Category Archives: Metal Chick of the Month

Metal Chick of the Month – Daísa Munhoz

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How dare you look at me in the eye?

Time to fly back to South America, more specifically to the municipality of Bariri, São Paulo, Brazil, located about 300km from the city of São Paulo (and about 700km from the city of Rio de Janeiro), to talk about another Brazilian Heavy Metal diva, Daísa Munhoz, the beautiful and talented frontwoman of Brazilian Progressive Metal band Vandroya. If you’re simply fanatic for traditional Heavy Metal, I would say she might be the girl of your dreams.

Owner of a very powerful and melodic voice, Daísa started singing when she was only 9 years old, and at the age of fourteen she was already part of a “travelling band”. Our diva said that although she never actually took any singing lessons, she grew up surrounded by every kind of musicians, rehearsals and jam sessions every single day, as her parents are musicians too. That helped her a lot in terms of getting used to how the world of music works, and she learned a lot from every musician that was close to her, especially her mother. She also plays the piano, but “in a mediocre way” in her own words, mainly because she ends up using it more like a guide during her writing and composing process, or sometimes just as a distraction or to relax a little.  Daísa said she never really had any interest in specializing herself in the piano, nor the patience or discipline to do so.

It was when our Heavy Metal bombshell was around 18 or 19 years old that she founded Vandroya, having recorded so far with the band a 2-track demo entitled Within Shadows, in 2005, and more recently their first full-length album, One, in 2012 via Spiritual Beast Records and in 2013 via Inner Wound Recordings. And stay tuned, because the compositions for the next Vandroya album are 100% finished and the recording process will start really soon. By the way, Daísa explained the word “Vandroya” means nothing specifically: it was just a suggestion from a friend back in their early years, based on a character in Avantasia who is called Vandroy. The band just loved the way it sounded.

In addition, you can also see our diva in action in many other different bands and projects. She has been performing for years, including her one time all female band called Inlakesh, as well as a Led Zeppelin tribute band named Black Dog. Not only that, she recorded the vocals on track Song of Deliverance, from the 2013 album Exodus by Slovakian Progressive Power Metal band Signum Regis, as well as the vocals as “Judith” or “Judith, The Princess” in three different albums by Brazilian Melodic Power Metal band Soulspell (a Metal Opera project created by Brazilian drummer Heleno Vale): A Legacy of Honor (2008), The Labyrinth of Truths (2010) and Hollow’s Gathering (2012), winning the Best Female Vocalist award from Whiplash.net in 2010 for her work with Soulspell.

There are so many awesome songs with Daísa on vocals on YouTube you can spend hours and hours just listening and watching to our diva kicking ass, so in order for you to get a delicious taste of her unique voice and the mighty metal music played by Vandroya, my recommendations are the beautiful ballad Why Should We Say Goodbye, the Helloween-ish Power Metal tune The Last Free Land (which I’m pretty sure will inspire you so much you’ll buy Vandroya’s debut album after the first listen), the smooth acoustic version of No Oblivion For Eternity, a live performance of one of their first songs, Within Shadows, as well as their recent cover version for the song Heaven, by Canadian icon Bryan Adams.

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In regards to her main music influences, it’s important to say that Robert Plant is her biggest idol of all time, with the way he sings and moves having a huge impact on her onstage performance, which by the way is beyond superb. However, there are so many awesome artists and bands that it’s hard to name just a few. Sacred names such as Dio, Freddy Mercury, David Coverdale, Glenn Hughes, Russel Allen, Robert Plant, Tina Turner, Janis Joplin, Doro and Ann Wilson are among her biggest idols, being also highly influenced by Iron Maiden, of course, and many German metal bands, especially Helloween, with the unique voice of Michael Kiske leading her into the world of heavy music. Vandroya playing one of my top Helloween songs of all time, the classic March Of Time, is truly outstanding and an amazing tribute from Daísa and her band to the best Teutonic metal band of all time.

In one of her interviews, Daísa stated she has so many idols it’s very hard to choose just a few for a “dream tour”, but that she would truly love to be part of a festival only formed by female-fronted metal bands. It’s about time someone from the Metal Female Voices Fest invites her and the other members of Vandroya to be part of any future editions of the festival, don’t you think?

Lastly, although Daísa grew up listening to a lot of classic rock and hard rock bands, always being completely fanatic for Led Zeppelin, when asked about the top 5 Heavy Metal albums that changed her life, she listed the following ones: Pink Bubbles Go Ape (Helloween), Cowboys from Hell (Pantera), …And Justice for All (Metallica), The Number of the Beast (Iron Maiden) and Black Sabbath (Black Sabbath), I guess not necessarily in this order. Take a good look at this list and answer me if this is not enough awesomeness to consider Daísa a true badass metalhead!

Daísa Munhoz’s Official Facebook page
Vandroya’s Official Facebook page

“…I actually started to search for more female singers and I discovered a lot of amazing and brave warriors that faced this male-dominated market and won it. You know what? I just realized I know so many female singers I could write a book about their careers!” – Daísa Munhoz

Metal Chick of the Month – Ailyn Giménez

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Come sleep with me, I’ll set you free…

The name Pilar Giménez García might not make a lot of sense to you, especially if you’re not a fan of Symphonic/Gothic Metal. It might even sound like a name extracted from a Mexican “telenovela” for some people. However, when I say the stage name of our metal chick this month, you’ll probably connect to her and, of course, to her beautiful voice: please welcome the stunning Spanish singer Ailyn Giménez, or simply Ailyn.

Ailyn was born on May 29, 1982 in Esplugues de Llobregat, in Barcelona, Spain, a place so close to the Camp Nou stadium that many famous players such as Piqué and Iniesta reside there. She is the current female vocalist of Norwegian Symphonic Gothic Metal band Sirenia, and her story prior to becoming a professional lead singer for a Heavy Metal band is quite unique in comparison to many other female singers from both metal or non-metal bands.

However, before we talk about her path to stardom, let’s first focus on her beginnings, in other words when Ailyn was “just” Pilar and started her career in the world of music. Our Catalan diva started singing in school when she was around 11 or 12 years old, when her music teacher inspired her to sing by playing her the song Hero by Mariah Carey. Ailyn immediately fell in love with the song and Mariah’s voice, and from that day on she started trying to sing like her, something easy to notice in the pop/romantic songs Tu Voz Se Apagará and Una Flor En La Tempestad. As hard as it’s to believe, this blonde girl shaking her booty is our Ailyn!

Then at the age of 15 she started her musical career, studying solfege and classical singing at The Albéniz School of Music, with her professional debut taking place in 2002 in Cornellà de Llobregat, also in Barcelona, Spain, in an annual benefit fashion show the city held to raise money for Alzheimer’s sufferers. As weird as it might sound, her first music contract was as part of an Anime/J-Pop/J-Rock group named Charm, with whom she released an album entitled Konnichiwa, in 2003, before parting ways with the group and starting to invest in her solo career in 2004.

