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Monday, February 09, 2009

Chp 224. The Women in my Life!



I thought of calling this post – A tribute to women of Metal, but then, I know how unworthy I am to make such a humongous mammoth topic.


I don’t want to misguide metal fans all over the world into coming here hoping to find famous Metal women, only to find a few selective ones. Like how 90% of the visitors who came to my 2006 post "Underworld - 3"– a sardonic fiction I wrote about interracial relationships based on the movie, were actually looking for the official Movie review!

[In my defense, I had no idea they were going to make part 3 back then! And oh by the way, I went for the First Day First Show of "Underworld – Rise of the Lycans" on Friday, and it was AMAZINGGG, though a bit disappointed that it was only 80 minutes long. Do watch it in theatre if you’re a true Underworld fan… psst psst, yea I know, aXXo hasn’t released the divX rip yet ]

Hence in order to avoid messing with SEM, I call this post "The women in my life" - Women that I have deep (and a wee bit disturbing) crushes on these days.

A must read for Metal fans or those who want to experiment with new music.

I’ve already mentioned a couple of Symphonic Gothic babes in my post "Sweet Gothic Love" that covered some of the more popular bands like Epica, Sirenia, Nightwish, Lacuna Coil, Theatre of Tragedy, Tristania, After Forever, Within Temptation, Eden Bridge and Lullacry. This post is more about female vocalists that really really touched me (emotionally speaking ).




First of all, there is Doro.

Love her! Her music style nostalgically reminds me of those Alannah Myles "Black Velvet" and Joan Jett "I love rock and roll / I hate myself for loving you" days.



What I really love about Doro (formerly the vocalist of Warlock) is that her style is exactly like those 80s 90s rock style, and yet she is still able to pull it off even today. In fact, her most recent album was released just last month - Jan 30th (9 days ago!). The album’s called "Fear No Evil", where she paid a tribute to ROCK with her song "Celebrate" (my favorite song in this album).

We celebrate our love for Rock and Metal
We raise our heads as we salute
Tonight we share our love for Rock and Metal
There's nothing more we wanna do

Seriously, we all love that era but how many bands do you know that still play in that style? I can bet my metal-crazy ass anybody listening to this 2009 album would assume it’s a blast from the past. That’s why she is truly the queen of Metal.

Here is the official trailer of her new album, courtesy afmrecords



Enjoy!




Ok now, moving to a little bit more symphonic gothic metal, I give you – Sirenia!

Sirenia’s latest album featuring their new spanish vocalist Ailyn is a must buy, and is worth every penny. No offense to the former vocalists, but I really really love this new album and Ailyn delivered perfectly. Plus she is sooo cute!



Here is their official promo, courtesy Nuclear Blast Records:



See how difficult it is not to fall in love with her! That cute smile, that innocent laughter, that romantic accent, that childish giggle, and yet all those with such dark gothic aura… oooh boy, I am sooo in love!

Listen to these small samples I made of three of my fav songs from their latest album. They are of around 1 minute each only. Thank you dear Eve for showing me how to do this!

It’s just a sample so I hope I won’t get sued for this Plus hey, I am giving them more publicity, free of charge! Also hoping Google won’t delete my post!!! (I’ve always been a very good boy. I swear!)

Here is my favorite song from this album: "Led Astray" [1:02]



Here is another song entitled "The Mind Maelstorm" [1:00] with classic symphonic gothic Gregorian chants, a style that many other bands follow too.



Another song called "Beyond life’s scenery" [0:48], magnifying Ailyn’s alluring voice. If she was a sultry siren, I would gladly captain my ship straight to its rocky death just to listen to her fatal songs! [Refer Odysseus and Sinbad legends]



Now go buy the album before it’s out of stock!




Dark Moor.

Another great band, sometimes categorized as Power Metal. Although there are no female vocalists in the band currently, they still use a lot of female back-up vocals. I would love to see them hire a female frontwoman again. I miss you Elisa!!!



Here is my favorite song called "The Emperor" from their latest album "Tarot".



Also listen to "Devil in the tower" from this album if you buy it. It’s another great symphonic gothic song.




Dark Princess.

One of those symphonic gothic vocalists with a unique voice, the kind that seems to transport you across a serene river amidst time standing still, the kind that gives you an out of body experience as the song transports you to an unblemished Paradise. Meet Olga Romanov, vocalist of the band "Dark Princess".



See if you like her style of songs. This one is called "Living in me".






Battlelore.

