Her Chariot Awaits is a newly formed hard rock/metal group featuring the highly regarded Spanish vocalist Ailyn (ex-Sirenia) and the awesome American guitarist and producer Mike Orlando (Adrenaline Mob).
The band’s self-titled debut will be released on April 10, 2020, via Frontiers Music Srl. Today, the band has released their first single and music video, ‘Dead & Gone’.
Of first single ‘Dead & Gone’, Ailyn says “Dead & Gone tells us the story in the first person of how it feels to have been neglected and abandoned by somebody, in this case, a biological father. It’s about the words the character, a woman wants to express to make him realize how he made her feel, and in a way put an end to that story in her life and be able to move on.”
On the writing of the song, Mike says, “The song came together musically starting with the verse guitar parts and the heavy bridge/solo section. From that point, everything fell into place as I wanted the chorus to drop more into a slower half time groove. Lyrically, it started as somewhat of a letter from my girlfriend Dana regarding her biological father. I then turned the basis of what she was trying to say into a more streamlined story and added a chorus and some key sections. A true story brought to life in a song and a powerful message that Ailyn delivered wonderfully.”
Continues Orlando, “We had a great time shooting the video over the course of a few days. It takes place in multiple locations, which included an old Victorian style home and a beautiful modern farmhouse style home owned by my dear friend Nancy. Ailyn plays the part of a daughter who feels neglected and abandoned by her father. The video ends up outside with the band performing around a raging fire pit in an attempt to rid herself of all the memories and pain and move on. The final moment being encompassed by her tossing dirt on the flame, putting an end to the story and walking away.”
This exciting new musical alliance came about through the vision of Frontiers, who put the two artists – each eager to create a new and exciting project – in touch. The pair gelled extremely well, creating an album that offers songs that will excite all lovers of technical, aggressive, modern and extremely catchy heavy music. Melting the well-defined metal approach of Adrenaline Mob with more melodic hooks, Her Chariot Awaits showcases the incredible vocal talents of Ailyn. Here, she moves in a heavier and more straight-ahead direction compared to her previous band.
“After a two-year break from the scene, I am pleased to announce my new collaboration with Mike Orlando on Her Chariot Awaits. I’m very honored and thankful to be part of it. I’m looking forward to everyone learning about this new adventure, which allowed me to experiment and explore a new side to my singing, working together with a great musician. Her Chariot Awaits is a new step forward in my music career and I can’t wait to share the beginning of this journey with all of you,” enthuses Ailyn.
Orlando adds that “It was a pleasure to write and perform an album with a singer like Ailyn with music that is geared more towards the commercial side of rock. Ailyn has a beautiful voice and was great to work within and out of the studio, as was Jeff Thal on drums! I’m very happy with how the album is coming out. It’s a great collection of hard-hitting yet melodic commercial rock tracks, which I hope you will all enjoy.”
The album is a remarkable union of two great artists who still have a lot to prove, and is going to leave listeners breathless come April 10th!
Tracklisting:
1. Misery
2. Dead & Gone
3. Screaming Misfire
4. Stolen Heart
5. Constant Craving
6. Say No
7. Line Of Fire
8. Turning The Page
9. Take Me Higher
10. Just Remember
11. Forgive Me Dear
Line-up:
Mike Orlando – guitars, bass, additional vocals
Ailyn – lead vocals
Jeff Thal – drums
Brian Gearty – bass
Melodic Revolution Records Feature Album January/February 2017 Alex Grata & Anton Darusso|Brothers In Arms
Label: Melodic Revolution Records Release Year: 2017 Country: Multinational Genre: Hard Rock/Progressive/Rock/Melodic Rock
Band Members
Alex Grata: Vocals and Assorted Instruments Anton Darusso: Vocals and Assorted Instruments Jason Jenkins: Guitar Solo on 2 Dmitry 4Vergov: Guitar Solo on 4, 10, 11 Dmitry Turin: Guitar Solo on 1, 4, 6, 11 Toledo: Rapper 6, 8 Olga Larina: Backing Vocals 6 Marco Vinicio Castro Pinagel: Arrangement, Programing Guitars 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11 Roman Zaslavsky: Arrangement, Programing 8, 12 Girls-Band: Assorted Vocals 10 Sixth Sense 2
Tracklist
1) Nothing to Hide – 3:58 2) Blind – 2:13 3) It’s Time for Love – 4:56 4) Drops of Compassion – 3:21 5) Frozen Tears – 4:52 6) So Many Ways to Go – 4:05 7) When the Music’s Over – 4:02 8) Super Hero – 3:18 9) Keep the Fire Burning – 3:40 10) Angel Like You – 3:23
Melodic Revolution Records has a never ending mission to be totally distinctive and to stand out among their peers and contemporaries in the music industry. They are willing to sign and bands and give them a chance where some other labels would pass on. It seems that every time I do a Melodic Revolution Records feature on Power of Prog here that I come across a band that continues to hold true with Brothers In Arms. This is a rather new musical venture founded by Alex Grata out of Russia and Anton Darusso out of San Jose, Costa Rica.