Things started to get really interesting for her in 2007, when she was chosen as one of the members of the “young team” in the Spanish version of X Factor, where in the four episodes she participated before being eliminated she sang Pop/Rock classics such as Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time and Evanescence’s Bring Me to Life, among others. Almost at the same time, her sister was looking for metal bands to add them as friends on the once useful MySpace, and that’s when she got to know Sirenia. They really enjoyed the dark and heavy music played by Norwegian multi-instrumentalist and composer Morten Veland and his crew, and as if by magic, a month later the band sent Ailyn an email asking her if she wanted to audition because they needed a new singer. Check her performances in songs such as The End of It All and Lithium (her cover version for one of Evanescence’s most famous songs), and you’ll understand why she was called to be the smooth female voice of Sirenia.

In the beginning of 2008, our Spanish beauty headed to the wonderful country of Norway for a couple of auditions with Sirenia, before being selected as their new female singer in April 2008. Since then, Ailyn has recorded four full-length albums with Sirenia: The 13th Floor (2009), The Enigma of Life (2011), Perils of the Deep Blue (2013), and earlier this year the excellent The Seventh Life Path, as well as the singles The Path to Decay (2008), The End of It All (2010) and Seven Widows Weep (2013), and of course started touring around the world with the band. Moreover, it was during one of her first tours with Sirenia that she had the most memorable show of her life, at the always awesome festival Masters Of Rock, in 2008. According to Ailyn herself it was not because of her performance (as she was very nervous): she mentioned this specific concert was special because it was her first big show with Sirenia, and because she was able to enjoy all the energy and grandiosity of the festival.

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Besides her career with Sirenia, Ailyn sang the song Needle Bites from the album Rejected Gods (2014), by Greek Symphonic Metal band Enemy of Reality, recorded additional vocals on the song Furia de Libertad from the album Argia (2014), by Spanish Symphonic Power/Gothic Metal band Diabulus in Musica, and female vocals on the songs The Chevalier and Prayer from the album Death & Legacy (2011), by Austrian Symphonic/Progressive Power Metal band Serenity. In addition, she performed live with German/Norwegian Symphonic Metal band Leaves’ Eyes at their 10th anniversary show in Wieze, Belgium in 2014., and she is also scheduled to take part on the Metal Opera album The Great Lie by Melted Space in October this year.

However, maybe none of her accomplishments as a metal singer would have been possible without the influence of Dutch Symphonic Metal band Within Temptation in her life. It’s not that she has ever been part of the band or anything like that, but it’s known that all her passion for heavy music started one day while she was watching TV and they played a video from Within Temptation, letting Ailyn eager for more of their music and of the music by any other band with a similar sonority. Of course, that led to Within Tempation’s lead singer Sharon Den Adel being one of her biggest idols in music, among other names such as Jared Leto (30 Seconds To Mars), Josh Groban and Sarah Brightman. Moreover, when asked about which artists she would like to sing with, our metal babe said she would love to perform a duet with  Roy Khan (ex-Kamelot), an amazing choice in my opinion.

Obviously, just as any other regular person in the world, Ailyn has her personal hobbies, including some very relaxing activities such as reading, drawing and sewing, especially sewing her stage clothes for her live performances with Sirenia, and of course she truly loves listening to music. Another interesting fact about Ailyn is that she has a condition called heterochromia iridis, meaning she has two different eye colours, one eye (right) is brown and the other eye (left) is green, which in my opinion only makes her even more attractive. And on a final note, one might ask how a Spanish woman named Pilar Giménez García ended up being called “Ailyn”, a Chinese name, and the answer to that is quite simple: not only she has always been attracted to the Asian culture, but mainly because Ailyn means “true love”. Do I need to say anything else?

Ailyn’s Official Facebook page
Sirenia’s Official Facebook Page

“Since I was a kid I dreamt about being in the music world, and as I grew up I dreamt about being part of a band, so I think my dreams have been accomplished. Of course I’ve got many dreams, but only time will tell if they become true or not.” – Ailyn Giménez

Metal Chick of the Month – Masha Scream

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Славься, Русь, Земля моя!

We all agree that pretty much any Russian girl could be one of Victoria’s Secret’s best top models. What some of us don’t know is that many of those сексуальная women are also very talented artists, such as our Heavy Metal babe this month, the awesome Masha Scream, the founder, vocalist and main songwriter of Russian Epic Pagan Metal band Arkona (or Аркона, in Russian).

Born on January 9, 1983 in the Russian capital Moscow, Masha Scream’s real name is Maria Arkhipova (or Мари́я Архипова, in Russian). Although her musical influences and background come mainly from Pagan Metal, Black Metal and Folk Metal, Masha has mentioned in many interviews that Arkona is not just a music band, especially in regards to her creative process. There’s a lot of experimentation and development in the music created by Masha, in order to present to people her view of the world and what is in her soul, which means that basically nothing limits her in this process. According to Masha herself, “I’m inspired by life and all depends on the situation around me. Every my song is an emotional flash or pain about something.”

To date, Masha has already recorded with Arkona seven full-length studio albums and one EP, which are Vozrozhdeniye (2004), Lepta (2004), Vo Slavu Velikim! (2005), Ot Serdtsa K Nebu (2007), Goi, Rode, Goi! (2009), Stenka Na Stenku EP (2011), Slovo (2011), and Yav (2014), as well as three live albums called Zhizn Vo Slavu (2006), Noch Velesova (2009) and Decade of Glory (2013). A very curious fact happened on March 11, 2010, when a short clip of the song Yarilo, from the album Goi, Rode, Goi!, was featured on the St. Patrick’s Day episode of the U.S. version of the TV series The Office. The scene shows three janitors, who are probably Russian, entering the office with the song playing while the workers were still there, forced to work late.

Apart from Arkona, Masha has also recorded one full-length album with Russian Black Metal band Nargathrond, named Inevitability (2004); and was also the lead singer for Russian Doom/Power Metal band Slavery, that time as Masha Arhipova, during the year of 2000.

Masha has also appeared as a guest musician in many different bands and projects, and that was not only in Russia. To name a few, her powerful voice can be enjoyed on Russian Folk Metal band Svarga‘s first two albums (Ogni na Kurganah, from 2005, and There, Where Woods Doze…, from 2007), on Slovakian Folk Black Metal band Ancestral Volkhves‘ second studio album Perun Do Vas!!!, from 2008, on Russian Folk/Pagan Metal band Alkonost’s album The Path We’ve Never Made, from 2006, and on Russian Folk/Black Metal band Rossomahaar’s album The Reign of Terror, from 2010, among others.

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All that creativity and passion for music is also represented in Masha’s life by the incredible amount of different music instruments she can play. She doesn’t only sing extremely well, but she also plays keyboards, percussion, tambourine, komuz, acoustic guitars, shaker, and since 2002 she’s been also playing the Shaman’s drum. Our Russian diva also mentioned in one of her interviews that despite not being into politics at all, she truly loves the long and very complicated history of her country, especially its nature. This can be seen in any of Arkona’s videos, such as Slavsia, Rus, Liki Bessmertnykh Bogov and Zov Pustyh Dereven, where she’s in total contact with the four classical elements of nature, and in her lyrics always full of passion for all Russian and nature things. In my opinion, these are the key points that make Masha and her music so unique and captivating in the world of Heavy Metal, and something very few people are able to imitate or replicate in such a sublime (and aggressive) way.