A very unique gothic and folk metal band. All their songs are based on J.R.R.Tolkien’s Middle Earth! If you’re a fan of his books or the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and into symphonic Metal, then you are bound to love this band! (They also sing a couple of death metal, which I personally don’t like coz I’m not into that genre. But I love their other songs.)

Another thing very unique about this Finnish gothic band – their vocalist Kaisa is an Indonesian! - Something that you usually don’t see in these kinda bands. And boy do I loveeee her clear pristine voice!



Although their latest album "The Last Alliance" was released last year, I haven’t laid my hands on it yet, so I will talk about my two favorite songs from their album "Third Age of the Sun".

Elves of Lúva – A slow melodic song about the Elves. It has a very raw appeal, and there is a slight North-eastern accent in her English (!) which makes me love this song even more! Feels like one of our local celebrities singing it.




Valier - Queens of the Valar. My favorite song from this album. Listen to the sample [1:08] and you will know why it is my favorite.



You can also listen to the complete song here.




Next on my list is… Tarja Turunen!

First of all, most of you must be knowing Alice Cooper right?

Yeah that famous 70s to 90s Glam Rock band many of us grew up listening to. "Poison" is undoubtedly their most famous song (seriously which Mizo of that era can ever forget "one look, two look, three look, four look" !!! )

Well, my deep crush for the past 5 years Tarja Turunen (ex-frontwoman of Nightwish) came out with her first studio solo album called "My Winter Storm" in 2007 and did a cover of "Poison", which I must admit is freaking awesome.



Here is a slide-show of the song "Poison" by Tarja, courtesy nikoletka2525



For my Mizo visitors, well the other night I was having a discussion with some of my friends – which Mizo pop icon could pull this song off like how Tarja did? We shortlisted the vocalists to two finalists – Mami Varte and Tetei Ralte.



Please feel free to vote! Listen to Tarja’s version and tell me who would "fit" her voice better.








And to end this post… how can I talk about Tarja Turunen and not talk about her former band Nightwish?

Meet Anette Olzon, the new Nightwish vocalist.



The internet community is still deeply divided between who is better, Tarja or Annette. Well, I will not give my opinion, because I love them both and I think they are not comparable as they have different styles. You be the judge, my friend.

Below are two music videos from Nightwish’s latest album featuring Anette: Dark Passion Play [2007] courtesy Nuclear Blast Records.

Bye Bye Beautiful:



Amaranth:



So do YOU think Anette Olzon is better/equal/worse compared to Tarja Turunen? When she joined Nightwish, she must have known that she had some pretty big shoes high-heels to fill. Do you think she managed to fill it?

Cheers, and rock on!!!



If you like this post or you’re a fan of Doro or gothic metal bands like Nightwish, Sirenia, or you’re deeply in love with Ailyn, Tarja etc, feel free to digg!



35 comments:

Andy Varte said...

Nice... to see the post and to learn that there are still true Metal fans out there... am not personally into Nu Metal, Gothic (with a 'k' if you want), Rap Metal, EMO Metal etc... (I'm the type who stuck with the hair-bands and worships male vocalists like Bruce Dickinson, Rob Halford, Ronnie James Dio, Geoff Tate etc.) but due to my bandmates' admiration of the bands you've mentioned and their vocalists (what about Sharon Den Adel from Within Temptation?)I've been listening to a lot of music from the genre lately... have you heard (and seen!) the girl who sings for Blackmore's Night? She sings great!

Carey Suante said...

Shit! I was hoping to read about the GFs, the one night stands, the love at first sights,almost GFs, etc. How disappointing!

Mizohican said...

@ Andy: Yup I've already mentioned Sharon den Adel of Within Temptation in my previous Gothic post Sweet Gothic Love. She's one of my fav female frontwomen. If you want to read more of male speed metal and stuff, here's another recent post of mine: A little bit of speed. Speed Metal!

Loveeee Dio, Judas Priest and Queensryche from your list, but was never the Dickinson kinda guy. Yeah, I dont consider Maiden that high in my list :-) Very funny though, coz I think Maiden is the only band from among the NWOBHM that I am not so crazy about, compared to so many ppl I know who are crazy about them. lolz. Thats me. hehe.


@ Carey: lolzzzz. hehehe, I dont have such stuff to talk about in my blog so you will never find such stuff here. Comon, I am pushing 30 and am still crazy about gothic metal - do I look like the type who managed to find a girlfriend????? :-)

Lal Jo-a said...

