Progressive symphonic metal band Scardust has announced the release of a new studio album, Souls, due out on 18th July 18th, via Frontiers Music Srl. Ahead of that, and out now, new single and accompanying official video, ‘Dazzling Darkness’.
“Souls is a deep personal journey for us,” said the band. “Ccombining everything from intricate progressive elements to sweeping symphonic passages, anthemic choruses and epic choirs. This album is a milestone for the band. It contains the Scardust DNA while experimenting with different writing and composing methods, involving every single musician in the band, resulting in the creation of the next evolution of our sound and pushing the boundaries of what we can express through music.”
“Thematically we’ve explored ideas of memory, belonging, loss, and the desire for connection, weaving in influences from different musical worlds, including orchestral, Mediterranean, and even Celtic sounds”, they added. “Souls is our most ambitious album to date, incorporating Scardust’s signature technical musicianship, and featuring the Hellscore Choir and a string quartet throughout the entire album plus guest appearances from some international top tier musicians like Ross Jennings (Haken), Ally Storch (Subway To Sally), a Turkish orchestra and the TLV orchestra. It’s bold, it’s emotional and we hope it resonates deeply wherever it is heard.
The first five years of the band’s existence saw the band’s first EP, Shadow (2015) position them as a promising newcomer, and the release of their first full length LP Sands Of Time (2017) cemented them as one of the leading progressive metal bands in Israel.
Scardust rapidly rose to the top of the local metal scene, selling out shows and opening for the likes of Symphony X, Therion and Epica. They soon started touring overseas playing festivals and headline shows in Germany, China and the UK as well as continuing to headline shows and festivals at home.
In winter 2019, the band entered the studio to record their follow up album, Strangers and, although the outbreak of covid played havoc with their recording plans, they managed to complete it and the album came out in fall 2020 through M-Theory Audio, and was followed by seven self-produced music videos released throughout 2020 and 2021. Strangers presented a unique concept album built of complementary song pairs working from the outside in resulting in something fresh that received strong critical and fan approval.
With covid continuing to decimate the live touring scene, 2021 saw them play just a handful of shows but 2022 started big with the visit of folk star Patty Gurdy, who came to Israel to perform a show with Scardust at the Gagarin club in Tel Aviv. The show took place in front of a live audience at the venue and over 2000 fans online. The visit was also the opportunity to shoot the band’s most viewed video to date, ‘Concrete Cages’ where Gruman duets with Gurdy in a tale of mankind’s loss of connection with nature, and with a shock ending.
Summer 2022 saw the band headlining multiple shows around Europe, playing to packed arenas at Wacken Open Air & Dong Open Air, where they earned the praise of Testament’s Steve Di Giorgio who, on hearing the band from backstage, ran out front and watched the entire set “mesmerised”.
2022 concluded with the release of the dramatic one-shot video Evolution Of The Disney Princess – But She’s Metal in which Gruman weaved her way through a magical arrangement of all the best known Disney Princess songs in just 3 and a half minutes.
2023 was the biggest year for Scardust so far, with festivals in Germany and Belgium, the release of Game Of Now, a cinematic piece that takes viewers into a futuristic, dystopian live show, and culminated with two weeks on tour with power metal originals Blind Guardian and signing with Frontiers Records.
Previously, they issued ‘Unreachable’ as a single, the band commenting: “’Unreachable‘ is one of our most powerful and cinematic tracks yet – Epic, heavy, and emotional. The song is a journey, driven by the rich orchestration of the TLV Orchestra, a unique collaboration of Jewish, Muslim, and Druze musicians, conducted by Nizar Elkhater, and the soaring vocals of Hellscore, directed by Noa Gruman. The mix of metal grit and orchestral grandeur perfectly captures the song’s essence: the relentless pursuit of something that’s always just out of reach”.
“Filmed in the historic and stunning YMCA theater in Jerusalem, the music video, directed by Lahav Levi, shows every performer bringing this vision to life on stage, proving that the distance between us and the stars is just a matter of how far we’re willing to go”, they added.
It followed swiftly on from ‘Rip’, described by the band thus: “A cinematic video brings this concept to the screen with an unexpected twist,” said the band, featuring Noa Gruman (Vocals), Gal Gabriel Israel (Guitar), Aaron Friedland (Keyboards), Orr Didi (Bass) and Yoav Weinberg (Drums).
Continuing, they explained: “Filmmaker Lahav Levi depicts the story of Bitcoin’s mysterious creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, as he faces the bittersweet realisation that he must vanish for his invention to thrive. Bitcoin enthusiasts may spot some of Satoshi’s famous last communications before his disappearance, and some authentic collectables. Others can simply enjoy an epic, high-energy short film about a heartbreaking decision.”
Commenting on the actual song, they said: “This is one of the heaviest and most technically complex tracks – Arguably one of the most ambitious we’ve ever written. It features the powerful Hellscore choir, directed by Noa Gruman, and an exquisite Turkish strings orchestra, led by Mumin Sesler. Together, the choir and orchestra amplify the song’s dramatic and theatrical essence.” adding that: “The song speaks about the painful act of asking a loved one to let you go, for their own sake. Through emotional death metaphors, it captures the sorrow of parting while encouraging them to move on and build a life without you.”
Hellscore, the metal choir founded by Noa Gruman has been gaining significant recognition in the metal music scene. Known for their unique a cappella renditions of metal classics, Hellscore has collaborated with many well-known artists and bands such as Therion, Amorphis and Alestorm. Noa Gruman, herself, is also much in demand as a vocalist and the already-impressive list of her recent guest vocal appearances includes albums by Amorphis, Ayreon, Therion, Gloryhammer, Nino Helfrich and Orphaned Land.
Tracks featured on the new album Souls are: ‘Long Forgotten Song’, ‘My Haven’, ‘RIP’, ‘Dazzling Darkness’, ‘Unreachable’ (feat. TLV Orchestra), ‘End Of The World’, ‘Searing Echoes’ (feat. Ally Storch), ‘Touch Of Life I – In Your Eyes’ (feat. Ross Jennings), ‘Touch Of Life II – Dance Of Creation‘ and ‘Touch Of Life III – King Of Insanity (feat. Ross Jennings)’ – You can order it here.
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