For about 6 months now, I have come across a new band with a unique sound; the name of the band is Amaranthe. They released their debut self-titled album back in 2011, and have recently released their second album “The Nexus” in March 2013, with the first single “The Nexus” being released in January 2013.
Amaranthe consists of 6 band members:
Leading vocals – Elize Ryd and Jake E; Growls – Andreas Solverström; Lead
guitar and keyboard – Olof Mörck; Drums – Morten Løwe Sørensen; Bass guitar – Johan Andreassen. The
band was formed by Jake E and Olof Mörck. The band began to take shape once
Elize Ryd, Andreas Solvestrom and Morten Løwe Sørensen signed up to join the band.
After the demo “Leave everything behind” photo shoot, Johan Andreassen who is
the bassist of the band, joined, but he joined before the recording of the
debut album.
Amaranthe was
actually first named Avalanche back when they started the band in 2008, but in
2009, the band changed their name to Amaranthe due to legal issues. Amaranthe
later released their first demo “Leave everything behind” in 2009. Later in the
year 2011, Amaranthe released their debut self-titled album, also releasing 3
singles, “Hunger”, “Amaranthine” and “Rain” in the same year as well as
releasing 2 music videos, “Hunger” and “Amaranthine”. The following year, in
2012, a new music video, “1.000.000 Lightyears”, was released. This music video
featured behind the scenes of the band as well as a live performance in the
continent Asia.
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| A picture of Amaranthe, the band, from left to right: Andreas Solverström, Olof Mörck, Morten Løwe Sørensen, Elize Ryd, Johan Andreassen and Jake E (Picture taken by: Johan Carlén) |
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| Two screenshots from Amaranthe's debut music video "Hunger" |
After Amaranthe’s
debut album, they released their second studio album “The Nexus” 2 years later
in 2013. Amaranthe released their first single “The Nexus” off their second
album back in January 2013 as well as releasing a music video too. Amaranthe
also recently brought out another brand new music video “Burn with me”, which
premiered 17 June 2013. Just before Amaranthe released their second album, I
remember about a week before its release, Amaranthe streamed live on their
website the song “Mechanical Illusion” for their fans to listen to and for fans
to be even more excited for the new album. Their latest album charted in Sweden
with 6 and in Finland with 4.
I hope to see
many new Amaranthe fans and for new fans to listen to Amaranthe’s unique and
incredible music!
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| A picture of both Amaranthe's albums: Amaranthe's self titled album on the left and Amaranthe's "The Nexus" album |
I actually found
out about Amaranthe by chance. One day I was busy looking at new heavy metal
band music videos on YouTube, and there was a playlist on the right hand side
of the page. I think it was something to do with a playlist “recommended for
you” regarding the type of music genre you are listening to on the side of the
YouTube page. There is where I saw it say “Amaranthe – The Nexus” and also the
background was advertising Amaranthe’s new music video, well, it was on Vevo
videos that was advertising their new music video. So I decided to listen to
Amaranthe and see what their music is like as it was in the playlist for heavy
metal bands. What also caught my attention was the photo that was captioned for
the music video was a front woman who was the lead vocals as I never knew there
were two other leading vocals as well in the band. I love listening to bands,
preferably rock/alternative rock/heavy metal bands with a front woman singing
lead vocals. So as I was listening and watching “The Nexus” music video, I saw
Eliza singing and then Andrea sang the screaming/growling parts of the song,
and just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, Jake E started to sing. I
just thought to myself…3 leading vocals, one being a female, a male and another
male who screams, combined together with the music sounds are FANTASTIC!! The
song “The Nexus” is what got me into listening to Amaranthe’s music and now I
cannot get enough of their music.
Amaranthe’s
musical style has been described as pop music that is combined with a heavily
metal core inspired by melodic death metal sound. Their music is also a
combination of clean vocals (A female and male) with screams as well. I find
that extraordinary! Amaranthe’s music is unique because of all the combinations
of vocals and the sound of their music. I honestly haven’t heard anything like
Amaranthe’s musical style. I haven’t even heard it from any person I know. Their music is completely different to what I
would normally listen to. Their music is really powerful and just unique!
Amaranthe’s
latest album is definitely a must-buy! I have noticed that most of their latest
music has a faster beat than their previous album. Some songs like “Afterlife”,
“Stardust”, “Razorblade” and “Electroheart” have a faster beat and a song like
“Burn with me” has a slower sound to it. Amaranthe’s songs are a really good
listen, some songs make you want to jump up on your feet and dance to the beat.