I was hoping the same as Carey, thinking the post will list out girls from the Nobody's City Dilli. ;P Well its really a coincidence that i was thinking of making a post about my youtube crush list. haha. But then, haven't started yet.

Metal chicks are way hotter than any other chicks in the world. For me Christina Scabbia and Kat Von D would top my list.

Now we've seen enuf metal-topic posts, how about the boyband stuff and not to missed out your favourite life-changing song "barbie girl" ?? :D

EPISTEMOLOGY said...

I was more than a freaking diehard fan of metal… but, my taste in music has changed quite a bit since last year! enge a chhan pawh ka hre chiah lo..maybe another sign of old age. A hla thu content te ka han ngaipawimawh thar leh viau a..! Tunhnai lawk atang khan opera -te ka tuipui thar leh vel a! can't believe myself..!@

Pixie said...

I actually liked a couple of songs! :)

Mizohican said...

@ Joseph: Do make your metal chick list. Dying to check it out. Is Britney Spears still on the top of your list? :P

It is soooo hard to get over these crushes!!! arrrrghh what to dooo!!!??


@ hruaia: hehehe boss, see I think it is in our "hrahsel" bloodline to love metal! :) Yeah I think this cycle of interest change frequently for me too, but metal is something I will always be crazy about. Metal till I die! :D


@ Pixie: Wow thank you!!! See I told you you would! And slowly the transformation begins for Pixie... *GRIN*

Eveline said...

Dude! I dig this post.. Women of metal are smokin hot!
Lacuna Coil and Nightwish rule! Of course, i prefer the old Nightwish better. Anette Olzon, in my opinion, doesn't measure up to Tarja Turunen's vocals but I guess both vocalists are good, with their own unique styles, and would be safe from serious criticism if they did their own thing.

And i liked Sirenia and Dark Princess. Awesome music Kima.
The next post with a title like this one begs for more personal info. ;P

s.n.m said...

u used to consider avril lavigne metal back in '04!

Mizohican said...

@ s.n.m: lolzzzz big brother! hahaha... yeah the same way you used to consider Bryan Adam's "Summer of 69" the greatest Metal song and lead guitaring you've ever heard, right? I remember seeing you give that ROCK salutations sign of the devil with your fingers when summer of 69 was playing... lolzzz!!! How's Singapore???


@ Eveline: Once again, a big thank you for showing me how to play mp3zzz, although the pink player button is a bit out of sync with the Metal theme :-D

Thanx for listening to my music and appreciating them.. and of course any dig or digg is always welcome *wink*

And you know what? Women of Metal are indeed hot... but when a woman says that, it sounds even hotter!!! :-)

Hriatpuia Pa said...

I just finished reading Khuswant Singh's 'Men & Women in My Life', then.. there is this post..but! I was a little bit disappointed.. like Carey. BTW this post would surely be interesting for those who loved Metal, unlike me. :D

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Mizohican said...

@ Interracialmatch: Bloody BOT. Shooo!


@ Zaia: Hotupa, thanx for the comment. lolz I seem to be disappointing a lot of people here! haha. Well, I guess in future I will keep this in mind! :-)

Site manager said...

Where the hell have I been? I skimmed over the post, then pondered, my finger hovering over the mouse.... I clicked and holy shit, some really good stuff. You have opened my ears... thanks!

vana said...

Bro, ngihnawm thei hle mai. Games ah hian star ka nei ve thin.. like Mona in max payne 2. Hmeltha chu hmuh an nuam alom :). Chhungril hi a lo ni zawk daih mai..hehe. Nice pics. Ka vote lo mai ang, vote tur a chiang tlat.

Mizohican said...

@ Justagrail: Ah thank you :-) They are indeed some really good stuff, once you click on the play button of the samples. Thats why I made them just 1 min long with slight reduction in quality.


@ Vana: hehehehe.... one of my bestest fren who is also into these same symphonic gothic metal (in fact it was him who introduced them to me more than 10 years ago) was once extremely crazyyyy about Lara Croft!!!! (Hope you read this... lal opie! lolz) This was around '99. He used to adorn his entire walls with giant posters of Lara and everywhere you see, it was just Lara Lara Lara. Even all his ex girlfriends bore a slight resemblance to Lara (and some of them confess he even calls them Lara in bed...) Hence I understand what you mean by saying you have crushes on Games characters. :-)

ooo han vote ve la, tu maw a chiang i tih chu? :D

Lucy In The Sky said...

Kayzz...Latest post.

Rinoma said...

just had a quick glimpse and someone's missing.. Christina Scabbia??

Mizohican said...