Thereat,  not even the fact that Arkona’s music is totally sung in Russian has stopped Masha and her bandmates from conquering the world: the band has already been to different parts of the world to show their mighty music, including countries such as Germany, Sweden, Belgium, USA, Canada, Brazil, England, Italy, Portugal and many others. Among all of their tours and concerts, Masha mentioned that one of Arkona’s craziest experiences happened in the beginning of 2013 when the band went on the amazing 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise to the Caribbean, as one of the 40 attractions playing during the four-day cruise. “There were 4,000 people on board, a buffet and so many interesting things! We had a cabin with access to the ocean, and I was even lucky enough to see flying fish through the window.”, she said.

Of course nothing is perfect: Masha is married to her fellow band member Sergei “Lazar” Atrashkevich, with whom she has two children, so you can already stop dreaming about winning her heart and be satisfied by just admiring her beauty and her stunning music.

Masha Scream’s Official Facebook page
Masha Scream’s Official Twitter
Masha Scream’s Official VKontakte
Arkona’s Official Facebook page

“You don’t need to regret about what you have done because it’s part of your life and also part of you. You just need to remember your mistakes and to not make them again in the future!” – Masha Scream

Metal Chick of the Month – Orianthi

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Shut Up & Kiss Me!

She is a singer, a songwriter, and an amazing guitar player. Not only that, she has already shared the stage with worldwide renowned music icons such as Steve Vai, Alice Cooper, Richie Sambora, Carrie Underwood and even with the King of Pop, the unparalleled star Michael Jackson (R.I.P.). But if you think I’m talking about some old or classic guitarist, you’re absolutely wrong: our “Metal Chick” this month is the Australian beauty Orianthi Panagaris, or simply Orianthi.

Born in Adelaide, Australia on January 22, 1985 and of Greek and Australian descent (which explains her name), Orianthi started really early in the world of music at the age of three, when she began playing the piano, then moving to her true passion, the guitar, when she was around six. Besides the piano and the guitar, she can also sing and play bass and drums, showcasing her unquestionable talent as a multi-instrumentalist and already explaining why she reached success so early in her life.

Orianthi attended the Cabra Dominican College in Adelaide, Australia, and when she was about six or seven years old she wrote her first song and played it in front of the whole school. Thanks to her father, she grew up listening to many Rock N’ Roll classics like Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Santana, most of them from North America, which then became her biggest motivation to move to the United States to build her career there. Besides all those artists, she also mentions Darren Hayes and Keith Urban as two of her biggest influences in music.

She started playing with different bands when she was around 14 or 15 years old, which was when she left school, and kept playing with cover bands until she was 21, when she finally moved to America to pursue her dream as a musician. Since then, as a solo artist, Orianthi has already released three full-length albums and one EP (although none of her albums are really Heavy Metal or Hard Rock): Violet Journey, Believe, Fire EP, and Heaven in This Hell; her debut single According to You went to No. 3 in Japan, No. 8 in Australia and No. 17 in the US; in 2009 she was named one of the 12 Greatest Female Electric Guitarists by Elle magazine; and in 2010 she won the award as “Breakthrough Guitarist of the Year” by Guitar International magazine. Do I need to say that her dreams came true?

Furthermore, as already mentioned, her involvement with some music giants has just elevated her status as a successful artist. For example, Orianthi appeared at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards, which took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in February 2009, as the lead guitarist for American country music singer Carrie Underwood, and more recently toured the world as the lead guitarist for American Hard Rock master Alice Cooper. I had the pleasure to see Orianthi live three times in 2012 with Alice Cooper, as the opening act for Iron Maiden during their Maiden England North American Tour here in Canada in the cities of Toronto, Ottawa and Sarnia, and it was amazing to witness how she managed to fit in his band so smoothly and professionally, especially considering the abysmal difference of their years on the road. You can check lots of cool videos from Orianthi performing with different bands and artists at her official YouTube channel, like this live version of her 2013 single Frozen.

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However, being the lead guitarist for Michael Jackson’s This Is It concert series, which later became a documentary, was probably the most outstanding moment of her music career. In one of her interviews, Orianthi tried to explain how she was chosen by the King of Pop, and the impact that had on her life. “I don’t know exactly why he picked me, but he watched my YouTube videos and loved them. He had his choice of guitar players, but I came in and played the ‘Beat It’ solo for him. Afterward he was so happy he got up and grabbed my arm and started walking up and down the stage area with me. He said, ‘Can you play once for me?’ and hired me that night. I wish he was still around. He made me believe in myself more, and I learned so much. Going into it, I thought it would be all about playing guitar solos. But the majority of it was playing chords and funky rhythms.”, she said. After Michael’s death, she played and sang at his memorial, globally televised live on July 7, 2009.

Finally, being an artist always provides the person some good stories to tell the others, and it hasn’t been different with Orianthi. For example, the blonde guitarist said that during one of her concerts she got up on one of the speakers, and didn’t realize that right behind her there was a confetti canon that could shoot probably 20 feet right across the audience, which would have sent her to the hospital that night with a pretty bad injury in the butt. Fortunately for Orianthi (and for all of us), one of the sound guys warned her and she jumped off just a few seconds before the canon went off. I’m pretty sure Orianthi herself would agree with me that, although she has a great onstage performance and Rock N’ Roll actually demands some crazy stunts to be perfect, being blasted in the ass might not be the best way to please her fans.

Equipment
PRS Custom 22 (Manos)
PRS Custom 24 (Pepper)
PRS SE Custom 24
PRS SE Singlecut
SE signature model (SE Orianthi)
EVH 5150III
ENGL
Mesa Boogie
Marshall Amplifiers

Orianthi’s Official Facebook page
Orianthi’s Official Twitter

“You know just go and find your own voice, whether its playing guitar, singing, song writing, working hard, I love what I do, I love playing guitar, I love performing, you have to love it, there’s just so many hours you have to put into it, you can’t be in this industry if you don’t love it.” – Orianthi

Metal Chick of the Month – Samantha Maloney

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Samantha kick-starting our hearts!

Everyone knows that most heavy music drummers simply hate studio sessions: they feel a billion times better when they’re able to pound their drums in front of a live audience. However, when the drummer is not just a regular guy but an unstoppable woman who has absolutely no mercy for her drum kit, things get even more exciting, which is exactly the case with our Metal Chick of the Month, the always fired up American Hard Rock drummer Samantha Maloney.

This blonde bombshell, who was born on December 11, 1975 in New York City, New York, but currently living in Valley Village, California, got her first drum set when she was only five years old, and I guess I don’t need to say how important that milestone was for the rest of her life and career. During part of her teenage years, Samantha studied percussion at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City right before joining her first band, American Post-Hardcore Shift, with whom she recorded the EP Pathos (1994) and the full-length albums Spacesuit (1995) and Get In (1997). You can check her work with Shift on YouTube, as for example the good song Trudge.

