Tag Archives: female metal singers

Events, Reviews

Tarja @ Fillmore at Irving Plaza (4/29/2009)

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Artist: Tarja
Venue: Fillmore NY (New York, NY)
Opener: Urn, The Eternal
Date: 4/29/2009
Label: Universal Music

If my calculations are correct in this, the USA has not had a visit from the singer known as Tarja Turunen since the summer of 2004 when she last toured these parts with the band Nightwish. Since that time a world of dramatics and other events found the singer adventuring out on her own and releasing new music for the fans she had made over the years. While she had released a holiday themed album in 2005, it was not until 2007 that a more Symphonic Rock oriented release would be unveiled. The album “My Winter Storm” was an interesting album that had elements of what fans expected from Tarja and also a few melodies that came as a complete surprise. The very melodic release showcased the singers beautiful voice but would not be as bombastic as many had come to accept her when she fronted Nightwish. Tonight would be the first night of the singers US Tour and I was very happy to be a part of the fun as she returned to us after far too long an absence. The gig would be at the Fillmore NY and offer up two interesting openers by way of Urn and The Eternal. Here is how the night went if you were not there to enjoy it.
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Features, Interviews

PiercingMetal Talks with Alissa White-Gluz of The Agonist

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I had caught The Agonist for the very first time when they opened up a show for Epica back in September of 2007 and I was immediately impressed with the way that singer Alissa White-Gluz does her thing. She is a kick ass straight-edge Metal chick with a number of interesting aspects to her life which made setting up an interview something that would generate a lot of interest for our readers. Of course, the girls absolutely hectic and insane schedule led to our exchanging emails and doing it via that medium. Having met a few times at the clubs you will find that we managed to hold our internet conversation just as if we had done it face to face. The Agonist is among the hot new signings to Century Media Records and a band that delivers up the Melodic Metalcore with crushing abandon. The four piece group is led and fronted by Alissa White-Gluz who is a young woman of talent, strong conviction and incredible focus on her reasons for doing things. We met up with Alissa backstage at one of the shows in NYC to talk about all things The Agonist but the often hectic nature of appearances led us to having this done via email. Read on to find out what makes this beautiful young lady tick and how she plans on keeping the audience thrilled as the band continues to rise.

PiercingMetal: It’s nice to get a few moments of your time Alissa based on the bands apparently rigorous touring schedule. Before we talk about the group let’s go back to your own beginnings as a performer first because I am wondering how you even got your start as a musician. Care to enlighten me?

Alissa White-Gluz: Thanks Ken! I actually really just got started in my first metal band because I happen to be friends with a lot of bands seeking singers. To help out I told them I would search around for freelancing vocalists. After not really finding any, and not wanting to let my friends down, I decided maybe I would suffice! My house has always been full of musical influence, my mother being a great appreciator of good music. My older sister also has a band, called Badflirt (very different from the Agonist!). So basically, music was never a foreign concept to me, but I also never really thought I would be playing it to this level.
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Features, Interviews

PiercingMetal Talks To Stream Of Passion’s Marcela Bovio (11/2006)

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Marcela Bovio is the singer for the Gothic Progressive Hard Rock band Stream Of Passion. The group was formed by Arjen Lucassen’s who “discovered” Ms. Bovio after she submitted her demo to him over the Internet. The submission was to be a part of his composition, the amazing release by Ayreon “The Human Equation”. Shortly after the albums release, Lucassen contacted Bovio about a new and different kind of group that would be geared more towards her style of singing as opposed to the levels of Progressive Metal and the result would be the extraordinary debut by Stream Of Passion, “Embrace The Storm”. Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, I was able to “talk” to Marcela about her musical origins, her thoughts on the recorded work and plans for the future. Below is our conversation.

PiercingMetal: Marcela I guess the best place to start would be at the beginning. Tell me about your earliest musical experience and what made you decide to become a singer.

Marcela: I don’t think I recall my first musical experience exactly, I know that ever since I can remember I’ve enjoyed singing. When I was very little I started taking music lessons, and when I was on my teens I started singing with bands and stuff like that; that’s when it actually hit me that I wanted to become a singer.

PiercingMetal: I’ve read that you had a band called Elfonia but I don’t know much about them beyond the descriptions of it being a group that had levels of Atmospheric Rock. Tell us a little about them and if we shall hear anything more from this group in the future.

Marcela: There is definitely a lot of atmospheric rock influence in Elfonía’s music, but also a lot of experimental and progressive rock stuff in there; so we end up just calling it progressive rock actually. The band started in 2002 and we’ve released two albums: Elfonía (2003) and This sonic landscape (2005). We’re currently in a standby status, because we’re all working on different musical projects; but we never know what the future will bring!
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