Bonjour tout le monde,

premièrement, je souhaite à toutes et à tous une très belle année 2013 remplie de santé, de bonheur et de pleins de réalisations personnelles et professionnelles.

Durant les dernières semaines, j'ai été obligé de retirer une panoplie de vidéos de ma chaîne Youtube dont une bonne partie des mes émissions "Culturama" (plusieurs de mes 29 émissions) et "Ô Canada" (les émissions 4 et 5 de mes 5 émissions). Malgré mes intentions purement éducatives et la qualité déjà plutôt moyenne des différentes pièces présentées, je n'ai pas eu le choix d'enlever ces vidéos pour garder tous mes paramètres en ordre. Il se peut donc que vous ne soyez plus en mesure d'accéder à certains de mes vidéos que vous avez pu visionner dans le passé ce qui est très dommage. Si une ou plusieurs de mes émissions vous intéressent, n'hésitez pas de me laisser un message ou de vous adresser à la CEUC Radio à l'Université du Québec à Chicoutimi qui paie en plus des sommes considérables pour des droits d'auteurs à chaque année. Ceci étant dit, je ne sais pas encore, si je vais travailler sur une toute nouvelle émission à la radio étudiante ou non.

Tandis que certains pays commencent à s'ouvrir de plus en plus à l'utilisation de l'internet tout en diminuant peu à peu de diverses censures et restrictions pour le bien de la population, on dirait que les lois ont d'un autre côté été resserrés dans plusieurs pays occidentaux et il faut ici notamment citer mon pays d'origine qui est la République fédérale d'Allemagne et sa société de gestion des droits d'auteurs, la "GEMA" ("Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte"). Je suis absolument en accord avec le fait qu'il faut protéger les artistes et leurs oeuvres et contrer le phénomène du téléchargement illégal. La hausse des prix (le prix d'un disque simple étant autour de 18 Euro actuellement ce qui équivaut en ce moment à exactement 23,21$ canadiens) et la montée des censures et restrictions à ceux et celles qui utilisent des extraits de ces oeuvres dans un but purement éducatif pour encourager même les gens à soutenir les artistes derrière ces réalisations, ne me semble pourtant pas être le bon chemin du tout pour résoudre ce problème.

Sinon, comme vous l'avez peut-être déjà remarqué, j'ai enlevé la fonction des commentaires pour mes publications car j'ai recu plusieurs pourriels ou messages ridicules sur mon blogue. Si vous voulez me contacter ou commenter quoiqu'il soit, laissez un message dans mon "Guestbook" ou envoyez-moi un courriel.

Je m'excuse donc pour ces inconvénients tout en espérant que vous restez néanmoins fidèles à mon blogue et à mes publications. Vous allez voir, dans les semaines à venir, je vais écrire de nouveaux articles pour le journal étudiant et le blog institutionnel de mon université entre autres. J'aimerais également faire des entrevues avec plusieurs groupes de musique ou musiciens sur une base régulière comme je l'ai fait avec Valery Av / Senmuth dans le passé. Il y aura donc du nouveau très bientôt!

Merci pour votre attention et bonne année encore une fois!

Sebastian

This record of the Chilean progressive doom metal band "Mar de Grises" is quite challenging and everything but easy to digest. It kicks straight off with melancholic or even depressive melodies that develop a very dark atmosphere in the uneasy and somewhat completely inappropriated opener "Starmaker" that immediately hits you like a comet. Heavy doom metal riffs and controlled death metal vocals meet more progressive passages with cold electronic or robotic sounds and whsipered or spoken word passages. In some tracks, one can also listen to clean vocals reminding me of those in the German gothic metal band Crematory or choirs that give the album a more epic and cinematic touch as in "A Sea of Dead Comets" that reminds me of stuff like In Flames' "The Chosen Pessimist" concerning the negative atmosphere and the sluggish development. In general, the album gets a little bit softer and more progressive towards the end while the beginning is quite misanthropic and raw at some points.

The band is surely sophisticated and this record needs many spins before you might get a connection to it. The song writing is unpredictable and appears sometimes even directionless or boring. The record contains no hooks, gripping choruses or truly outstanding melodies that will stay on your mind for a while. As a highlight, I would probably cite the epic and diversified "Knotted Delirium" that could also please to fans of bands like Opeth as it mixes slow and sometimes even calm progressive doom metal passages with heavier parts by creating a whirlwind of emotions. For those who like heavier stuff, the surprisingly vivid "The Bell and the Solar Gust" is probably the most memorable song on the album and develops a drowning but at the same time almost dynamical sound.

Another outstanding track is without a doubt the bonus song "Aphelion Aura" which is also the longest song on the album. The track is even more minimalistic and probably the weirdest piece on here. Instead of the usual vocalist, it features a few clean and grounded female vocals that are underlayed by spacey lounge sounds and maybe something like modern jazz elements. The song is completely electronic and features no guitar or bass sounds at all. The song rather reminds me of some more introspective stuff by Adele but is three times longer than those songs wthout any logical reason. As you might guess, this band doesn't care about being popular in the metal scene or having an own style and don't stop their strange experiments.

In the end, it's very hard to get a connection to this band. Apart of those who are really open-minded and like to experiment new sounds and styles and fans of progressive doom metal, I can't imagine that many people might like this. While I recognize the band's courageous approaches and must admit that they have a couple of good ideas and a big talent when it comes to develop a melancholic atmosphere which is the leitfaden of this release, I can't really say that I would listen to this kind of music very often. It's music for special hours and quite hard to digest. In the end, it's tough to chose a rating for this band but as the record certainly has its moments, my final verdict remains quite positive.

Blood Dancer is a young and quite talented American power or heavy metal band from San Diego, California that keeps the spirit of bands such as Iron Maiden, Queensryche or W:A.S.P. alive these years. Despite playing a rather traditional style, the band manages to sound very fresh thanks to a surprisingly dynamic production for such an underground release. Two of the band members are also members of the melodic thrash metal band Autobomb and one can feel this heavier and faster attitude in many of the tight songs such as the energizing neckbreaker “The Herald Of War”.

This particular influence helps the band to sound not only different from their idols but also unique enough to stand out in comparison to many similar bands that rose to fame during the heavy metal revival of the last few years. These guys here are at least as good and mostly even clearly better than similar bands from all around the world such as Bullet, Dark Light, Rusted, Ryder, Screamer, Vacant Throne, Vanderbuyst, White Wizzard, XSpendX and so on that I’ve also tried out during the last year. If you like any of these bands, be sure not to miss Blood Dancer and to spread their name.

The band employs many speedy and short tracks with great guitar solos and gripping riffs without getting too progressive as in the strong “Death To The Saints”. In less than three minutes and a half, everything is said and done from stunning solos over a tight drumming, an energizingly pumping bass guitar up to the stunning vocals. I really do appreciate the vocals as they sound grounded and melodic and not too forced or artificially high pitched as it's the case for many similar bands. The vocals really give this band a unique face and shape.

In the slower and epic “Palace Of Bones”, the vocals even remind me a little bit of a more grounded version of Dio or a cleaner kind of Savatage which are very strong references. This tracks has a darker atmosphere but doesn’t lose its time and introduces many great ideas and changes of speed and style which makes this track a true highlight. The epic closer “Last Stand Of The Pagan Kings” hits exactly the same vein and shows once again what this band is already able to produce.

While the whole band is great, the vocals really stand out for me and I’m looking forward to hear more from these guys very soon. The only missing thing on this release is maybe a few catchy hooks or choruses for the masses and concert crowds that this band will hopefully attract in the future but the songs nevertheless grow and grow with each new try.