In my opinion, I have gathered that Amaranthe’s latest album is based a theme
about the future, hence the songs “Afterlife”, “The Nexus” and “Future on
hold”. Amaranthe’s songs are very excellent to listen to , I find it really hard
to decide on a couple of favourite songs to choose from the two albums, but if I
had to pick just one song, I would say “The Nexus” is my favourite song as this
is the song that got me into listening to Amaranthe.
In their music
video “The Nexus”, in the beginning, it shows armed men putting 6 of what looks
like a coffin holding each band member in one, in a room. The music video then
shows 57 years later, where all 6 band members wake up and throughout the music
video, they try to escape the facility, but the armed men try to catch them.
Throughout the music video, the armed men fail to capture the 6 band members
and at the end of the music video, all 6 band members eventually escape, but
only to notice everything, especially technology, has changed. An example would
be instead of cars on the road, they are flying in the air. The words: “Will I
wake with a life to remember, as I put the future on Hold”, appears right at
the end of the music video.
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| Amaranthe's "The Nexus" single (left) and two snapshots from "The Nexus" music video (right). Music video directed by Patric Ullaeus |
From when I found
out about Amaranthe, I looked them up on Wikipedia and noticed that Eliza Ryd
was a guest vocalist in a few songs from the band KAMELOT’s latest album
“Silverthorn”, with the lead single “Sacrimony (Angel of Afterlife)”. Alissa
White-Gluz from the band The Agonist was also a guest vocalist in the song. The
two super-talented ladies were also featured in the music video as well. Elize
has also toured with KAMELOT for 4 years already. Elize has recently been a
lead vocalist guest featured on the Land of New Hope, a new metal opera project
by Timo Tolkki called Avalon, in which Elize is the main character. Elize is also a dancer, as in Amaranthe's second music video, "Amaranthine", you could see Elize dance in this music video.
Jake E was previously in the band Dreamland and Dream Evil; Olof was previously in Dragonland and Nightrage, however, Olof is still currently with Nightrage; Andreas previously in Within Y and Cipher System; Morten previously in The Cleansing, Koldborn and Mercenary; Johan being previously in Engel.
Jake E was previously in the band Dreamland and Dream Evil; Olof was previously in Dragonland and Nightrage, however, Olof is still currently with Nightrage; Andreas previously in Within Y and Cipher System; Morten previously in The Cleansing, Koldborn and Mercenary; Johan being previously in Engel.
So there you have
it! That is the band Amaranthe, super talented vocals as well as amazing music
and music videos. If you haven’t heard any of Amaranthe’s music yet, I highly
suggest you do. If you like pop or heavy metal music or you would like to know
what the two music genre’s sound like together, then Amaranthe is the band to
listen to.
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| "Burn with me" single (left) and two snapshots from "Burn with me" music video (right) |
A few songs I
would strongly recommend to you if you want to listen to Amaranthe. From their debut album: “Hunger”,
“Automatic” and “Director’s Cut”. From their second "The Nexus" album: “Afterlife”, “The Nexus” and “Mechanical
Illusion”. If you would want to hear a faster beat, then “Razorblade” and
“Electroheart” would be the best songs to listen to. If you prefer a more
slower/calmer song, then either “Amaranthine” and “Burn with me” would be the
best suggestions.
In conclusion, I
would like to say that Amaranthe is a great band with incredibly talented
vocals and musicians. Every day from when I first found out about Amaranthe, I
have been listening to their music, sometimes even the same song 3 times a day.
I haven’t seen them perform live yet, well if I did I would have written about
my experience already, but I hope to see and meet Amaranthe and tell them how
incredible they all are! There is not a day that goes by without hearing at
least a few of their sings on my music player. If it weren’t for every single
band member, Amaranthe wouldn’t be the same. All 6 band members are Amaranthe,
and nothing can change that. All 6 band members make up Amaranthe.
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| Amaranthe recent photo shoot (Photo credit: Ville Akseli Juurikkala). Amaranthe band (left) and the female singer, Elize Ryd (right) |
You can check out
Amaranthe’s Official website, Twitter and Facebook accounts as well as see the
band member’s personal fan pages on Facebook and Twitter:
Amaranthe:
Band members:
Elize Ryd:
Jake E:
Olof Mörck:
Here are the most
recent music videos released by Amaranthe you can look at:
Thank you to all
who read this post,
It is much
appreciated!
