Year : 2012
Style : Heavy Metal , Power Metal , Female vocals
Country : Bulgaria
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 104 mb
Bio:
RAMPART was founded in 2006 around the vocalist Maria Diese. Many worthy musicians gave their contribution in building this fortress of Heavy Metal in Bulgaria.Now on guard are: Maria Diese (Vocals), Velislav Kazakov (Drums), Victor Georgiev (Guitars), Yavor Despotov (Guitars), Sebastian Agini (Guitars), Alexander Spiridonov (Bass).The bastion was built in 2008 with the release of the demo “Warriors". It got some highly encouraging feedback from the European metal underground press.In 2009 the band recorded new material and released its debut album "Voice of the Wilderness" via the French label Inferno Records.In 2011 RAMPART recorded their new EP “A Tale to Cold”. It was released as a cassette single in 2011, and as a CD with three bonus tracks in 2012. The band promoted these mini-releases with gigs in the United Kingdom.RAMPART's sophomore concept studio album “War Behest” was released in June, 2012. The band promoted it with a tour in Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Netherlands and France.RAMPART recorded their third album “Завера / Conspiracy” with Bulgarian lyrics in 2013. The CD was released in the fall of 2013 via the Bulgarian label Metal Industries. This album is a special recognition to the Bulgarian metal fans that supported the band throughout the last years. Around 400 of their names are included in the CD booklet.RAMPART had the pleasure to share the stage with bands like FLOTSAM AND JETSAM, SCANNER, SUSPERIA, BLAZE BAYLEY, HATE, ARKONA, WITCHBURNER, GODSLAVE, CRIPPER, GUARDIANS OF TIME, PICTURE, LONEWOLF, ELVENPATH, IRON MASK, METAL WITCH, WIZARD, and many more.The hard work and the releases of RAMPART opened the doors in front of the band for gigs and festival appearances in Germany (Taunus Metal Open Air, Oberursel), Greece (Rock You to Hell Fest, Athens), Belarus (Metal Crowd Festival), Netherlands (Dynamo, Eindhoven), United Kingdom (Guildford and London), Hungary (MetalWar Fest, Budapest), France (Rising Fest II, Dijon), and Belgium (Iron Steel Fest, Genk).The fourth album of the band „Codex Metalum” will be released on 16 March 2016 on the German label Iron Shield Records.The band is constantly planning and working on booking concerts, and this will be announced continuously on the official website and all related pages!RAMPART can’t wait to crush your town and bang their heads together with all of you!
Album:
Bulgarian heavy metallers Rampart strike with their sophomore album 'War Behest'. The lineup features just one member from the last album 'Voice of the Wilderness'. Forming member Maria Doychinova is the vocalist, so all instrumentalists are newcomers. Guitarist Vili Neshev had his chance to create a metal opera, and here it is.Music-wise this is nothing like opera, as this is pure heavy metal. It could be called as true heavy metal, as it contains influences from NWOBHM, German Teutonic metal and US true metal. I was rather surprised, that the intro is the only occasion, when some sound effects are heard. What we get is anything from attacking metal styles to symphonic metal, and to progressive rock elements, calmer and harder bits and surely some heroic power metal stuff, too, besides some Slavic vibes. There is enough of variety in the music, but never excessively. The music is easily the best thing about this album, even though it cannot be called as unique in any way. But this opera bit... I really do not get a feeling, that songs relate to each other. Still, there is a tale here, but to tell the truth, booklet's colour choices are horrible: tiny red text on cyan background. It causes me headache to read it. I should comment about the cover artwork: It is great, and should really strike from among computer generated abominations when browsing CDs in a store.The vocals are nothing like opera either, but heavy metal singing. And Maria is the only vocalist heard, unlike on many metal operas. For some reason, it sounds like Maria's range has narrowed down since the debut album. She just sings off-key, then uses her voice vibration to reach a better note. Plus, her voice isn't that powerful, but still she tries to sound like it was. The vocals do not fit at all with the music, I'm afraid, because the music would need a voice that's much more wider and strong. It sounds like it was pasted over the music and not really being a part of it. I was totally disappointed, just because usually it's a step towards better on a new album, but not this time around.The production is a bit weak for a heavy metal album. The bass rumbles like it should. It's well played with fingers I believe. So you know who it reminds about, right? The guitar tone is warm, but if it was somewhat more biting, it wouldn't hurt. The drums are kind of powerless, especially flapping snare drum. Playing-wise this is okay in all departments. It's not metronome-perfect, but that brings soul to instrumentalists' performances.From the musical point of view this is well above average. The songs are good, even very good. Otherwise, it's not too badly flawed, except for the vocals, which simply do not fit together with the music. I found this album disappointing after an okay debut. Maybe next time, then. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Line Up:
Maria Dièse - Vocals (2006-present)
Villy Neshev - Guitars
Svilen Ivanov - Bass
Peter Svetlinov (R.I.P. 2016) - Drums
Tracklist:
01. Thunder Realm (Prologue) 02:03 instrumental
02. Army of the Perfect 04:41
03. Ghost of Freedom 04:50
04. Within the Silence 04:59
05. Road to the Unknown 05:27
06. Fire Circle 04:39
07. Up in Arms 04:27
08. Storm Force 05:25
09. Give Nothing Back 03:55
10. March on to Victory (Epilogue) 02:46
Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
