Year : 2013
Style : Melodic Heavy Metal
Country : Sweden
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 118 mb
Bio:
In August 1984 guitarist Jan Åkesson and singer Peter Grundström got to know each other after performing at the same show in different bands; Jan was lead guitar in Ravage and Peter was fronting Whitelight. Their meeting led to the conclusion of Jan’s work with Ravage and he became a new member in Whitelight in the fall of the same year.Whitelight’s focus was melodic hard rock, initially influenced by Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Bad Company and then by a ‘new wave’ of English, American and Canadian bands such as Whitesnake, Van Halen, Journey, Toto, Riot, Wrabit and Dokken. Whitelight played many gigs and produced many demos in search of that elusive record deal.After 3 years with Whitelight, in 1987, Jan decided to leave the band and went his own way to spread his wings with tougher, more guitar-oriented hard rock. Peter stayed in Whitelight, who changed their name to Kee Avenue.Jan went on to form new bands Why Not, Perfect Stranger and Dr Blue, playing many very successful gigs and making several acclaimed recordings.Kee Avenue split up in 1991 after the bass player and the keyboard player left the band. After this final breakup Peter went on to play and sing with several different, mostly cover bands, though he kept on writing songs, always looking for the right project to showcase his talent.In 1994 Jan decided to step back from live performance to concentrate on writing and producing songs in his new studio on the emerging digital recording platforms that would soon come to dominate the music industry.Finally, 15 years after the two first played together, Jan decided to give Peter a call, thinking that it was time for a ‘reunion’. A good meal and a few beers was the spark that lit a new beginning.The result was StoneLake.
Album:
Much like creating a play for the theatre, constructing an album of music in the hopes of being both timely and timeless almost entirely depends on a careful balance of relevance, novelty, specificity, and unfamiliarity. It's best to approach Stonelake as a band attempting to do just that with this sixth album, bringing to the table something of theatrical complexity under the guise of the easily accessible. As a whole, the album title describes the end result: "Monolith." Not so far removed from the classic metal world, but not exactly anachronistic, the Swedes of Stonelake create a sound that is equal parts 1983 and 2013. Riff sensibility and serving the song rather than the individual musician has become paramount over the band’s discography, easily drawing comparisons to Iron Maiden and Stratovarius. Progressive and power metal are the core of songs like "End This War," "Fanatical Love," and "With Someone Like You," leaning more progressive toward the end of the album.The prog staple of synthesizers has set into the combination of sounds in a delightfully balanced way, refusing to overwhelm even during solos. Annika Argerich's playing is largely supportive, with the key parts usually adding nuances to the soundscape rather than acting as a voice unto its own. Songs like "Will You Be Loved" and "You Light The Way" are where the band excels, between large-scale chorus anthems and a carefully-built and maintained theatrical energy level. "Double Life" rides this balance especially well. Guitarist Jan Åkesson's riffs are playfully wild without going off the map, and his solos show both technical prowess and fun spontaneity.With such a powerful voice, it would take a concentrated effort to avoid connecting with the energy in Peter Grundstrom's searing clean vocals. Like a demon shrieking out in the night, Grundstrom commands high tenor vocal cords as capable as Avantasia's Tobias Sammet, with extended range in his vibrato-laden falsetto. The pairing of Grundstrom, backing vocals by Åkesson, and lyricist Adam Bard, whose work touches each song except for "Notorious," is mostly a fine fit. Clichés are avoided and fresh topics are written about, with even the word "schadenfreude" impressively making an appearance (referring to pleasure derived from the misfortune of others).To complete the total picture of the album, Fredrik Joakimsson's drumming avoids the bad extremes of both the power and prog genres - common plodding and the disregard for the musicality of a fill, respectively. He establishes technical prowess and a penchant for the straightforward in equal measures and is given a shining mix job by recording, mixing, and mastering engineer Jan Åkesson. "Monolith" lives up to its name, cutting a fine form up through and beyond the super-saturated stratosphere of the heavy metal world.
Line-Up:
Lasse Johansson - Bass
Fredrik Joakimsson - Drums
Jan Åkesson - Guitars, Vocals (backing)
Annika Argerich - Keyboards
Peter Grundström - Vocals, Lyrics (track 9)
Tracklist:
01. Fanatical Love 04:45
02. You Light the Way 06:16
03. End This War 03:59
04. With Someone Like You 04:08
05. Double Life 04:07
06. Hater 04:45
07. Will You Be Loved 04:21
08. In a Freezing House 04:31
09. Notorious 04:51
10. Desolation 02:34
Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
