Sheffield, England garnered a worldwide reputation for steel production during the boom time of the industrial revolution, earning itself the nickname “Steel City”.
One only has to hear the opening moments of While She Sleeps “The North Stands For Nothing” to know that the character of Sheffield, the band’s hometown, has permeated them to the core. Their songs are sung with an impassioned spirit that shines through the hardened and gritty aura that is prevalent in the band’s sound. Their straightforward approach to metal is balanced between riffs infused with hook and rhythms backed with groove. The vocal performance is singed with fire and angst making for a more meaningful and impassioned brand of aggressive music. The lyrical content and the fervor by which it is sung stirs up emotions like a musical call to arms.
The band’s ability to layer and blend these elements with sparse and timely musical interludes makes for whole album that is cohesive and written with purpose. It is a feat rarely achieved compared to today’s musical norm of cobbling together a bunch of individual tracks that end up comprising an album.
While She Sleeps formed with a blue collar and hard nosed work ethic that resulted in them playing close to 300 shows across the UK and mainland Europe. Their hard work steadily began to payoff as their album “The North Stands For Nothing” started to receive critical acclaim from European music publications like Kerrang and Metal Hammer.
“We titled the album Portraits for two reasons. Firstly, the title track is based on the story of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, a cautionary tale of the beauty and frailty of life. Secondly, Portraits depicts a person or character frozen in time as they were at a given moment. This is how we see this album - it’s a reflection of our tastes, loves, hates, losses and gains. It’s a memory in musical form, the first glimpse of the picture that is Bury Tomorrow.”
So speaks Adam Jackson (drums) of the band Bury Tomorrow—five guys from both Southampton and Portsmouth, United Kingdom who deliver a furious melodic assault with the aggression of metal combined with the hooks of rock.
Bury Tomorrow recorded their anticipated debut full length album Portraits in London at Wellerhill Studios, and after it’s initial release on UK label Basick Records in October 2009, the band gained the interest of fans throughout the world which ultimately led them to an encounter with The Artery Foundation. Eric Rushing, founder and owner of The Artery Foundation asserted, “Their songs are so catchy and melodic at times but then just as brutal and hard at others. We are very excited to introduce such a great band to the US.”
Portraits is the band’s first official US release, and marks Bury Tomorrow as the second artist signed to the newly formed Artery Recordings imprint on Razor & Tie Entertainment. The band made their American performance debut touring with Attack Attack!, Breathe Carolina, I See Stars, and Asking Alexandria in March 2010, including a show at SXSW in Texas. Followed by a full UK and European tour with Alesana, A Skylit Drive and Emarosa.
The band continues to tour relentlessly, but will pause briefly to record a new album in early 2011.
Now, Voyager is an up and coming metal band from Brussels, Belgium.
Having originated in 2006 with the name Nebra, the band suffered a lot of set-backs as they were unable to find a steady vocalist. Never the less, the band never gave up and kept writing. It wasn’t until 2010, when Nabil Sanaullah separated from his former band (Blood Redemption) that they finally found a suitable vocalist.