PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
In 2006, VAN CANTO surprised the world of metal with a revolutionary idea: to perform metal music with vocals and drums only. Nine years later, after five top 20 releases in Germany, sold out headlining tours throughout Europe and festival performances taking the band from Wacken to Australia, Van Canto now mark a new chapter in the story of “metal a cappella”: Vocal Metal Musical.
“Vocal Metal Music further develops what we stand for as Van Canto. Not only can our voices sing and imitate guitars but they are also able to tell stories. It has been six years that we’ve been working on this concept – and now we’re finally able to share it with the world”, says founding band member Stef.
March 11th, 2016 sees the release of the brand new album “Voices Of Fire” on earMUSIC by Van Canto. For this release, the band has teamed up with German bestseller author Christoph Hardebusch (“Die Trolle” – engl. “The Trolls”) who is going to release his new fantasy novel“Feuerstimmen” on March 17th, 2016 on Piper Verlag.
“We are barely able to tell what came first: the music as part of the novel or the novel as part of our album. Christoph Hardebusch and we worked hand in hand on this. Our compositions did influence the novel and vice versa. Simply put, we created our own world – a world full of competing kingdoms, epic battles, dragons, fire and bards. Not always deadly serious but full of adventures to set your imagination running wild… like Van Canto does,” explains lead singer Slywho developed the plot of the novel together with Christoph Hardebusch.
„On the one hand working closely with Van Canto was a lot of fun but on the other hand it was also very demanding,” adds author Christoph Hardebusch. “The great picture can only be achieved when creative minds interact with each other; the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Right from the start, story and music has been a unit which has influenced and fueled each other.”
For the first time, Van Canto is working with the London Metro Voices – a choir which also sang on the soundtracks of the popular blockbuster saga “Lord of the Rings”.
“Nowadays, especially in metal, everyone is creating this pseudo symphonic metal, trying to squeeze as many drum machine tracks and fake orchestra sounds in one song as possible. We wanted to do it differently. We wanted to create an album full of human sounds – either by using one’s hands for drumming or using your voice,” drummer Bastian, who is responsible for directing the various international choirs on the album, explains.
The cover artwork for “Voices Of Fire” as well as its various illustrations were created by fantasy artist Osmar Arroyo from South America.
“For this album, we wanted people to actually see the most important scenes. Omar is a great artist who understands our vision,” Ross, responsible for the guitar vocals, adds.
Coinciding with the album release, the band is going to tour Europe in 2016.
“We will surely find a way to present the songs from the new album in a special way live. But not only, we are of course going to play the most loved Van Canto songs and will also pick songs who weren’t part of our setlist for a long time,” announces lead singer Inga.
Van Canto is supported by Grailknights as well as changing local supports and special guests on their upcoming tour.
March 18 Leipzig – Hellraiser (+ Grailknights + Victorius)
March 19 Zlin – Masters of Rock Cafe (+ Grailknights + Winterstorm)
March 20 Prag – Meet Factory (+ Grailknights + Winterstorm)
March 24 London – O2 Islington (+ Grailknights + End of the Dream)
March 25 Tilburg – O13 (+ Grailknights + End of the Dream)
March 26 Vosselaar Biebob (+ Grailknights + End of the Dream)
March 27 Paris – Le Petit Bain (+ Grailknights + End of the Dream)
March 31 Wien – Szene (+ Grailknights + Dragony)
April 1 Pratteln – Z7 (+ Grailknights + Victorius)
April 2 München – Backstage (+ Grailknights + Victorius)
April 3 Stuttgart – Im Wizemann (+ Grailknights + Victorius)
April 9 Hannover – Musikzentrum (+ Grailknights + Sinbreed)
April 10 Berlin – Lido (+ Grailknights + Sinbreed)
April 15 Oberhausen – Turbinenhalle (+ Freedom Call + Grailknights)
April 16 Hamburg – Markthalle (+ Freedom Call + Grailknights)
April 17 Frankfurt – Batschkapp (+ Freedom Call + Grailknights)
