As they're one of my all-time favorite bands, I'm always curious to see if anyone else has heard them. My pitch for them is Heart fronting Sevendust covering In Flames tunes.
The central concept of the band is that it was originally the brainchild of Jesper Stromblad and Bjorn Gelotte, guitarists of In Flames. The original demo seems to be a holy grail unobtanium product, produced at the legendary Studio Fredman with Frederik Nordstrom, with the In Flames duo in the original guitar spots. The actual released and available albums and EP have a different guitar duo, more than competent, but less well-known. The star of the pairing is Frederik Johansson, not of Dark Tranquillity, but of Dimension Zero, and also the magician behind the iconic "December Flower" solo from In Flames. This is a vocally-focused band, but he does unleash some magnificent solos from time to time. Even though Jesper and Bjorn aren't part of the band for their output, they do contribute a lot of songwriting and the odd part here and there which shapes the sound of the band. My pet theory is that part of the reason In Flames went downhill in the 00s is that they used all their better ideas for this band.
The other main premise of the band is one that I'm surprised hasn't been tried by more other heavier/harder bands. Two different female singers trading off lead vocals and harmonies fairly equally, with different but complimentary voices and stylings. By comparison, Heart had the Wilson sisters, but Nancy rarely sang any leads. Raving Season has a harsh/clean pairing. Nocturna, Dreams of Sanity, Coronatus, and Satyrian had more of symphonic/operatic styles. All Ends is the only one I've heard of in a hard rock/alt metal format. Tinna Karlsdotter is one of the great unheralded rock singers and is the consistent vocalist among their work. The first EP and album have Emma Gelotte as the co-vocalist, Bjorn's sister. She really has a quite unique voice that pairs exceptionally well with Tinna's. The second album has Jonna Sailon, a rather different but also superb talent.
Joey Skansas on drums is very solid, not particularly flashy, but hard-hitting and groovy, with tasty fills and some double bass for spice from time to time. They also have some Evergrey connections. They briefly toured together at one point, which despite being in somewhat different genres, they both have a soulfulness to their vocal approach that many lack. The original bassist for the first EP and album is Michael Hakansson, who played with Evergrey in the early 00s. And you may have briefly seen Tinna as a backing vocalist on the Evergrey
A Night To Remember DVD. It's one of those "hero of another story" moments.
I'm gonna post a bunch of links and you can just listen to whatever sounds most interesting (hopefully all of them if you have time!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybNAV1UWPocIdeal audition for the band, high-energy rocker, In Flames-esque guitar harmonies, arguably Frederik's most classic solo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqyoPIWtUckSlower but quite driving song, Tinna's second halves of the verses are spectacular
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xVhDeSBov4You know you have a good band/song when they can kill it live on acoustics, Tinna and Jonna are stellar here as well
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2arCptW10oSome of their heaviest riffs, real power from Emma in the verses
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiY3xFFA48YBest showcase for Tinna's range
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imaNBynpmqYMore heavy riffs and another great solo from Frederik
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPeRnM36nd0Cheesy video, but more Emma-verse-centric power ballad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6TtQGsGVWkMid-tempo, more In Flames-style guitar harmonies, cool shred solo from Frederik
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7arhhZy3DCsBeautiful Tori Amos-esque piano ballad from Jonna
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnzDwgv7S0oFun song Tinna and Emma did with Marty Friedman (yes
that Marty) for a Sonic video game
Topic: Is anyone a fan of Swedish band All Ends? (Read 585 times)