ICON OF SIN: ‘Icon Of Sin’ – debut album by new Brazilian metal act featuring singer Raphael Mendes / out 16.04.21 (Frontiers)

Frontiers Music Srl is proud to announce the forthcoming release of the self-titled debut album by Icon Of Sin, a metal act centred around the stunning vocal talent of Brazilian YouTube star Raphael Mendes. The band’s sound acknowledges their love of ’80s heavy metal, but couples it with a modern approach.

Like many others, Frontiers first came across Mendes while surfing YouTube, immediately deciding they would like to add him to their expanding pool of young and exciting talent. Not only that, but they had no need to look any further than their own current roster to find the ideal musicians to pair him with, pulling in two other stellar Brazilians in Sergio Mazul (Semblant) and Marcelo Gelbcke (Landfall) to craft an album that perfectly suited his style. Icon Of Sin was thus born.

Guitarists Sol Perez and Mateus Cantaleãno, bassist Caio Vidal and drummer CJ Dubiella join Mendes to round out the full band line-up.

Mendes states that “the album will surprise people. It is one of those records you want to listen to from beginning to end, appreciating it all and playing it on repeat. There are songs about movies, video games and more and I think combining these things with metal music is awesome. When Sergio and Marcelo showed me the songs, I was so happy because this is the kind of music I love and when you do things with passion, it comes naturally. It was really amazing to work with them.”
“I’m thrilled to show the world this massive album we have created,” continues Gelbcke. “It was fun to wear my songwriter/producer’s hat on this one. It’s a very diverse and organic record and I believe that metal fans are going to love it!”

Of the first single, ‘Shadow Dancer’, Mendes says that “when I started working on it I really loved the story behind the lyrics, as it is a mix of things I have always liked: heavy metal, Asian culture and martial arts. It has all the musical elements that a fan loves: great riffs, great story and a chorus that will get stuck in their head.”

Mazul is in agreement, adding that “it is basically a song about ninjas. While it acknowledges the cultural and historical roots of this theme, it is also influenced by years of watching movies, documentaries, reading books on the topic and even playing classic video games such as Shinobi and Ninja Gaiden! Musically, we wanted killer riffs, killer solos and an epic, strong chorus. This was created by metal fans for metal fans!”

Watch Icon Of Sin – “Icon Of Sin” – Lyric Video

Icon Of Sin – “Icon Of Sin” – Lyric Video

Raphael Mendes became known via YouTube due to a series of jaw-dropping vocal covers, which led to invitations to participate in projects that included Marius Danielsen’s ‘Legend Of Valley Doom Part 2’ (also featuring Michael Kiske, Vinny Appice, Mark Boals, Michele Luppi and Diego Valdez). His reputation grew further in 2020 when a video series entitled ‘What if Bruce Dickinson sang in other bands’ was launched and he covered songs by the likes of Megadeth that spread through the metal community.

Icon of Sin – “Shadow Dancer” – Official Music Video

“Music is my passion, a way of life! It has really been a fantastic experience working on the Icon Of Sin album. The songs are so powerful and it has awakened something in me that I haven’t felt for a long time from a heavy metal album!” concludes Mendes.

ICON OF SIN
TRACKLISTING
1 Icon Of Sin
2 Road Rage
3 Shadow Dancer
4 Unholy Battleground
5 Nightbreed
6 Virtual Empire
7 Pandemic Euphoria
8 Clouds Over Gotham
9 Arcade Generation
10 Hagakure (Intro)
11 The Last Samurai
12 The Howling
13 Survival Instinct