Sunday, May 24, 2015

Latest Listening Pleasure 18 - Amaranthe

Elyze Ryd first hit my radar when she had a side gig doing backing vocals on tour with Kamelot back in 2012 when Amaranthe was idle.  I knew nothing of her or the band Kamelot, but they were opening for Nightwish on a US tour when the singer Annette Olson became ill(diva-syndrome?) and left them in a bind.  Instead of cancelling that night's show, they - with the crowd's approval - had Elyze Ryd and another girl from Kamelot fill in and sing Nightwish's songs, even reading the lyrics from paper.  I thought Elyze did a wonderful job and obviously knew Nightwish's material better than the other girl.  It was a unique show and I've watched the videos several times, here's a good one.  Later I learned that she actually auditioned for the band in 2006, when Annette got the job.  Of course, after this last minute replacement singers show the band flew in Floor Jansen from the other side of the world to finish the tour and, eventually, join the band on a more permanent basis.  I cannot disagree, Floor has a wonderful voice and stage presence and I think she fits that band better that Elyze could.

The band Amaranthe got my attention again recently when I saw a blurb somewhere about the new video for their song 'Digital World,' and I really liked the song.  They are a unique band in that they have three lead singers.  Yes, the band has guitar, drums, and bass along with a female clean vocalist, a male clean vocalist, and a male extreme vocalist.  From what I have seen so far, they all sing lead parts on every song and it seems to work for them very well.

Here's the video that caught my attention recently:


I had known about the band for some time, but because of the above video I finally did start taking the time to listen to them and watch them on youtube.  And I know it is like 'pop' metal, but I enjoy this.  It's a good feeling, discovering something new-to-you that makes you feel good - and music makes us feel good, that is why we have it.  I went ahead and bought their latest CD from last October called 'Massive Addictive' about a week or two ago.  I've been playing it lots and really enjoying the first half of the CD, the second half sounds good and sounds like the whole sound of the album but nothing stands out to me so far.  Perhaps when I tire of the first half the second half songs will distinguish themselves to me more.

This is the CD that has helped me test the JBL speakers - with subwoofer - in the new car!  I discovered that it has a 6 cd changer in the stereo but I just plug my phone in and play music from there.  Thanks, Amaranthe!

And because I love the live stuff, here's one more from the latest album:


Previous LLP Posts...
LLP 1 - Pain
LLP 2 - Nightwish
LLP 3 - Die Antwoord
LLP 4 - Pain part 2
LLP 5 - Andrew Bird
LLP 6 - Nightwish part 2
LLP 7 - Paramore
LLP 8 - Newsted
LLP 9 - U.D.O.
LLP 10 - Nightwish Imaginaerum Movie
LLP 11 - Kiss
LLP 12 - Rick Springfield
LLP 13 - Hyrax
LLP 14 - In This Moment
LLP 15 - Faster Pussycat
LLP 16 - Sebastian Bach
LLP 17 - Cradle Of Thorns
LLP 18 - Amaranthe

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