It was after Shift that she became truly famous in the world of heavy and alternative music, when in 1998 she joined American Alternative Rock band Hole, from the always controversial Courtney Love, and started touring the whole world, including countries such as Japan and the UK, and appearing on TV, magazines, music videos and interviews. However, things got even more exciting for our hardcore lady in 2000, when she became the official drummer for American Hard Rock legends Motley Crüe and recorded with them their 2002 Lewd, Crüed & Tattooed DVD from the New Tattoo tour. This is where you can see Samantha Malone at her best in total synchronicity with Vince Neil, Mick Mars and Nikki Sixx playing classics like Kickstart My Heart, Girls, Girls, Girls, Home Sweet Home, Live Wire and Shout At The Devil, proving why the band chose her to join them at that time.

After leaving Motley Crüe in 2004, she formed a supergroup called The Chelsea with Melissa Auf der Maur (The Smashing Pumpkins, Hole), Paz Lenchantin (A Perfect Circle), and Radio Sloan (The Need), but they mysteriously played only one concert together before splitting the band, and also recorded the drums for Courtney Love’s debut solo album America’s Sweetheart, which I personally consider pretty decent musically speaking if you take into account all the complex and sometimes unbelievable issues Courtney has always had in her life and career.

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Although America’s Sweetheart was the last full-length album with Samantha on drums, she recorded lots of other songs and singles with a huge variety of artists. For instance, in 2006 she was a guest musician in the album Impeach My Bush, by Electroclash punk artist Peaches, with whom she ended up touring in support of the album; in 2007, she released the single Happy For You with a project called The Ingenues; and in 2010, together with Billy Ray Cyrus, they formed a band named Brother Clyde, recording the single Lately. Besides that, she was also involved in numerous projects with artists such as Daryl Hannah, Eagles of Death Metal and Scott Ian (Anthrax), and managed for a period of time a Los Angeles-based all-girl teenage rock group called Cherri Bomb.

In addition to all that, Maloney has also a career as an actress: in 2008, she guest starred as “Sam”, Lou Ashby’s chauffeur on three episodes of the Showtime series “Californication”, and in 2006 she played the part of Maureen Tucker in the movie “Factory Girl”, not to mention she also added live drums to the score for the film Black Hawk Down in 2003 and is currently involved with a TV series called Next Great Family Band.

Among her biggest influences in music, we can find huge names such as John Bonham, Phil Collins, Neil Peart and Tommy Lee, and probably due to all the talent and energy those guys emanate while behind their drum kits Samantha decided to continue drumming instead of pursuing a serious basketball career with her college back in 1993. Fortunately, for the fans of good music, her biggest idols in life were not guys like Magic Johnson or Larry Bird, right?

Lastly, Samantha is a huge advocate of drummers, especially when a girl wants to follow this path. However, she said once that only being a good drummer is not enough: you must also have good business perspicacity to draw the attention of those who are looking for a drummer for their bands or projects. In order to do so, Samantha created a “list” of tips to help any drummer that’s starting his or her career, including creating a press kit so the others can actually see how the drummer sounds like; establishing a decent network with everyone that’s somehow related to the world of music, like employees from music stores, pubs and, of course, other musicians; and making it public that you’re available and what type of music you want to play, if you want to tour, among other details. These might seem very simple or basic tips for most of us, but if a successful drummer like Samantha is saying so, don’t waste your time and go invest in your career!

Samantha Maloney’s Official Facebook page

“Times are changing. There are more girls that are playing. I just think it’s ridiculous. Either you’re talented or you’re not. Either you’ve got it or you don’t. Either you’re a great drummer or you’re a good drummer. Whether you’re a guy or a girl….you’re good or you’re not. What gender you are? Who cares?” – Samantha Maloney

Metal Chick of the Month – Vibeke Stene

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You make my tired heart sing, Vibeke…

I guess I don’t need to say that lots and lots of Gothic/Doom Metal fans got extremely excited back in June 2013, when our metal chick this month announced through her official Facebook page that she was finally coming out of her retirement to reignite her brilliant music career in Heavy Metal. I’m talking about one of the most beloved female singers of all time in heavy music, Norwegian soprano Vibeke Stene, known for her unparalleled contribution to making Norwegian Symphonic Gothic Metal band Tristania a true reference in Gothic Metal history.

Daughter of Steinar Stene and Sissel Bø Stene, Vibeke was born on August 17, 1978, in the municipality of Sokndal in Rogaland county, Norway, about 450km from the capital Oslo. Her personal life and her career seem to walk hand in hand, becoming even the same entity sometimes, as she’s been fully involved with music and singing since she was a little girl. For instance, at the age of three, our diva already performed for people that were not part of her family, evidencing how much she loved music and starting to build her successful career as a singer.

It was at the age of thirteen, when she started taking singing lessons after she moved to Stavanger (about 100km from Sokndal), that she got interested in classical singing, taking lessons until the age of 23 in order to become her own teacher. By the way, not only Vibeke is the owner of a unique vocal range and an incredible charisma when she’s performing live, but she also became a teacher, studying music and giving singing lessons in Stavanger, Kristiansand and Oslo.

In regards to her professional career as a singer, it’s more than obvious that she left her deepest mark and became a huge heavy music idol during her years with Tristania, which was actually the very first band she joined in her life. Speaking of which, when she was 18 years old Vibeke was invited to join Tristania after attending a live concert of the band, and although she was initially supposed to be only a guest musician in their first demo, she ended up becoming a permanent member due to her incredible performance. The other members of Tristania mentioned in some interviews that Vibeke wasn’t into Gothic Metal before joining the band, but a lot more into Classic Rock and Heavy Metal, which of course didn’t prevent her at all from perfectly blending her voice with the band’s musicality. Furthermore, her performances with Tristania were so good and so powerful it’s quite impossible not to associate the band with her name even today, and it’s hard to imagine Vibeke singing in a band that’s not Gothic or Doom Metal.

Her awesome career as Tristania’s female singer includes the demo Tristania (1997), the full-length albums Widow’s Weeds (1998), Beyond the Veil (1999), World of Glass (2001), Ashes (2005) and Illumination (2007), as well as the singles Angina (1999) and Sanguine Sky (2007), two live albums, two compilations and three music videos, including the eerie official video for the excellent song Libre and the more than pleasant Equilibrium (which can be seen at the end of this text). All those albums are really good and sound very professional, but in my humble opinion the best one by far is Widow’s Weeds, where Vibeke’s smooth voice and Morten Veland’s harsh vocals, together with a very melancholic and obscure sonority, make this album a must-have in the collection of any fan of high-quality music. Songs like Evenfall, Pale Enchantress and My Lost Lenore are those things that deserve to be included in the “never before, never again” music category.

