Year : 2024
Style : Symphonic Power Metal , Female vocals
Country : Ireland
Audio : 320 kbps + scans
Size : 123 mb
Bio:
An exciting power metal band from The North, with an emphasis on huge riffs and soaring melodies.In early 2020, the world practically stopped. Necessity being the mother of invention, musicians were forced to find new avenues of creativity and collaboration. And so WHITEABBEY was born, originally intended as a studio side-project between Steve Moore of Northern Ireland’s STORMZONE and Tamara Bouwhuis of Netherland’s DIM CRIMSON. The first batch of songs were released in groups of three, each one representing a chapter in the WHITEABBEY story. These chapters were then themselves grouped into threes, with each one of those representing a volume, which was then self-released as an album. Two albums were recorded and released this way, along with an EP based on the fairytale of Snow White, complete with narration by Graham McNulty from STORMZONE. Realizing the potential of the band and the material, Steve and Tamara decided to make WHITEABBEY their main focus, eschewing all other distractions. Graham McNulty on bass and Badger Duncan on drums were recruited to complete the line-up that will be taking the music to the live arena in 2024.WHITEABBEY album number 3 WORDS THAT FORM THE KEY is scheduled to be released on February 23rd, 2024. Drawing on influences ranging from power and symphonic metal like NIGHTWISH or WITHIN TEMPTATION through to more traditional rock and metal sources like HELLOWEEN ANNIHILATOR, THIN LIZZY or JUDAS PRIEST, the band have crafted a musical world with massive riffs, catchy hooks, intoxicating vocals and blistering guitar solos in which the listener can be immersed. Broaching topics as diverse as controlling relationships, Irish history and mythology, various types of loss, revenge, and even pirates and dragons, the band has created a suite of songs that are insightful and deep in places, and light-hearted and uplifting in others!
Album:
Northern Irish symphonic metallers Whiteabbey play a dangerous, high stakes game on new album The Words That Form The Key; possibly too trad metal for the symph crowd, and probably a little ‘sensitive’ for the rivetheads, they need to walk that razors edge where they might literally end up pleasing nobody as they strive to appeal to all…However on tracks like the quite excellent Dragonfire and the superb Hold Fast they knock that particular problem spectacularly out of the park, mixing full-on synth parps with muscular rhythms (bassist Graham McNulty and drummer Badger Duncan both put in massive shifts on this record) and surgically precise axe work to create an incredibly satisfying take on the symphonic metal playbook. Add to this the reserved but capable vocal presence of Tamara Bouwhuis, who scores points because her style doesn’t really sound like anybody else ploughing a similar furrow in 2024, and you’d appear to have a band really worth getting hot under the collar about.Just Hold Me is a ballad that contains enough oomph to keep it the right side of interesting, and features an impressive solo from guitarist Steve Moore, but the album’s closer, Think of Me Sometimes, tilts things a bit too far away from the metal axis for this reviewer’s liking. The fact that it ends the album means that it manages to dissipate the impressive head of steam that the band has built up over the course of rollicking anthems like Ireland’s Final Witch and Celtic Curse, both of which exude enough power and poise to cause unsolicited outbreaks of air guitaring whenever they get an airing.But in the final washup, that’s the only thing I can really find to gripe about; The Words That Form The Key is a very confident statement, and one which I’m sure will see Whiteabbey attracting acolytes to their banner in ever swelling numbers.
Line Up:
Tamara Bouwhuis - Vocals (2020-present) - See also: ex-Dim Crimson
Steve Moore - Guitars, Bass - See also: Fireland, Stormzone, ex-Condemned, ex-Riffmaster General, ex-Devilmakesthree, ex-Psychotribe, ex-Stone Cold
Graham McNulty - Bass (2023-present) - See also: Stormzone
Badger Duncan - Drums (2023-present)
Tracklist:
01. Reality
02. Dragonfire
03. Hold Fast
04. Just Hold Me
05. You Should Be Running
06. All In The Past
07. Ireland's Final Witch
08. Celtic Curse
09. Think Of Me Sometime
Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
