Tag Archives: zp theart

Features, PiercingMetal Says

Skid Row Confirms ZP Theart As “New” Official Singer

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Just the other day NJ Rockers Skid Row started off their touring cycle for 2017 and officially welcomed former Dragonforce vocalist to the band as their “new” lead singer”. I used quotes because ZP Theart had been singing with them for about a year since the departure of TNT singer Tony Harnell. If you’ve been keeping up with the bands doings, Harnell replaced their longtime Sebastian Bach replacement Johnny Solinger. Whew. I admit that it was getting a little arduous to keep up with and the news surprised me because over the last few months Sebastian had outlined in numerous interviews that the management sides had been “talking”.

zp theart, zp theart concert photo

Theart is a terrific singer and according to some friends who had seen him in concert with Skid Row very recently said that he had done a much better job at their tunes than Harnell did. I saw some YouTube clips and had to agree even though I’m a big fan of Tony’s voice in TNT. Sometimes the idea isn’t what you expected it to be. If Harnell singing for the band went by too quickly for you and you never got to hear him, the band did make their hit “18 and Life” song available as a free download which you can access HERE. I’ve yet to see ZP fronting the Skids and that is why I’m using photos that I took of him back when the group Dragonforce appeared in NYC. These might have been at the former location of the Limelight.

zp theart, zp theart concert photo

PiercingMetal Thoughts: Well. I guess that is that about any chance of Sebastian Bach rejoining the lineup of the group. I mean of course stranger things can happen but let’s be honest with ourselves here, this is the third singer since Bach and the boys parted ways. I’m going to keep on supporting each of the sides but move on from anticipating any sort of Earth shattering announcement about a reunion. Speaking frankly, the time to have worked all this stuff out would have been when Solinger was moved on from. Had they done any sort of reunion back then they might have even been able to secure one of the Guns N Roses opening slots. Now it’s time to get back to business for other bands and stop debating about what could have went wrong. Clearly the two sides couldn’t meet in the middle, and that is if management sides were really talking seriously in the first place and not just theorizing. I wonder if they will re-record their tunes and release them as we find some bands doing to give us how it sounds “today” as opposed to back in the day. Only time will tell. So what do you readers think about the news and the appointment of ZP to the full on role. Let me know your thoughts about this down in the comments section below. I’d love to hear from you on it so bring it on. Good luck to ZP, Rachel Bolan, Scotti Hill, Dave Sabo and Rob Hammersmith.

Official Website: http://www.skidrow.com

Features, Interviews

New Year’s Music Resolutions For 2013: Part 8

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new year's music resolutions

We are off and running my dear readers in The Metal Republic and while it’s only day two of 2013, this is actually part eight of our “New Year’s Music Resolutions for 2013” from Metal and Hard Rock greats. Someone asked me why I actually started this just after Christmas, and well the answer is simple….I started them on 12/26 because I wanted to is why 🙂 Being serious, I do it like this to give you readers something new and interesting as the year closes since its generally a dry time for big happenings. It also lets me better space out the responding quotes. Now onto the regularly scheduled program….

1. Mo “Royce” Petersen (Tragedy: Heavy Metal Tribute To The Bee Gees): We resolve to look like Manowar by the end of 2013. (We already sound exactly like them)

2. Addiction For Destruction: Addiction For Destruction are looking forward to on tour over the world in 2013 and releasing a couple of new videos! We want to keep building our international fan base. Train keeps rollin’, stay tuned!

3. Steph Paynes (Lez Zeppelin): That Lez Zeppelin will be invited to play the Isle of Wight Festival, followed by a UK Tour, during which many magickal things will happen…
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Music, Reviews

“Sonic Firestorm” (remaster) by Dragonforce

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Artist: Dragonforce
Title: “Sonic Firestorm” (remaster)
Label: Spinefarm Records
Release Date: 2/23/2010
Genre: Supersonice Power Metal
Rating: 4.25/5

The “Sonic Firestorm” album by Dragonforce was originally released on Noise Records in 2004 and while it was the bands sophomore effort, it would be the first album by them that I had ever heard. I reviewed it as one of my very first features and since much of that text is still the way in which I feel I am re-presenting that for you below with some minor alterations and then going into a little more detail about the remaster. Read on.

