Seven Kingdoms Live at The Music Box in Hollywood, CA 12/09/2010

Seven Kingdoms are a new discovery for me thanks to their inclusion in the current Blind Guardian tour. I love Blind Guardian and have been promoting the upcoming tour here on the site for quite some time. I figured anyone cool enough to open up for one of the greatest metal bands in the world was worth checking out.

Upon listening to their music online, I was instantly hooked on their solid fantasy based power metal foundation and really impressed with the female front woman's vocal abilities.

The feudalistic fantasy based world of the Seven Kingdoms leads to a rich tapestry of story telling in their lyrics, and a solid strength upon which to expand these myths through song which is the ancient bard's way.

The band entered first, initially to chanting for Blind Guardian... but when the comely blonde lead singer took the stage, she silenced all the anxious voices with her mere presence.

Once she broke into song, she had them in her sway. She really has a strong voice and the male back up chorus by the two guitarists achieved a combined powerful effect.

They have an extremely competent take on power metal that at times even evokes Jon Schaffer's galloping speed and momentum and if you know what an Iced Earth fan I am, you know that is one of the highest complements I can extend. The band was extremely gracious and said that Blind Guardian was their favorite band in the world which a lot of the crowd responded to.

The singer was sweet and spoke humbly, despite her having a voice that can match up with bands like Epica, Echoes of Eternity, Within Temptation, and Nightwish. Once I listened to Seven Kingdoms, I was encouraging everyone I knew who was going to get there in time to see them, and I was right, they were really good.

They opened the set with "Vengeance By The Sons Of A King". It incorporates the intricate story telling that the headlining band is famous for. Her voice instantly had the audience open to their tales and their abilities. They have an epic quality to their songs, that at times can give you a chill down your spine as they tell of rallying to battle and sacrifice in the struggles of the heros in their songs.

In between songs the lead singer acknowledged that everyone was there for Blind Guardian and so would ask the audience permission to play one more song and everyone roared out yes because they were really enthralled by the performance.

For their next song they did "Somewhere Far Away" which has all of the sing along hit power of songs like Within Temptation and Nightwish are known for, but still retains a solid power all of its own and her personality stands out as well.

You could tell she was a woman who just dug metal music, and that in itself is a pretty awesome thing. Combined with their powerful use of fantasy worlds to create vivid imagery of battle and bravery and the moving context to their stories, they pretty much won over the entire audience with these first two songs.

They followed up with "Wolf In Sheep's Clothing" which was a song I was immediately drawn to while listening to them earlier, so I was pretty familiar with this one. On this song they remind me more of Lacuna Coil than on other songs, both her vocal style and delivery and their overall tempo. Now I love Lacuna Coil so I totally dug this vibe and found it a nice stand out song in relationship to their other material.

This vocalist deserves some serious props for her abilities. Her live voice is strong, clean and expressive and you can tell from her facial expressions that she isn't faking it either, she is giving it all and feeling every word which is reciprocally felt by the audience and was a huge part of their appreciation by the crowd.

I have to say these guys are top notch guitarists as well: they are fast, articulate and build a clean sound that is not overly distorted or mushy so in other words sounds perfect.

They did "Into The Darkness" next which starts off super fast and doesn't let up. This is a cool esoteric love song about death and what comes next. It has unique use of vocals on the album version and I was really happy with how it sounded live.

For their last song, they did their name sake, "Seven Kingdoms". It is an epic tale of a far off world which details the struggles of that realm and does so with an epic, powerful song writing base that borders on a hymn, or at least a bard's tale with how it effects the listener.

I love the songs where the two guitarists sing back up like on this last song, as it is a great juxtaposition against her vocals, but also lends the power that choirs at the right moments do, lifting that moment into a connection on a higher plane.

Their theme song especially invokes the Iced Earth pace with the awesome galloping juggernaut style of guitar play. This is definitely one of my favorites of theirs, both in terms of the music but also the story telling and chorus vocals, and even the rapid fire drums on this one are just awesome.

I was really impressed with this band live. They made me very happy and while speaking to other audience members in the front row and through out the venue, the vote was unanimous, these guys were good.

I bought their new self titled CD from them at the show, and they all were present at the table to sign the album cover and talk to. They were all really friendly and apparently hail from Florida here in the US.

I have to say, this album is really excellent. I keep listening to it as the songs are well written, catchy, and still have that powerful effect on me that I loved about their live show.

All the songs they played live are on this CD and even though they chose great ones, they only represent half the album and the other half is just as epic with some really great tales with such tracks as "Eyes to the North" and "Thunder Of The Hammer".

I highly recommend getting there early enough to catch Seven Kingdoms. They have a great sound that I have started listening to en mass, and have a great live presence where they are able to bring that sound to the stage and add charisma and great energy on top of it.... This experience sums up exactly why I love seeing bands play live.