Vibeke and Tristania always had an outstanding live performance together. For instance, they were the headliners of the 4th edition of the Metal Female Voices Fest, which happened in Wieze, Belgium, in 2006, where they shared the stage with other great bands such as Theatre of Tragedy, Delain and Xandria. I had the pleasure to see them live twice with the goddess Vibeke on vocals during their World of Glass tour in January 2002, and in March 2005 during their Ashes tour, and in both occasions it was impossible not to be impressed by her voice and moves during the entire concert.

Unfortunately for all the fans of Tristania, Vibeke left the band in February 2007 first to finish her university degree, and also because she didn’t like the music direction the band was taking. And despite all the rumors about her replacing the one and only Tarja Turunen when she left Symphonic Power Metal band Nightwish, as both left their former bands almost at the same time, Vibeke was the first one to publicly confirm she was not going to be the new singer for Nightwish nor would ever be. However, we can say Tristania was not the only band in Vibeke’s life: she was also a guest vocalist in three tracks (In the Realm of the Midnight Sun, My Dark Reflections of Life and Death and Under Eternal Stars) from the 2000 album Journey to the End of the Night,  by Norwegian Gothic Metal band Green Carnation; guest vocalist in the interesting song Suspended Time, from the 2007 album Solar Soul by Swiss Industrial Metal band Samael; and more recently, Norwegian Electronic band Plutho released the song Queen of Broken Hearts, from their 2011 album Bob, You Don’t Wanna Go There!, which features Vibeke’s guest vocals. However, according to the group, this was recorded back in 1999, which means Vibeke was still officially “retired” when the song was released.

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Although Vibeke still owes all her loyal and passionate fans her once promised solo album, at least we’re glad she’s back to the world of heavy music with her unique voice in the Extreme Metal project God of Atheists, by Norwegian musician Asgeir Mickelson, including musicians from Dimmu Borgir, Emperor, Zyklon, among others. This project is still in the making, but should be available sometime in the second half of 2015. In addition, we’ll also be able to see her acting really soon, as she’s making her theatre debut on stage at Kilden in Kristiansand in October, playing the title role in a play entitled “Skammens Gissel” (or “Hostage of Shame” in English).

Vibeke has mentioned more than once that her biggest influences in music do not only come from the bands and artists she enjoys listening to, but also from all the people she’s been doing music together with since the beginning of her career. Besides that, among some of the greatest voices in her own opinion, we have many exceptional artists such as American diva Tori Amos, Icelandic singer and actress Björk, the unparalleled English “chameleon” David Bowie, American singer Tom Waits and American avant-garde artist Diamanda Galás. Our Gothic Metal countess also said in her interviews that she’s extremely critical to whatever she’s doing and she’s never satisfied if the final result is not the best she can provide, and I believe this is something we can always expect from Vibeke due to her strong character and all the perfectionism that emanates from her it doesn’t matter which band or project she’s involved with.

Talking about her personal life, our beautiful soprano loves doing what pretty much every normal person does too, which includes reading a book, travelling, spending time with her family and friends, and enjoying a good beer. Nonetheless, despite loving doing opera, mainly because she can sing and act at the same time, she said she just hates listening to it in her free time. Maybe that’s because while she’s listening to opera that means she’s not singing. Add to that her perfectionism, and it ends up making total sense: who can offer us a better operatic performance onstage than Vibeke, right?

If you’re one of those people who have always thought Vibeke had dark brown or black hair, you might be surprised to know that she’s actually a natural blond. She has however dyed her hair throughout the years, probably because dark hair has more to do with Gothic and Extreme Metal, and also because it looks like almost all blond Scandinavian girls simply love to have black hair. Finally, just as a complement to her personal profile, Vibeke is already a mother of two: she had a son in the summer of 2007, and a daughter a few years later. It’s still too early to know if both kids will follow their mother’s steps in life, but if they inherit at least 1% of her talent and charisma we can rest assured Norway will keep providing the world some dark and melancholic high-end heavy music.

Vibeke Stene’s Official Facebook page
God of Atheists’ Official Facebook page

“To sing is to be able to use and take control of your whole body to make the right sound, and not only one kind of sound, to dare to use all your weird thoughts and be able to tell something while you are singing. It’s art.” – Vibeke Stene

Metal Chick of the Month – Lahannya

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Justice ravaged by pain… I surrended my innocence in vain.

Our Heavy Metal diva this month is a tribute to Gothic Rock & Metal, a “love it or hate it” type of music that always divides the opinion of the more traditional metalheads. Fans of Iron Maiden, Slayer, Judas Priest and Metallica, for example, usually tend to despise almost everything from bands such as Rammstein, The Prodigy or Disturbed, mainly because “those bands are not true Heavy Metal”. However, they all have a lot of very interesting, creative and especially heavy material, which is also the case for the dark alternative music by our blue-haired gothic goddess Lahannya.

Lahannya was born in the United Kingdom, and although I’m not 100% sure, I believe her birthday is on January 20. Don’t ask me her full name or the year and city she was born (which by the way might be London), though, as it seems she’s one of those girls that doesn’t enjoy sharing her age nor many other details about her personal life with the rest of the world. Well, that doesn’t affect the quality of her work by any means, as what really matters here are her music, vocal performance and, of course, her stunning dark alternative looks.

Let’s say that Lahannya is not a regular singer, songwriter and performer: she’s a lot more than that, we should say a one-of-a-kind frontwoman, and her talent and skills can be enjoyed not only in the music from her own band, Lahannya, but also in the compositions from many other different bands and artists. Although she’s never made it to the mainstream, it’s in the underground world of heavy music where she has established her pillars and it’s also where she keeps influencing the newest generations of gothic and heavy musicians with her unique approach.

To begin with, it was back in 2004 when she met bassist Lutz Demmler, from German Gothic Metal band Umbra et Imago, at the M’Era Luna Festival where things really started to happen for Lahannya. After several projects since the beginning of her career in 1998, including the song Drowning for the compilation album Amduscias (1998) and her first EP entitled Drowning (2000), she finally formed the band Lahannya together with her then (and still) good friend Lutz in 2005, which is nowadays complemented live by German guitarist Christopher Milden and Italian drummer Luca Mazzucconi.

Lahannya’s Gothic Metal music is a complex and rich blend of the sonority from bands and artists such as The Prodigy, Disturbed, Loreena McKennitt, among many others. Actually, it’s kind of hard to truly define their music or compare it to other artists, although their lyrical themes are similar to what some of those artists also sing about, like darkness, pain, agony and relationships. The band has already released a good amount of material besides the EP Drowning: three full-length albums entitled Shotgun Reality (2007), Defiance (2009) and Dystopia ( 2011); another EP named Welcome to the Underground (2008); the live album Scavenger (2010); and the live DVD Sojourn (2013). You can take a listen at her mesmerizing voice in songs like Cocoon and Save Me, both from the album Dystopia.