@ Lucy: Kayzz indeed! :-P

@ Rinoma: Have mentioned Christina Scabbia in my precious Gothic post: Sweet Gothic Love. She's indeed a hottie and one of my fav too (voted by Revolver magazine as one of the hottest chicks in Metal). But decided not to mention any of those babes in that post again, except of course for Sirenia since they released an album recently :-) Thanx for the comment.

Anonymous said...

he he he...should i comment or no comments?.. what a coincidence as i was listening to Tarja and her version of cooper's poison this evening.. i can understand your feelings... use to and still love listening to heavenly voices of these goth queens with a bottle/bottles of fermented liquids under the dark open sky....i made a deduction that most listeners of goth metal love things like tolkien, surreal and impressionist paintings, fermented stuffs, being alone, haruki muarakami, travels, etc.


zualbonez

Anonymous said...

va tha hlawm reuh ve! and it's so so gud to know that ur fav life changing song is 'barbie girl'!:-)) this again proved that 'u r a real man for women' not for 'men's man'. u rocked always. u know that!

lalrimtuii

Mizohican said...

@ zualbonez: You hit the nail right on the head. All that go extremely well with the voices of these gothic babes, and I guess others will never understand the kick we get, the way we are ferried across such a glistering calm river amidst a thunderous and tempestuous horizon... the emotion is extremely overwhelming. Its like the flashpoint of Heaven and Hell meeting at a junction. A Hellvenly experience!!!!!


@ lalrimtui: HAHA yeah "barbie girl" really changed my life :-P you see, every man should have a little woman in them to understand the man in a woman that they love :-P Yeah I am becoming philosophical here... all thanx to urrmmm... barbie girl :-P

Jean Chia aka Ms.Yummy~licious said...

hi sandman, you've just been tagged with love! Come & join me in the Valentine's Love. :)

J@n!ce said...

Your post is soooooo LONG. hahaha....
It seems endless scrolling down to find this box. hehehe.

Happy Valentine's Day to you.
Come & spread the V love with me :)

http://janiceng.blogspot.com/2009/02/valentines-love.html

Mizohican said...

Done! @Janice and @Jean.

Thanx for the tag.

So now I have a PINK banner about love and mushy valentines on my dark gothic influenced blog... thanx! :) See, thats what real friends do for each other!

:D

Jean Chia aka Ms.Yummy~licious said...

haha.. mushy valentines sounds great, sandman! thanks for spreading the love! im so happy to see the pink banner in yr cool gothic blog! :)

Jean Chia aka Ms.Yummy~licious said...

i've added you to the list at no.19! Happy Valentine's to you! :)

Mariuca said...

Hey there handsome! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha..I see the PINK banner here, you are truly a real friend, that's so true!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S day, I am sure u and GF will spend the day together, have fun! :):):)

Mizohican said...

@ Marzie: PINK is the new GOTH, didnt you hear? :P

Me no have GF. Me simply single. Me enjoying even then. :D You have fun with B.

@ Jean: Now if you can just tell me where in the html I can insert this instead of "My Gadgets" so as to make it move along with scroll... :D

Mariuca said...

Sandman! See u are on my Top Mariucan monthly list woo hoo!!!

1. LadyJava (59)
2. Jean (34)
3. Monica (28)
4. Jackie (16)
5. gagay (11)
6. Grandy (8)
7. Roxy's Best Of... (7)
8. Phatelara (7)
9. foongpc (6)
10. Kima (5)

Mariuca said...

What?? No GF? Oh no what happened to ur GF? :(

Ahhhhhh if only u were here Sandman, I'd happily matchmake u with some of my single lady friends, you'd make a good catch he he he! :):):)

Mizohican said...

I made it to your list? Niceee! Finally! wooohoooo. Now I am am two lists of yours. One is this Top Mariucan, and the other... ahermm, we cannot discuss in public here... *WIDE GRIN*

Yeah no GF. The breakup happened with the missus. Am a lone stag now, roaming the desert of forlorness all by myself like a true cowboy, whistling my song of sadness with the wind my only companion...

Jean Chia aka Ms.Yummy~licious said...

yay, the banner is moving along as we scroll! smart la u, sandman! figure it out all by yrself!! Good job! :)

Mariuca said...

How I'd love to roam the desert of forlorness with u Sandman! ;)

Mizohican said...

@ Jean: yay!!! :D And my frens too tell me they love your banner! :)

@ Marzie: sweets, check out my latest post :D A Valentine's Day post... ermmm... :)