Seems like more straight rock, but Damna of Elvenking fronts this band, so I thought it might be interesting to some of you. I kind of dig it.
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Hell In The Club
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DemonOfTheWoods
Your option out of here
Palabra de Dios
Heavy Metal Weatherman
This (obviously) has nothing to do with what makes Elvenking good. This is the opposite of Elvenking.
Damnagoras' (I don't call him 'Damna') voice is one of my favorite parts of Heathenreel. I like Elvenking, I do. But talking to Damnagoras when they were at ProgPower (somehow me and a few friends ended up at a very late night dinner with them at Steak and Shake), it became clear that he somewhat regrets starting the band Elvenking. It's like he knows that a band called Elvenking can't become that successful with the masses. Like, it was cool at first, but now that he's a touring musician he wants something that more people will like. The Scythe definitely brought in some elements that showed that they wanted more mass appeal. I think it comes from Damnagoras. Maybe he's embarrassed that he's in a band with such a fantasy name? I don't know. But this shows that his interest is making music with mass appeal. This is pop rock that reminds me of modern Bon Jovi or something like that.
I'll hold off on saying "this sucks"...just that it's not for me. And the thing that 'sucks' is that I fear that this represents a paradigm shift that will ultimately lead to either the end of Elvenking or Damnagoras' exit of the band where I feel his voice best fits.
They've never topped Heathenreel. I doubt anything they do will. There were hints at that youthfulness on Tragedy Poets, but it wasn't the same.
I will reiterate: this band has nothing to do with Elvenking. I'm not surprised, but I guess I'm disappointed that it's come to this.
Damnagoras' (I don't call him 'Damna') voice is one of my favorite parts of Heathenreel. I like Elvenking, I do. But talking to Damnagoras when they were at ProgPower (somehow me and a few friends ended up at a very late night dinner with them at Steak and Shake), it became clear that he somewhat regrets starting the band Elvenking. It's like he knows that a band called Elvenking can't become that successful with the masses. Like, it was cool at first, but now that he's a touring musician he wants something that more people will like. The Scythe definitely brought in some elements that showed that they wanted more mass appeal. I think it comes from Damnagoras. Maybe he's embarrassed that he's in a band with such a fantasy name? I don't know. But this shows that his interest is making music with mass appeal. This is pop rock that reminds me of modern Bon Jovi or something like that.
I'll hold off on saying "this sucks"...just that it's not for me. And the thing that 'sucks' is that I fear that this represents a paradigm shift that will ultimately lead to either the end of Elvenking or Damnagoras' exit of the band where I feel his voice best fits.
They've never topped Heathenreel. I doubt anything they do will. There were hints at that youthfulness on Tragedy Poets, but it wasn't the same.
I will reiterate: this band has nothing to do with Elvenking. I'm not surprised, but I guess I'm disappointed that it's come to this.
Diabolik
Member
This is very interesting....I felt this with just the music they have done since he rejoined. I liked the Winters Wake but it was not near as great as Heathenreel.....this is coming from a huge Elvenking fan. I see Damnagoras' pulling a Tobias soon and changing the sound of the band like with Edguy or just leaving finally ending the band itself. I think the name fits the music but people generally laugh at the name Elvenking when ever I mention it.
Claus / Intromental
20 years of uniting the powers of metal
I always thought that he was a horrible singer, and I never liked Elvenking. But this is really good melodic hard rock (duh! there are two Secret Sphere members in the band) and his voice fits pretty good to this.
I like it!
I like it!
Palabra de Dios
Heavy Metal Weatherman
Yeah I tried hard not to come off as a dick in my post. It's good for what it is I guess but it's just not for me...and it's not Elvenking!
But it was great to have seen them live, and playing "Pagan Purity" and they all signed my copy of Heathenreel, which will likely be in my top 10 favorite power metal albums ever. Or folk metal albums. Or albums.
But it was great to have seen them live, and playing "Pagan Purity" and they all signed my copy of Heathenreel, which will likely be in my top 10 favorite power metal albums ever. Or folk metal albums. Or albums.
I'm sure he goes by David in Hell In the Club.
Also, to everything you said: It's not like he's giving Elvenking up. You're right, in that they're all a little annoyed by the band name. Nothing you can do about it now though. They've made mention they have no intentions of changing the name of the band.
And I would highly doubt he has any intention of leaving Elvenking.
I disagree whole heartedly. The Winter Wake was superior in almost every way to Heathenreel.
Purveyor Of Evil
Heavy Metal, INC.
AeonicSlumber
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The fact that they never got big anywhere has nothing to do with their name and more to do with the fact that they are from Italy.
Diabolik
Member
While I really like Elvenking I find this too much modern glam rock for me. I am glad that Damnagorus seems to be doing what he likes. Maybe when Elvenking makes a new recording he will have gotten this out of the way and do an amazing job on their new material. 
AeonicSlumber
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How many bands in metal from Italy actually do anything on a worldwide scale? Rhapsody and Lacuna Coil. It's a terrible market for CD sales and it makes less and less sense for a big German or US label to sign Italian bands because they won't be able to sell many records in that country. It happens from time to time, and the scene is starting to grow over there, but I've heard stories about Italian bands moving to the US because the market is so shit over there.
Diabolik
Member
there is a terrible market for CD sales all over the world. You named 2 pretty big bands who do sell CD's and draw crowds to their shows there. There are other countries that you cant even do that with. Or even states for that matter if you took each state of the US as a seperate entity.
Bands move around all the time. What bands have moved from Italy to the US to make it big? just curious
AeonicSlumber
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That's right. The vast majority of countries are terrible markets for CDs, which is why we very rarely see any sort of successful bands come out of them. Why do you think there are only like 3 semi-big bands from Poland, one huge band from France, etc? Italy is one country out of a bunch. Rhapsody and Lacuna Coil are pretty much the ONLY two bands that managed to establish any sort of hold within the worldwide market from Italy. However, for labels it makes much more sense to sign bands from territories with populations that buy music. For example, why would a German label sign a small unknown Polish band when it can sign a small unknown German band and know that the chances of people buying the German band's CDs are much higher because that country is the band's (and the label's) bread and butter?
Also (and no offense) but the fact that you're bringing up US states in this is proof that you're just trying to argue me for the sake of doing so. It doesn't matter what state your band comes from, those sales are US sales. Nobody looks at each state in the US as a separate entity...
AeonicSlumber
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Diabolik
Member
so they could have stayed in Italy and saved the money they spent on moving?
Back to the topic at hand. I am finally able to listen to this....it is good for what it is but something I would never buy in a million years.
KingsGene
God of Thunder
Palabra de Dios
Heavy Metal Weatherman
We'll just have to disagree on this one. It was a good effort, and I looked forward to Damnagoras' return back to the band just as much as anyone. But...no. Some moments on the album are superior, and Heathenreel has a couple of songs toward the end that aren't as strong as its first half, but there was something magical about Heathenreel that they've just never recaptured in my opinion.
