Cav's Place

An actual new find made me want to add another post in this series, especially since it’s another Ukrainian band that seems to have existed for quite a number of years but which was only getting ready to actually release something when the war changed everything, yet now they’re somehow getting back to it. And, after checking the first part of the list once again some time ago, I had marked another band that I wanted to include in the next such post, since I saw that they released a good song this year. But the third proved to be a problem, especially since I wanted to make it easy for myself and only look for bands that had recent releases but not too many songs posted officially, and that led to skipping over some and in the end wasting a lot of time because I went through several dozen entries, from both versions of the list, and couldn’t really find anything suitable, before finally settling on something when I felt that I was running out of time… And since I made that selection, I will include that band, but just when I was starting to write this post, I randomly clicked on a recommendation and ended up with another actual new find that I wanted to include, which took me to four bands, and I don’t want to have four bands in a post. However, another recommendation came to the rescue, and it’s even connected to the second band, so it works out even better. And this means that, just under two and a half years since the last time this happened, I’m finally adding another “New Finds” post that includes five bands.

That first band is Mistyfica, and they only posted two songs so far, Dance of Time and Scarlet Reign, though their first album should be released next month. At the moment I have no idea what else will be included on that album, but if these songs are any indication, it should be really good, so this is by no means a case of being more lenient because they’re from Ukraine. In fact, if the other songs will be similar to these, they may even be the best band included in this post, at least from my point of view.

However, Anaria is an example of a band whose songs differ significantly, and while I find their ballads quite lovely, I’m not exactly fond of how their other songs sound. So the fact that their more recent release, Our Time Will Come, is a ballad is why I wanted to finally include them in such a post, but listening to most of their other songs also reminded me why I kept skipping over them before. Still, while my first instinct would have been to pick another ballad as the second song as well, since these picks are just meant to point out what I like, after all, without necessarily being representative of the majority of the band’s songs, I did find another song that I also liked, Invocation, so I’ll go with it.

Avaland is the sort of act that may be better described as a project than an actual band, listing themselves as “metal opera”, with the songs having a common theme and featuring quite a number of artists that aren’t actual members of the band. And it’s not just the style, but also the quality of the vocals that varies significantly as a result, including a fair number of moments that made me wince, which is why I said that I settled on them. Plus that they mostly have male vocals and the style is more power or even heavy metal than symphonic, so it’s something that I can and sometimes do listen to, but not exactly what I prefer or typically include in these posts. Still, to pick a song from each of their albums, I’ll go with To Be the King and Holy Kingdom of Fools.

The second actual new find is Aeronwen, and it’s a really good thing that Ghostlight and Flame is the song that was recommended, because it’s just a lovely piece that made me feel that I just had to include them right away, even if this changed my plans for this post and made it take even longer. Things would have been very different if I’d have stumbled into one of their songs that have growls, and in fact it’s not impossible that I have done so before and dismissed them as a result, even if their first releases came only last year. Still, another song that has no growls is Conjure, though there are moments when the drums show that they’d otherwise lean towards a more brutal sound. So they’re another example of a band with songs that differ quite significantly, and that even applies to the songs that have growls, since I heard one that had softer and more acceptable ones and another that just hit me with the brutal sort that made me immediately stop listening. So, unless you like that sort of thing, take that as a warning.

And then there’s Knightfall, which is the last actual new find and quite clearly a project rather than an actual band, its founder seeming to want to work with various guest artists. But that founder used to be a member of what later became Anaria, apparently leaving when that early version of the band, at the time called Evince Ethos, disbanded, and yet he seems to be on good terms with Anaria’s current members, since some appear on Starfall and the site lists them as also featuring on other songs, which will probably be released in the near future. But my second pick, Waiting for You, features different artists, so it’ll probably be another case where both the style and the quality will vary.