The band has been touring a lot since its inception, especially in the UK and Germany, as for example in the Wave Gotik Treffen music festival, in Leipzig, in 2009, as well as many other dates in countries such as Austria, Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland, among others, with highlights to their exceptional performance during the Metal Female Voices Fest VII that happened in Wieze, Belgium, in 2009. There are some high quality videos on YouTube with Lahannya’s concert at that festival, like the ones for the songs Open Your Eyes and Burn, where it’s quite impossible to take your eyes out of her moves while her voice “invades” our ears with greatness. Another excellent live moments are the heavy and modern Inside the Machine, filmed at the X-Tra Club in Switzerland in 2008, and  the metallic Never Enough, during the band’s performance at the the M’Era Luna Festival 2012. There’s also a really nice interview with her during that same festival, which can be seen HERE, where she talks about her career and other stuff. It’s totally worth the time spent, especially because she’s a fun and humble woman, and her British accent is beyond beautiful.

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Among her infinite number of partnerships, projects and special guest appearances, the most important or famous ones are certainly her collaborations with English Electronic band Greenhaus, German Power Noise/Techno act Soman, Norwegian Aggrotech band Combichrist, German Industrial project Xotox, German Goth Rock band ASP, and German Gothic Electro band Dracul. None of these are close to Heavy or even Gothic Metal, but that doesn’t make the final results less enjoyable.

With Greenhaus, she was part of the songwriting and the vocalist for almost all tracks of their album Another life, from 2003, while with Soman she was the co-songwriter and vocalist for the following tracks: Tears, from the album Revenge (2004); Antique, from a compilation album with various artists entitled Machineries of Joy (2004); Mask and Eye to Eye, from the album Mask (2007); and Skin Deep, from the album Soman Noistyle (2010).

Our goth diva’s collaboration with Combichrist happened in the form of a spoken sample for the Soman remix of the title-track from their second EP Sex, Drogen Und Industrial (2004), while with Xotox she recorded a spoken intro for the video of the track [psi], from the album [psi] (2005), and was the vocalist on the song Habitat, from the album In Den Zehn Morgen (2008). Finally, she was featured in the remix of the song Nie Mehr, from the album Nie Mehr (2007) by ASP, and was the co-songwriter and vocalist for the tracks Vampiras Dream and Deathwish, from the album Like an Animal (2006) by Dracul.

There are a few other projects she’s involved which unfortunately I cannot list here, otherwise I would never be able finish this document. However, there’s one more interesting detail about Lahannya in regards to her career that you should know: if you’re in London and you are that type of person that likes to party, you might have a chance to see our blue-haired beauty in person doing something very different from singing with her band, which is being a DJ at the London alternative club Slimelight once in a while. Do you want to know where Lahannya finds all that energy to do everything she does? “I think it’s my purpose for living. I don’t really want to find a family or whatever. For me it’s my passion, it’s the legacy I want to leave behind, it’s how I express myself. If I didn’t do it, I would feel like I’m not actually living or breathing.”, she said. That explains a lot.

In regards to her idols in music, the pretty Lahannya mentioned she enjoys listening to and is constantly inspired by many distinct and excellent artists such as Kidneythieves, Dimmu Borgir, The Prodigy, Tori Amos, Celldweller, Bush, Disturbed, Mankind Is Obsolete, Loreena McKennitt, The Cranes etc. However, her inspiration in terms of lyrics comes from what is happening around her life and from her own emotions. Moreover, Lahannya mentioned a couple of times her “dream tour” would be with Industrial Metal icons Rammstein or English Electronic group The Prodigy, which in my opinion are outsdaning options for a full professional and exciting tour, don’t you agree?

Lastly, this nonstop frontwoman said she hasn’t had any free time for hobbies, but when she did she used to go scuba diving and climbing, which in my opinion are “not-so-common” activities for people who live in the gothic world, but each person does what they feel like doing, right? And in order to chill out, Lahannya’s choices often include a good DVD and a glass of wine, especially after a long day of hard work. That’s something even people like us, mere mortals who are not famous masterminds behind a successful band, can relate to, and maybe one of us is lucky enough to enjoy those rare free moments Lahannya has together with her. In the meantime, let’s keep on appreciating her dark and beautiful music.

Lahannya’s Official Facebook page
Lahannya’s Official YouTube channel
Lahannya’s Official Twitter

“The best piece of advice I can give is, don’t waste your time waiting for a manager, booking agent or record label to make things happen for you. If you are prepared to work hard, not just on the music but also on the business side, and you don’t give up, you can achieve an awful lot. No one will work as hard for you as you do yourself and no one will invest more money into your band than you are prepared to do yourself. If you don’t put the work in, why should anyone else?” – Lahannya

Metal Chick of the Month – Ashley “Ellyllon” Jurgemeyer

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Fall for the love of me… Crawl for the love of me.

If you’re a fan of Cradle Of Filth, Abigail Williams or Orbs, you must have already heard of the red-haired diva Ashley “Ellyllon” Jurgemeyer, Ashley Ellyllon or Ashley Jurgemeyer, a very talented pianist, keyboardist and songwriter involved in so many different projects and bands, including scoring for film and television, that it’s quite hard to list all of them here without missing anything.

Born on July 30, 1984 in Scottsdale, Arizona, but currently residing in Los Angeles, California, Ashley started her music career at the age of six by taking classical piano lessons, finally earning some years later her Bachelor’s degree in Music Theory and Composition from Arizona State University in 2006. During her years at the Arizona State University, she studied with John Metz, Jody Rockmaker, and James DeMars, and was granted the Louis Kerr Grant in composition. After her graduation, she began her career in Rock N’ Roll and Heavy Metal in New York, where she was able to combine her background in classical music with the more modern musicality of genres such as Experimental Rock, Symphonic Black Metal and Extreme Metal.

Our redhead pianist was one of the founding members of American Symphonic Black Metal band Abigail Williams in 2005, with whom she recorded one EP called Legend, in 2006, and two full-length albums: In the Shadow of a Thousand Suns, in 2008, and more recently Becoming, in 2012, this time just as a guest musician. During her years with the band, where she was always responsible for all piano, synths, and orchestration parts, and sometimes also for some background vocals, she was able to go on tour and share the stage with Extreme Metal icons Emperor, Dark Funeral, Enslaved, among many others. If you want to know more about her contribution to the music of Abigail Williams, my suggestions as a start are the awesome songs Floods, Into the Ashes and Acolytes, all three from the album In the Shadow of a Thousand Suns.

Between her departure from Abigail Williams in 2009 and her return in 2012, Ashley became the new keyboardist for English Extreme Metal band Cradle Of Filth, replacing English keyboardist Rosie Smith. She toured with the band for a while, even taking part of the music video for The Death Of Love (watch it at the end of this text), from the album Godspeed On The Devil’s Thunder (which she didn’t record), and then recorded her only album with the band, the excellent Darkly Darkly Venus Aversa, in 2010. Her beautiful keyboard and piano lines can be enjoyed in powerful and heavy songs such as The Cult of Venus Aversa, Retreat of the Sacred Heart, and especially Lilith Immaculate (although she’s not in the official music video for this song). However, she mentioned her favorite Cradle Of Filth song to play live was not from her album with the band, but the sonic massacre Cthulhu Dawn, from the masterpiece Midian (2000).