“The band Dragonforce is a very interesting unit indeed. They not only combine the factors of being musically diverse along with a completely technical level of play; but they include a level of speed that at times will make you surely think that your CD is skipping instead of playing through. I was literally blown away when I first heard “Sonic Firestorm” and as you listen yourself you will find that you are in the middle of the musical equivalent of a hurricane. Starting off with “My Spirit Will Go On”, you are quickly brought into the band’s world and what they opt to accomplish on a record. This track will quickly become a favorite for many a listener. As I said there are blistering fast moments at almost every turn and while there are bands that play for the sake of speed sake alone this is not the case with Dragonforce because throughout each song the members never seem to lose pace with one another. The songs maintain their structure and do not ever seem to fall apart where you could expect such action to be the case under these conditions. It was really something to close my eyes and envision this being done in a live sense because you knew it just had to be awesome. In most cases playing music fast simply for the sake of it will not impress me all that much so it was refreshing to see this level of speed being showcased on top of killer technical prowess. Chops would be an understatement for Dragonforce. A lot of the album follows along the same course of speed as the first track, but that does not mean to be taken as the songs sound all alike. They just use the same formula on the entire CD. There is one track that effectively serves as the ballad of the disk and that is “Dawn Over A New World”. The tune is nicely done and being in the middle of the disk it allows you a breather before the ass-kicking again.
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Events, Reviews

Dragonforce @ Fillmore at Irving Plaza (11/25/2008)

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If Metal that moves almost as fast as the speed of light is what excites you then Dragonforce is definatley the band that you have been looking for to feed that hunger.  The band was hitting New York City once again and would bring Finland’s “Battle Metal” heroes Turisas along for the ride.  The exciting show took place at The Fillmore NY and should you want to learn more and see a lot of photos just scroll past the logo below to see our thoughts on it all.

Logo - Dragonforce

Artist: Dragonforce
Venue: Fillmore NY (New York, NY)
Opener: Turisas, Powerglove
Date: 11/25/2008
Label: Roadrunner Records

Dragonforce is definitely a band whose busy schedule of touring only seems to match the very speed of their music and with their inclusion on the “Guitar Hero” game and a blistering new release in “Ultra Beatdown” they have been a non-stop musical entity that is hell bent on entertaining the masses. Tonight’s show would be at The Fillmore NY, and it was amusing to be here again so soon since I was only here last night for the performance of Lordi and Lizzy Borden. Joining Dragonforce would be Turisas who I had some awareness of and a band called Powerglove who I had never heard of before tonight. Here is how the adventuring took place should you not have made it into the venue or even knew about the gig.
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Music, Reviews

“Ultra Beatdown” (Special Edition) by Dragonforce

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Artist: Dragonforce
Title: “Ultra Beatdown” (Special Edition)
Label: Roadrunner Records
Release Date: 8/26/2008
Genre: Power Metal/Melodic Metal
Rating: 4/5

When Dragonforce released their new CD “Ultra Beatdown”, they celebrated the event by releasing two different versions of it on the same day. Ok, so this is not entirely correct, but they did release a standard edition with eight songs and also a Special Edition version that featured nicer packaging, two additional songs and a bonus DVD with a couple of features. Given that we already reviewed the standard edition when we had snared a copy, we chose to re-visit that commentary below to refresh your memory and then analyze in a little more detail the differences that can be found on the special edition version which we now finally own a copy of. Here goes nothing….

“The guys in Dragonforce are back to do their super sonic Speed Metal thing and deliver unto the masses a righteous thrashing with their latest album “Ultra Beatdown”. It marks the bands fourth release and second for the Roadrunner Records label and finds the guys continuing along the process of delivering highly charged Metal that is driven by blistering guitar work and drumming. When I first heard the band with “Sonic Firestorm” I didn’t know what hit me because it moved like a freight train on greased tracks and just ran over the listener and left them dazed at just how fast the band moved on recording. It surely wasn’t a fluke as this continued on to their Roadrunner Records debut “Inhuman Rampage” and now onto “Ultra Beatdown” as well. The conventional Metal listener might dismiss them by saying that it must all be the same in sound and it’s interesting to see just how the fans split themselves off into sides that are either with them or against them with every breath. There doesn’t seem to be a middle ground and while there are those who find the band the next best thing since sliced bread there are others who will rally their hatred in the street about them. I fall to the positive side when it comes to the group and find them quite entertaining and very lively – it’s actually safe to say that we can almost hear the fun that they have at this in the albums opener “Heroes Of Our Time”. When the album begins you see that the band has not slowed to a comfort zone or are resting on their laurels after finding so much success from Guitar Hero III but instead are back to the business of smiting the listener with speed and technical displays of guitar wizardry. This comes care of the twin lead guitar slingers of Sam Totman and Herman Li and no matter how hard I try I still cannot determine who the faster or better guitar player between them is. I would ask one of them if the chance arose but I fear the answer would be “I’m faster and better” from each of them. As we get to the second track of “The Fire Still Burns” we realize that while there is a similarity in the drive and tempo of the tune that the band has upgraded their abilities in terms of how technical they are.
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