Out of the Blue is, quiet literally, out of the blue a new hardcore band from the Netherlands. They don’t have Facebook, but they do have an Instagram page and more importantly, a debut track on Spotify. Go check them out!
Hij is er weer, de MetalFromNL Tiplijst. Nummer 8 staat weer vol afwisselende tracks van eigen bodem. Nieuwe muziek van Verwoed en Wrang, maar ook van Colombian Necktie en voor mij onbekende band Seven Spritis Burning. Check de tiplijst via Mixloud en Youtube.
Mixcloud
Youtube
Slipknot plays with masks. Batushka tries to remain anonymous. And of course Sleep Token is the most recent band that tries to remain mysterious and anonymous while playing with masks. When No Kings Allowed contacted me to let me know that they are at least part Dutch, I kinda wondered why they let me know if they insist on staying anonymous. But to this day I at least have no clue about where these guys are from or who they are. Other than that they are, partly at least, from the Netherlands. Let’s dive into their album and at least figure out if we actually like this band enough to proudly claim them as a Dutch Metalband on MetalFromNL.
Being an anonymous band not much is known about No Kings Allowed. They first showed up in November 2023 with their single The Will Of My God, which is still a favorite of this album for me. Shortly after, in December, they released Getting Along, with a pop-art cover art that reminded me of Marvel comics. Superheroes after all? This single didn’t make it onto the album, however.
Dethroned was released in the beginning of this month on the 8th of March. And I really have to say, I’m blown away by this debut album. The overall quality is really high. As is the quality of this band’s media presence. If you for instance check out their Instagram, it’s a well thought-out image. All the photos and videos have a similar style, gritty, bold, and portraying a raw energy that we would love to see on stage. That’s the same energy that’s heard on the album as well. In an age where media presence is everything, these guys understood the brief well.
Then again, as I said, not much is known. There isn’t a bio, there is no explanation for the album, no lyrics, no origin story. No Kings Allowed just ‘is’. And that is intriguing. So let’s just discuss the music.
Dethroned consists of no less than 13 tracks, all of which are actual tracks, so no fillers in the 54 minutes of destruction No Kings Allowed brings us. With 13 tracks, I’m not going to discuss them all, so I’ll just discuss some highlights. The opening track No Kings Allowed has an opening sequence, however, so the song doesn’t really start till about 2 minutes in. The guitars are crisp and tight, and the production of the album is on point. The whole album is filled with catchy riffs, aggressive vocals and enough breakdowns and solos to keep it interesting. With various layers of guitars, drums, and the necessary samples, the tracks are well-balanced and performed without flaws. Judging from their video and overall style, No Kings Allowed really does deliver the full package; these guys (or girls?) are more than ready to climb the stage.
As I said in the beginning, The Will of My God is still my favorite track of the album. It feels like a party track with the fast riffs and the catchy chorus. We get a glimpse of the electronic influences during the break as well, as well as some nice chuggah chuggah breaks. The break and the part right after are my favorite parts of the track, aside from the chorus. It was smart of No Kings Allowed to release this track first, it’s a great hit to start your musical career with.
Judas Kiss is another one of my favorites. It has a different vibe, since it starts a whole lot slower. It starts off as somewhat of a power ballad, but it’s not long before we head back into up-tempo riffs again. Again, a track layered with catchy riffs and a good balance between moshpit riffs and a slower, more emotive chorus.
Dethroned, which the band released a video for as well, has a bit of the same energy as The Will of My God. Again a memorable riff that will stick to your brain like a fly to honey. It’s something No Kings Allowed does well; interesting, recognizable riffs. It’s hard to write good hooks, and No Kings Allowed has plenty. We get treated with a guitar solo on this track as well. The sweeping start is nice, but it feels like there could have been a little more work put into the solo. We don’t mind though, it’s just a small nit-picky thing to say about an overall great track.
We March starts off with some samples, and features some female vocals on the track as well. It has an epic vibe, and could have been the soundtrack to a movie or game. It shows us another aspect of this band, without losing the aggression and tightness we’ve come to enjoy so far on the album.
Sometimes you come across an album that you keep on playing. Dethroned is like that. I’ve played this album at least 20 times before starting this review, and I’m still not tired of hearing it. Two tracks made it to my personal favorites playlist, and that’s certainly not the case with everything I review. Of course, there are some tracks that are ‘just nice’ and not necessarily the best of the album, but overall, this album is of such high quality that I can’t help but wonder who is behind these masks. We will hopefully never find out. I hope the band remains a mystery but will be getting to the stages near us pretty soon!
You can find No Kings Allowed on Facebook.
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nGenre: heavy metal
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History of Edsattic
The band’s history started somewhere in 1993, when 3 friends, who grew up in
the same neighborhood in Rijswijk, South-Holland, joined forces.
Edwin “Edzy” Haan (guitars & vocals), Marco “Drie” Drioel (keyboards & vocals)
and Arjen “Ardjensan” van der Toorn (guitars & vocals) each had their own specific influences. Their mutual goal became to create heavy rockin’ metal in the vein
of great examples like Kiss, Dio, Yngwie Malmsteen, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Slayer, Kreator, Obituary and many more!
After numerous, intense jam sessions on Ed’s attic, the first real songs took shape.