She’s also part of American Experimental Rock supergroup Orbs, together with Dan Briggs (Between the Buried and Me) and Adam Fisher (Fear Before), with whom she recorded the album Asleep Next to Science, in 2010, the single These People Are Animals, in 2014, and now in 2015 the band will be releasing a new full-length album entitled Past Life Regression. The music here is completely different from Abigail Williams and Cradle Of Filth, as you’ll notice in the songs Sayer of the Law, Megaloblastic Madness, Something Beautiful, and The Northwestern Bearitories B – Kid Cancer, which is something mentioned by Ashley in one of her rare interviews like this one for PunkWorldViews.com.

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Besides those bands and projects, Ashley was also responsible for the programming and string arrangement in the album Until I Feel Nothing (2011) by American Deathcore band Carnifex, and helped American Shock Rock singer Ryann Donnelly with the songwriting for her Girl EP (2012), which can be seen for example in the song Bang.. But hold your breath, because there’s still a lot more to go: our gorgeous “ginger” musician is also working on a solo classical piano album; composed the song Sunday Sundress for the Handmade Hostess Official Book Trailer; played keyboards and composed Casting The Circle, a very interesting song by a project called The Dreadful Hours; and was named “Best Keyboardist of 2010” by Alternative Press.

Are you tired already? Well, Ashley is definitely not, and it looks like she’s always ready for more when it’s about music, as she’s also featured on a video called Antiquity Music Sessions – Ep. 1 – The Baldwin Solid Body Harpsichord, where she beautifully plays the Baldwin Solid Body Harpsichord and, although we cannot see her pretty face, we can enjoy some of her abilities as a musician (and her perfect red hair, of course). And don’t forget to check all her other contributions, compositions and projects on her official website. In addition, one can imagine how much time Ashley has to spend on the road with all her bands and projects, and what she likes to do to spend free time on tour. She mentioned she loves exploring any city she’s in, reading, writing new music, connecting to her family through the internet, and of course playing her keyboards.

Ashley’s list of idols in the world of music is very eclectic, including many classical masters such as Russian pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff, Polish composer Frédéric Chopin, French composer Claude Debussy and Russian classical pianist Vladimir Horowitz, as well as more contemporary artists like English musician Matt Bellamy (Muse) and American keyboardist Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater). Moreover, her top 5 albums simply corroborate her broad music taste, as the list is composed by Muse’s Origin of Symmetry, Darkest Hour’s Undoing Ruin, Dimmu Borgir’s Enthrone Darkness Triumphant, Radiohead’s OK Computer, and Sigur Rós’ Agaetis Byrjun, which means she’s a fan of Alternative/Experimental Rock, Melodic Death Metal, Symphonic Black Metal, Post-Rock, and remember we’re only talking about her favorite albums, not everything that she listens to while performing her day-to-day activities!

In regards to her personal life, Ashley loves yoga, running, cooking, traveling, and curiously one of her favorite hobbies is making comic books. I tried to find anything she’s already produced in terms of comics on the web, but nothing came up. Maybe it’s just a personal thing for her, in other words, something she’s not willing to share with anybody else? Anyway, talking about her likes and dislikes, among her top places are Greece and New Zealand, her favorite movie is the unparalleled classic Silence of the Lambs, her favorite books are “Mozart in the Jungle” by Blair Tindall and “Still Life With Woodpecker” by Tom Robbins, and finally her favorite food and drink are, respectively, Thai food and Blood Mary. Why am I not surprised our redhead rocker loves a drink that has BLOOD in its name and is completely RED?

Equipment
Roland Fantom G8
Yamaha S90 ES
Roland Juno
Nord Stage 2 88

Ashley Jurgemeyer’s Official website
Ashley Jurgemeyer’s Official Facebook page
Ashley Jurgemeyer’s Official Twitter

Metal Chick of the Month – Vanja Slajh

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I shall devour your flesh!

As we kicked off 2014 with a true badass bassist, and as the year was so awesome for The Headbanging Moose, let’s keep up with the “tradition” and start 2015 with another Heavy Metal babe that kicks some serious ass with her 4-string weapon. The chosen one this time is the enigmatic Swiss brunette Vanja Slajh (or also Vanja Šlajh), bassist for Zurich-based Gothic Doom Metal band Triptykon.

Although we can find pretty much any information about anything in the world on the Internet, it was a hard task collecting personal and professional details about Vanja’s life, showing how introverted she might be and how she has managed to remain as underground as possible even after joining Triptykon and gaining some considerable fame.

All that could be found on the Internet about the personal life of this stunning woman was the year she was born, which was 1984, and that she is from the beautiful country of Switzerland, but nothing else in regards to her favorite artists, bands, food, drinks, movies or hobbies. Not even her official Twitter account has any details about her life or projects, and basically all interviews related to Triptykon are done by the band’s founder Tom G. Warrior, who’s also the mastermind behind Swiss Extreme Metal bands Hellhammer and Celtic Frost. In case you love some mystery in a woman, you’ll probably fall in love for Vanja, as it seems her life is full of secrets that she’s not willing to share with almost anyone in this world. In an era where our lives are 100% exposed on all types of social media like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram, Finding people who can have non-overexposed private lives is truly fantastic, and Vanja is one of those “heroes”.

So let’s talk about the known facts about her, all related to her career as a Heavy Metal bass player. Despite the fact that no one knows exactly when she started playing bass nor who her biggest influences in music were, before joining Triptykon she was part of a Swiss Black Metal project named Freitod, but the band has never really released anything. Besides, no one is really sure when she became the bassist for Freitod nor when she left the band (those Black Metal bands are way too obscure sometimes).

Finally, in 2008, Tom G. Warrior invited Vanja to be the bassist for Triptykon, and as he has mentioned several times during his interviews, she was the only person he had in mind for the 4-string position with the band. Some people say Vanja was the chosen one because after the two met when he was going to do some production for her previous band, Freitod, they suddenly became really good friends. I believe friendship among band members is valid, and of course essential for the survival of any band, but in my opinion her skills as a musician and her onstage performance were what actually influenced Tom in his decision.

So far she has recorded with the band the full-length album Eparistera Daimones, the EP Shatter, and more recently the amazing album Melana Chasmata. The lyrical themes changed slightly from what she used to play with Freitod, now more focused on feelings such as despair, pain and depression, as you can see in the lyrics for their single Breathing (“Every breath I take / Leaves me parched for air / Every hand I touch / Causes skin to tear / Every flame approached / Blinds my eyes / Every word I write / Leaves me drained”), taken from their most recent album.

However, it’s that dark, low and thunderous sound this gothic girl can extract from her instrument that really stands out when she’s playing, which can be easily noted in the aforementioned song Breathing, and in the songs Crucifixus and Shatter, from their Shatter EP, the later having one of the most powerful and bestial bass lines I’ve ever heard in my life. How can she play those notes? And before you ask, although she’s recorded some vocals for their latest album, it’s not her voice in Shatter, but of singer Simone Vollenweider.