This truly is a international flavour within the structure of a two man outfit plus friends. Alex Grata and Anton Darusso take their respective local and international musical influences and create some of the most original melodic hard rock, melodic heavy metal that I have heard in some time. Brothers In Arms is like a mixture of Whitesnake meets Angra with a little bit of The Police and Eddie Grant.
The only thing I can see as formulaic on Brothers In Arms is opening up with a few rocker tracks in Nothing To Hide and Blind to the ballad of the third song It’s Time For Love. Out side of being formulaic in that manner, Alex & Anton go into areas of writing, mixing, recording and mastering the album as a collective that changes the traditional hard rock discourse. They allowed themselves such depth and expanse where they could not exactly be pigeonholed into one sound to the next.
On top of straight ahead traditional melodic progressive metal, hard rock, there are so very obvious progressive elements in Brothers In Arms. When I say progressive I mean more towards progressive elements utilized by bands like Deep Purple’s Mark 2 & 3,Rush’s Fly By Night through Moving Pictures era and some Glenn Hughes through the years. Now I will go into some highlights of Alex Grata & Anton Durasso’s Brothers In Arms.
Nothing to Hide starts out with a two tone harmonic with a piano followed by a thunderous intro. Both the rhythm section and a wall of vocals immediately demand the listeners attention. There is a lot of chord bending here also. The vocals are very Glenn Hughes in nature with a bit more bass in the voice. The harmonies come off very clean as well. There is also a nice spoken word narrative going on.
( Anton Durasso – Time For Love )
Blind opens up as a straight away 1970’s atmosphere with the driving riffs and vocals. It is catchy enough for radio, yet has a sensibility that also appeals to the listener that has a more non radio indie audio pallet. Blind also has infectious solo’s.
It’s Time for Love is one of the ballads from Brothers in Arms. It opens up with a passage that has a lush piano/synth backbone. This is one of those traditional ballads that you can share with your significant other or as reflection of a past relationship. Like most ballads this is a huge vocal harmony based track. Towards the last half it takes a nice break where the vocals are more isolated where the listener can digest the song.
Drops of Compassion starts off almost in the vibe of a AOR style track. AOR meaning something from Toto or even Jim Peterik. It soons takes a more of a driving hard rock approach thereafter. Once again Alex Grata and Anton Durasso establish Brothers In Arms as a very vocal oriented project. There are even elements of Reggae within the vocals on this one. The heavy guitar solos and deep rhythmic sections continue on this one.
Frozen Tears is another ballad on the album that opens up with a beautiful piano passage. This is also perfectly complimented by by a isolated harmony in the vocals. Soon the track picks up and turns into a more rock/ballad with heavier guitars and deep bass on rhythm sections. There are parts in the vocal structure that hint at light power elements like Angra from Brazil. The guitar solo is absolutely beautiful. If the band are to ever play live I see Frozen Tears as a setlist fixture.
So Many Ways to Go opens up with a very deep Reggae style track much in the vein of a Bob Marley And The Whalers meets Eddie Grant with a hint of Toto, Africa era. This is another track that has potential in finding a un compromised niche audience. Some of the guitar solo’s remind me of Neil Schon of Journey.
When the Music’s Over starts off with a slight Beatles 1960’s style isolated vocals. This track hits the listener on many levels. It is also the more progressive rock oriented track with multiple changes within the track. It is those multiple changes that keep the listener continually involved. The passages kind of even go as far as to change in full genres between the verse chorus passage.
Super Hero begins with a very nasty melodic metal guitar style. It will take the traditional hard rock audience a little bit of time to absorb the funk element in the track. This is as if Earth Wind and Fire were to include a melodic metal element in their compositions
Keep the Fire Burning is the third and final ballad on the album. It is very traditional hard rock on the instrumental portion. However, it is also very modern with the vocal harmonies. With the vocal harmony it is very very experimental. The vocal ranges are much like the higher register of a David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes from Deep Purple’s Mark 3 era.
Angel Like You is not really a ballad. It is once again the guys really experimenting and taking hard melodic rock to different levels. The addition of the female vocal reminds me heavily of Robin Beck or even a Sass Jordan. The male vocal is being pumped with a slightly filtered register. This is a full confirmation of the guys goal of giving the world a very vocal oriented hard rock, melodic metal album.
Although I really do not see a heavy progressive side to Brothers In Arms it still represents all other claims of hard rock, melodic metal. Brothers In Arms is another step into the evolution and possibility of where hard rock or melodic metal can go. This album was not just thrown together either. It was very well thought out and written over time. Alex Grata & Anton Durasso also have something to influence and perhaps recruit future generations of musicians with experimentation . This album gets a 4/5 for its experimental nature.
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