The band’s live debut as a trio took place on May 28th, 1994, at a local festival, which was also broadcast on radio. Later that year longtime friend Aad joined Edsattic on bass. In January ’95 he was introduced as the new band member at the next gig, which took place at “De Koornbeurs” in Delft.
After participating in full line-up at the next edition of the same local festival in Rijswijk, the band released their self-produced 4-track demo-tape called “ON”.
In the course of 1995/1996 several more gigs followed; among others at “Big Confusion” in Den Haag, “Nederland3” in Wateringen and “Don Bosco” in Rijswijk.
Edsattic gained popularity and for a while the band seemed to be world famous
in their own hometown…
But then guitarist Arjen decided to quit the band because he wanted to expand his musical horizons. So, he did by joining the death/thrash metal band Spheres
and later the symphonic metal band Magion, which was quite successful.
Meanwhile Edsattic went into hibernation.
Through the years the band members remained good friends though.
In June 2008 Edsattic was reactivated for a special gig at “Nederland3” to celebrate both Ed’s and Marco’s 40th birthdays. For this occasion, the band was joined by David de Waal (Magion) on drums and Lee van Diest (Ugly Sin) on bass.
This collaboration worked out well and the 3 original members were back to the vibe again. So, they decided to record a bunch of songs in this specific formation.
Somewhere in 2009, 6 tracks were recorded & mixed by longtime friend Raymond Vogelaar (Natha Lee, Rocksville) and mastered by Chris Vrij (Spheres, Magion).
However, Edsattic’s debut album, which will most probably be titled “Once Upon”,
is yet to be officially released.
In February 2011 Arjen was having his heavy 40th birthday bash at “Musicon”,
Den Haag, with the participation of Edsattic, Magion and old-time metal buddies Acrid.
The band was joined on stage once more by David de Waal on drums and bass duties were shared by Raymond Vogelaar and Chris Vrij.
After this event Edsattic fell silent again…
Early 2014 Magion broke up and Arjen was looking for new opportunities.
Somewhere in 2015 Edwin and Arjen hooked up with old friend René “Bollie” Bol,
who started playing the drums at a later age.
After a few inspiring jam sessions, they decided to continue Edsattic together and Marco joined again as well.
While they started rehearsing on a regular basis, the search was on for a new bass player. Eventually they found the right person in the colourful, at the time 20-year-old Dianthe “Didi” Schroor.
Edsattic was back on track. Stronger than ever, eager to write new songs and ready to take any stage by storm!
The first official gig in the new line-up took place on October 20th, 2018, at “Saturnus”, Scheveningen. Exciting performances followed at resp. “Nederland3” in Wateringen, “Popradar” & “Musicon” in Den Haag, “De Koornbeurs” in Delft and “De Boerderij”
in Zoetermeer.
But then Corona struck, having a great negative impact for a longer period on many activities and initiatives worldwide; causing them to be postponed or cancelled…
On April 30th, 2022, we felt happy to pick up the thread again of playing live in front of an audience at “JJ Music House” in Zoetermeer, sharing the stage with our friends of Rocksville.
Amazing shows took place at “Popradar”, Den Haag, at the annual BBQ-fest of “Rugby Club Delft” and at “Mevrouw Laten Staan” in Zoetermeer.
Meanwhile a long-cherished wish came true when Edwin started to build a music practice center consisting of 2 fully equipped rehearsal rooms in “De Plaspoelpolder”, Rijswijk, South-Holland (www.oefenruimterijswijk.nl). Thus, providing Edsattic with new Head Quarters and enabling other bands to rehearse throughout the week as well.
After 30 years of existence a new era has started in 2024, as Edsattic-songs are being released 1 by 1 through a whole range of popular digital channels, like Spotify, Facebook, Instagram, Wikipedia, Metalfrom.nl, TuneLink, etc.
Edsattic play Metal with a lot of variation; mainly melodic, many times very heavy and sometimes fast. The style is more often described as “old-school”, but not predictable.
The lyrics handle topics like tragic events, horror stories and personal experiences.
Vocal duties are being shared, as vocal melodies range from clean to harsh.
Live on stage Edsattic deliver an energetic, enthusiastic and captivating performance.
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Embers of Oblivion has been around for almost 10 years, and this year, 6 years after their album Widdershins Path, the are planning to release a new EP. Ride the Waves of Torment is the first single from that release. If you like melodic death metal, be sure to give this track a spin!
Dutch guitarist Noud Smeets gathered up a bunch of guest muscians to create his debut master piece with his project Garden of Souls. On the 8th of march, he released the album Anam Care. Expect incredibly technical guitar riffs, melodic death metal with some progressive influences. The album is mainly instrumental, but with the help of guest artists, there are some vocals on the album too. Go check it out on Spotify
More new music. For I Have Sinned has released their debut EP ‘Forgive Me’ on Spotify last week. Another metalcore band joins the scene with 5 brand new tracks.
#metal #dutchmetal #metalfromnl #metalcore #newmusic #newrelease #debutep
@marco_forihavesinned
Not really a fan of the easterbunny? Looking for something to blast your parents-in-law out of the house with? Try some Frontline Despair! The band just released their debut album ‘Pure Fucking War’ and it’s loud. Check the album on Spotify!
#metal#dutchmetal#metalfromnl#frontline#black#thrash#war#warthemed#newalbum#newrelease#newmusic#localband#supportyourlocals
@frontline_despair