					Seven Kingdoms Live at The Music Box in Hollywood, CA December 9th, 2010 Review by Travis Baumann Seven Kingdoms are a new discovery for me thanks to their inclusion in the current Blind Guardian tour. I love Blind Guardian and have been promoting the upcoming tour here on the site for quite some time. I figured anyone cool enough to open up for one of the greatest metal bands in the world was worth checking out. Upon listening to their music online, I was instantly hooked on their solid fantasy based power metal foundation and really impressed with the female front woman's vocal abilities. The feudalistic fantasy based world of the Seven Kingdoms leads to a rich tapestry of story telling in their lyrics, and a solid strength upon which to expand these myths through song which is the ancient bard's way. The band entered first, initially to chanting for Blind Guardian... but when the comely blonde lead singer took the stage, she silenced all the anxious voices with her mere presence. Once she broke into song, she had them in her sway. She really has a strong voice and the male back up chorus by the two guitarists achieved a combined powerful effect. They have an extremely competent take on power metal that at times even evokes Jon Schaffer's galloping speed and momentum and if you know what an Iced Earth fan I am, you know that is one of the highest complements I can extend. The band was extremely gracious and said that Blind Guardian was their favorite band in the world which a lot of the crowd responded to. The singer was sweet and spoke humbly, despite her having a voice that can match up with bands like Epica, Echoes of Eternity, Within Temptation, and Nightwish. Once I listened to Seven Kingdoms, I was encouraging everyone I knew who was going to get there in time to see them, and I was right, they were really good. They opened the set with "Vengeance By The Sons Of A King". It incorporates the intricate story telling that the headlining band is famous for. Her voice instantly had the audience open to their tales and their abilities. They have an epic quality to their songs, that at times can give you a chill down your spine as they tell of rallying to battle and sacrifice in the struggles of the heros in their songs. In between songs the lead singer acknowledged that everyone was there for Blind Guardian and so would ask the audience permission to play one more song and everyone roared out yes because they were really enthralled by the performance. For their next song they did "Somewhere Far Away" which has all of the sing along hit power of songs like Within Temptation and Nightwish are known for, but still retains a solid power all of its own and her personality stands out as well. You could tell she was a woman who just dug metal music, and that in itself is a pretty awesome thing. Combined with their powerful use of fantasy worlds to create vivid imagery of battle and bravery and the moving context to their stories, they pretty much won over the entire audience with these first two songs. They followed up with "Wolf In Sheep's Clothing" which was a song I was immediately drawn to while listening to them earlier, so I was pretty familiar with this one. On this song they remind me more of Lacuna Coil than on other songs, both her vocal style and delivery and their overall tempo. Now I love Lacuna Coil so I totally dug this vibe and found it a nice stand out song in relationship to their other material. This vocalist deserves some serious props for her abilities. Her live voice is strong, clean and expressive and you can tell from her facial expressions that she isn't faking it either, she is giving it all and feeling every word which is reciprocally felt by the audience and was a huge part of their appreciation by the crowd. I have to say these guys are top notch guitarists as well: they are fast, articulate and build a clean sound that is not overly distorted or mushy so in other words sounds perfect. They did "Into The Darkness" next which starts off super fast and doesn't let up. This is a cool esoteric love song about death and what comes next. It has unique use of vocals on the album version and I was really happy with how it sounded live. For their last song, they did their name sake, "Seven Kingdoms". It is an epic tale of a far off world which details the struggles of that realm and does so with an epic, powerful song writing base that borders on a hymn, or at least a bard's tale with how it effects the listener. I love the songs where the two guitarists sing back up like on this last song, as it is a great juxtaposition against her vocals, but also lends the power that choirs at the right moments do, lifting that moment into a connection on a higher plane. Their theme song especially invokes the Iced Earth pace with the awesome galloping juggernaut style of guitar play. This is definitely one of my favorites of theirs, both in terms of the music but also the story telling and chorus vocals, and even the rapid fire drums on this one are just awesome. I was really impressed with this band live. They made me very happy and while speaking to other audience members in the front row and through out the venue, the vote was unanimous, these guys were good. I bought their new self titled CD from them at the show, and they all were present at the table to sign the album cover and talk to. They were all really friendly and apparently hail from Florida here in the US. I have to say, this album is really excellent. I keep listening to it as the songs are well written, catchy, and still have that powerful effect on me that I loved about their live show. All the songs they played live are on this CD and even though they chose great ones, they only represent half the album and the other half is just as epic with some really great tales with such tracks as "Eyes to the North" and "Thunder Of The Hammer". I highly recommend getting there early enough to catch Seven Kingdoms. They have a great sound that I have started listening to en mass, and have a great live presence where they are able to bring that sound to the stage and add charisma and great energy on top of it.... This experience sums up exactly why I love seeing bands play live.

















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