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If you want to enjoy the thrilling live performance of this Goddess of Metal with Triptykon, I believe the best video available online is their masterful performance at Wacken Open Air in 2011. But in case you don’t have enough time or patience to watch the entire concert online, or if you’re a depressed person and don’t want to feel even more depressed with Triptykon’s dark music, you should at least check out one of the songs from that concert, their version for Celtic Frost’s classic and probably biggest masterpiece Procreation (Of The Wicked). To be honest, I have no idea how watching the stunning Vanja and her wicked bass kicking fuckin’ ass on stage can be depressing by any means, but that depends on each person’s perception of reality, right?

Besides Vanja’s unique technique as a bassist, one of the main reasons for this raven-haired woman being able to produce such low notes (as if her bass guitar was going to explode) is her excellent partnership with Ibanez guitars. I read somewhere that she uses the Ibanez Iceman Series Electric Basses (more specifically the Ibanez ICB300EX-BK Iceman Bass) because “she just fell in love with it”. What a lucky bass guitar!

One last detail about Triptykon’s awesome bassist is that she was featured in a special issue (#94) of Decibel Magazine in August 2012, called Women in Metal “Queens of Noise”, but unfortunately I couldn’t check what’s actually inside the magazine. Not sure if there was any kind of interview with her or just some pictures, which doesn’t bother me at all. As long as she keeps shaking the earth with her blustering bass, I’m pretty sure no one will care if she doesn’t give any interviews in her entire life. Well, at least not in English, because there’s one available in her mother tongue during Rock Hard Festival 2014, Swiss German, where I could at least enjoy her beauty, voice and smile as I don’t speak that language at all. If you speak Swiss German or regular German, enjoy it!

Vanja Slajh’s Official Twitter
Triptykon’s Official Facebook page
Triptykon’s Official YouTube channel

Metal Chick of the Month – Dianne van Giersbergen

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You will die for my love tonight!

When you think about the Netherlands, the first (if not the only) things that come to your mind are probably prostitution, drugs and those famous wooden shoes. However, you should forget about all that touristic bullshit and start admiring the true wonders of that picturesque European country: their female Heavy Metal singers. It’s amazing how many talented girls can be found in such a small country, as for example Anneke van Giersbergen (Agua de Anneke, The Gathering), Sharon den Adel (Within Tempation), Charlotte Wessels (Delain), and our last Metal Chick of the year, the stunning soprano Dianne van Giersbergen, frontwoman of Dutch Progressive Metal band Ex Libris and German Symphonic Metal band Xandria.

Dianne was born on June 3, 1985 in the village of Liempde in the Netherlands, about 100km from the capital Amsterdam, but currently resides in the city of Dordrecht, close to Rotterdam, the second-largest city in the country. Her beautiful and potent voice started to be defined and polished really early in her life: when she was a kid, Dianne used to listen to many pop female singers such as Whitney Houston (R.I.P.), which developed in her a true fascination for the human voice and, at the age of four, her parents gave her as a birthday gift her first singing lessons. In the following years, she had several other music teachers and sang in different choirs.

In the year of 2005, this long dark-haired beauty began her studies in Classical Music at the ArtEZ School of Music with singer Elena Vink, and also became a trainee at the Nationale Reisopera. Besides her classical Music studies, in her free time our gorgeous soprano also braved the worlds of popular music and musical theatre. Finally, in May 2009, Dianne graduated from her studies with distinction, and her newly acquired Bachelor’s also worked as the admission for her Master studies, when she improved her technique to have classical and metal music mixed together. Not only that, this nonstop diva also attended composition courses, wrote poems on behalf of composers, and was the chairman of the New Artez Student Association group of master students. We have to admit this is a very respectable resume, which makes me wonder if she somehow has part of the DNA from Iron Maiden’s “multi-man”, Mr. Bruce Dickinson.

Moving on to her career as a Heavy Metal singer, Dianne has been with Ex Libris since their beginning in 2003, and has already recorded the demos Drawn (2005) and Medea (2011), and the full-length albums Amygdala, in 2008, and Medea, now in 2014. In one of her interviews, she explained the reason for the name of the band.  “An Ex Libris is used to indicate ownership of products of a craft-guild and can come in different forms like a seal, stamp or a brand. You could say that by naming the band Ex Libris we would like to brand our products as our own.”, she said. In case you have never heard the voice of Dianne with Ex Libris, here are a few songs to make your day a lot more pleasant: From Birth to Bloodshed, A Mother’s Lament, Love Is Thy Sin, and Dawn Of Sugars.

In October 2013, Dianne was chosen as the new frontwoman for Xandria, replacing German singer Manuela Kraller. She made her live debut with Xandria in November 2013 during a Spanish tour, and has recently recorded her first album with the band, entitled Sacrificium. You can for example check her astonishing voice beautifying Xandria’s music in the very enjoyable song Dreamkeeper, from Sacrificium.

Besides that, she was a guest soprano for Polish Symphonic Power Metal band Pathfinder during their Blood Aliance Tour in 2011, and in December 2013 she was a guest vocalist during one of the concerts from Dutch Symphonic Gothic Metal band Stream Of Passion, when together with lead singer Marcela Bovio they performed the duettino Sull’aria, from Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro”, and one of Stream of Passion’s own songs. And, of course, you can always check all her other projects and videos on her official website and also on her official YouTube channel.

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A woman so talented like that could never have a bad taste for music, and this can be easily seen on her awesome list of favorite bands and artists, which includes music icons such as Nightwish, Dream Theater, Tarja Turunen, Devin Townsend Project, Anneke van Giersbergen, Anathema, System of a Down, Dire Straits, and many more. And before you ask about it, despite having the same last name as Anneke, those two divas are not related at all. “We share the same surname but are very different in voice type and vocal techniques. I like her style though.”, Dianne said during an interview. Not only that, she also listens to a lot of classical music (mostly choir pieces, songs and opera), with Wagner, Rachmaninoff, Zemlinsky, Berg and Verdi being among her favorite composers.

In terms of cinema and literature, Dianne once again showcases a splendid cultural background by mentioning among her favorite movies masterpieces such as Braveheart and Lord of the Rings (and anything from masters Quentin Tarantino and Tim Burton), great TV series like Breaking Bad and Lost, and everything from one of the greatest and most mysterious writers of all time, the unparalleled American poet Edgar Allan Poe. Add to that the fact that she loves French food and red wine, and there you have a perfect European “milady”!

Last but not least, Dianne even said once that she would love to have an alto (or contralto) voice for a day. If that doesn’t mean anything to you, just for your reference the female voice can be divided into three categories: alto, mezzo-soprano and soprano, with the alto being the lowest standard female voice type (you can see a very good explanation of all types of voices HERE, including a perfect example of how an alto sounds like). But even after reading all that information about voice types you didn’t really get it, don’t worry: I’m pretty sure that, as long as our Dutch princess Dianne keeps singing Heavy Metal, your metal heart will keep beating delightfully.

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“Smile and you will be rewarded.” – Dianne van Giersbergen