uruguay that I happened to stumble into and find interesting.

The band I initially meant to start this post with was DragonHarp, which was the last one added to the list before Crystal Gates. Despite their advertised use of the harp, I’d say it sounds pretty much like what you’d expect, or at least like what I’d expect, from Italian power metal, the fact that it’s female-fronted and also the obvious accent reminding me more specifically of Ancient Bards, so something I passed on at other times, but I added this one to the list and now I’m adding it here as well. You can just listen to their EP if you want, but to stick to the usual rule of two picks, let’s say the title song, Let the Dragon Fly, and Ironfield.

And then there’s Stonelight, which is the Romanian band I meant to start with when I first seriously intended to write this ninth post from this series, over a month ago. From what I know, it’s formed of the main members of Fortress of Faith, who took a break of a few years and then returned alongside a few others as Stonelight back in 2013, before launching their first album last month. And around that time I found myself quite stuck on Insanity, which they also made a video for, so that’s clearly the first pick. The second’s harder, but how about the one that at this particular moment is not also on their official YouTube channel, namely The Fallen?

Speaking of recent releases, Daedric Tales should have released Cult of Ashes on December 12, but that doesn’t seem to have happened. Either way, it’s rather unexpected to see a band named after and completely inspired by The Elder Scrolls existing for quite a number of years already and seeming to become more solid as time passes, seeing as they plan to release a full album in February. That series definitely provides a whole lot of material to use though, and they sound interesting enough, so you could listen to the title song of this EP which should have been released this week. And to also add something older, guess I’ll go with The Dragonborn as second pick.

The band I was saying I was rather stuck on at some point earlier this year is Circle Unbroken. More specifically, I was really stuck on their first song, Portrait, so if you can listen to a single song from this post, I’d recommend this one. That may have changed if I could have found the studio version of City Lost, but since I couldn’t I’ll leave that recommendation as it is and add this one as well by doing something I usually avoid, and that’s link to a live recording of it as my second pick. Good sound, good voice, definitely a band to keep eyes, and ears, on.

Next is an older band that’s of a somewhat different genre and not female-fronted either, but I saw the name on the poster for a festival from here a while back, found myself looking them up and finding some interesting songs, so on the list they went and now here they are. I’m talking of The Foreshadowing and I must say I didn’t listen to that many of their songs yet, but out of what I did listen to, let’s go with the older Death Is Our Freedom and the new Two Horizons.

The last band I’ll add here is Wishmasters, which I noticed was still on my list though I should have removed it when it rather accidentally “graduated” off it quite some time ago, so said might as well even though they released no new material that I’m aware of for the past couple of years. As the name suggests, they started as a tribute band, but then decided to grow past that level and they have what it takes for it, though the spoken parts they included in some songs are dreadful. Other than that, quite like most songs, but I’m limited in what I can find to share, so let’s go with Sanctuary and Back to London.

Once again, this took a while, even if I had it mostly planned since last night. But I could post it with hours to spare and it did include seven instead of the usual five bands, so it’s definitely good enough. Obviously, there will be no other such post before the end of the year, but I’ll once again say I’m hoping to add either three regular ones or two long ones, for a total of 15 bands, in 2017. My lists will obviously grow with far more than that anyway, and in plenty of cases it’s quite a pity to discover good bands, maybe even get stuck on some for a few days or even a week, then move on to something else and pretty much forget all about them without even pointing them out to others in this small way.