Holdeneye
This is the first progressive metal album I've loved in quite some time. Phenomenal songwriting, instrumental virtuosity, and stellar vocal performances make this one of the most unique and strongest releases of 2020.
Favorite track: Concrete Cages.
reheller
An amazing band with the great voice Noa Gruman! Versatility and instrumentation are as remarkable as the use of choirs. Go, Scardust, go!
Favorite track: Huts.
sigi64
This is the kind of prog metal, I love. Slow parts change with heavy riffs and the amazing voice of Noa.
I would like to see them live in Germany if possible.
Favorite track: Break The Ice.
Adult Choir: Hellscore
Basses: Ido Tzahi Ron, Itamar Menuhin, Itay Shanny, Lev Kerzhner, Ofir Kedar, Tamir Lousky, Yarden Gruman
Tenors: Baruch Gruman (Bam), Dekel Adler, Denis Den Greenberg, Dmitry Fridrichow, Gal Bar-On, Gopal Nativ Shmueli, Kfir Ben Aroia, Lev Kerzhner, Ofir Arnon, Yarden Gruman
Altos: Hilla Bernstein, Michal Friedman, Olga Nehmad, Reut Paz Natovich, Shani Gruman, Shay Hochberg, Yamit Eden, Zohar Meir
Sopranos: Atalya Emily Shuorki, Atar Abramson, Carmel Cohen, Enav Kedar, Leah Marcu, Maayan Gad, Rinat Gruman, Victoria Smolensky, Yonit Vareika
Children's Choir: Harriet Lowe, James Craig, Sebastian Freethy, Summer Wilson-Boyd, Zoe Carling and the Westbrook Hay Prep School Chamber Choir
Choirmaster: Chris Wagstaff
Hurdy Gurdy (tracks 1&5) and Vocals (track 5): Patty Gurdy
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Lyrics and Music by Orr Didi and Noa Gruman
Arrangements and Orchestrations by Orr Didi
Main sound engineer: Yonatan Kossov
Drums and Choir recorded at “Bardo” studio by Yonatan Kossov
Assistant engineers: Harel Lahav, Ofek Ariov
Strings and Vocals recorded at “Gruman” studio by Yonatan Kossov
Children’s Chamber Choir recorded at Westbrook Hay School by Tony Wilson
Grand Piano recorded at Itai Portugaly’s studio by Yonatan Kossov
Guitar, Bass and Keyboard recorded by Yadin Moyal, Yanai Avnet, Itai Portugaly and Noa Gruman.
Mix: Yonatan Kossov
Mastering: Jens Bogren
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Band Photos by Mariano Gonzalez at Estro Studio
Cover art by Ken Goshen
Design by Simen Meyer
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Management: Boyd Steemson and Tony Wilson at Silver Lion Management
Record Label: Marco Barbieri and Clay Marshall at M-THEORY AUDIO
The songs are masterfully composed and flow together beautifully, and the orchestration is exactly how I want metal orchestration to sound: full, playable by a real orchestra, and just as important to the music as the vocals, drums, guitar, and bass are. tonycordeshimself
I was quite a few years late to the party on this one, but it's still a blast! The ambition and the rawness and rough edges reminds me of albums like Emperor's Anthems, even though it's a completely different genre. It is in in a perfect state between skill and stretching a bit beyond the order of skill into chaos to grasp greatness. This is what describes the "flow state" in humans and I bet they tapped into it hard while making this! barsknos