Description : Intelligent metal 
Brief History : Formed in March 1995 by Johan Berlin and ex-vocalist Robert Haglund, TIMESCAPE were to become one of the most innovative groups within the genre of progressive music. At the time of creation, they wanted to realize an idea that had been in their minds for a long time; to form a band with no boundaries or limits in terms of musical direction. Ex-vocalist Haglund on the choice of name: "We were looking for a name that was timeless, could be placed in any category of music and actually didn't mean anything, but still could mean lots of different things to different people." With only one 3-track promotion-CD prior to the new album "two worlds", TIMESCAPE have already clearly defined their own style and expanded the boundaries of classical hardrock, pop, metal, dance/industrial, fusion, jazz and ethnic music. With the self-titled promotion CD the band created a buzz seldom heard of in progressive rock circuits, receiving tremendous and rave reviews all over the world. Originally intended as only a promo-CD, the band started to receive a large amount of inquiries for the promo. Said and done, another 1,000 copies were made and they were quickly sold out. All distributed by the band themselves. After that several distribution-deals with major distributors in Asia, Europe and the U.S. were secured. Inspired by the instant demand, the band entered the studio again in January 1997 and locked themselves up until April 1997 to record "two worlds". The mature songwriting and restricted playing stands in sharp contrast to the band-members ages'. Ranging from youngest member, drummer Anders Berlin, only 18 years old to the eldest, Johan Eriksson, a mere 27-year old bassist, that has already toured Japan several times with multi-platinum Swedish artist Pandora. "Two worlds" is released on the bands own label "Nettle-Space Productions" and then licensed to various distributors and wholesalers throughout Europe, Asia, and the U.S. 
Discography : Timescape 3-track promo cd Timescape - "two worlds" Contact Information : Johan Berlin Skogvaktaregatan 4 602 08 Norrköping SWEDEN WEBSITE : http://home4.swipnet.se/~w-45845/ EMAIL : johan.berlin@mailbox.swipnet.se |
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Description of music: The heavy side of progressive rock.
A brief history: After breaking up a 80´s power metal band in 1993, Frank Becker (bass), Matthias Koch-Schirrmeister (guitar) and Marc Laukel (drums, vocals), the nucleus of the project, intented to find new ways of musical expression beyond the limitations of outdated heavy metal concepts, while still maintainig the force and intensity of their backgrounds. By then, only the name of the outfit was decided for: TELLTALEHARD. Thomas Tuerling, guitarist and vocalist from the Duesseldorf/Cologne music scene, showed up in early 1994. He helped to redefine the musical conception with his highly versatile, melodic approach and took deep influence on the further developement of the specific TELLTALEHARD sound and songwriting. Further adjustments became pressing in 1998. Martin Steitz, lead vocalist since 1994, quit the band in April 1998. The lead vocalist´s spot was taken over by Marc Laukel, leaving the drum seat vacant. Marc´s vocals, already heard on the 1997 four-track demo Signs Of Warning, did not only become a replacement for Martin´s voice but also an impressive highlight on top of the musical arrangements. When listening to Marc it is easy to believe that the better part of the earlyer vocal arrangements and performances had been his work. The year 1998 brought a lot of changes and therefore a lot of work, but still TELLTALEHARD, reinforced by guest drummer Uwe Ruppel of the discontinued ANNON VIN, could be seen on stage at major german events such as the W:O:A Wacken Open Air Festival (Aug 7-9) where the band´s music was appreciated by a great crowd of German, French, Dutch, British and Scandinavian music enthusiasts. The still vacant job of the drummer was taken over in January 1999 by the 19 year old Jens Feldermann, originating from the Rhein/Ruhr area. After sessions with well over a dozen drummers the decision was easy to make: Jens proved to be the most flexible and fitting of all candidates. It took just 12 more sessions to prepare him for the live performance of the whole programme as well as for the upcoming recording work. Now that the style and specific sound had been formed and tested, a synthesis of unusual vocal and guitar arrangements on top of a powerful rhythm section within the line-up of a classic rock ensemble, it was about time to confirm the development with a new recording. The twice postponed job was done in April 1999 at the SPACELAB Studio in Kerpen/Germany. SPIRAL STAIRS was recorded and engineered by Oliver Philipps and Christian "Moschus" Moos. The fact that both are not only experienced sound engineers but also musicians turned out to be very helpful for the fine tuning of the arrangements. The two self budgeted EP/CD releases were highly acclaimed by press and media and, last not least, by the audience as well. The title track of "Signs Of Warning" (1997) made it on the sampler "Unerhört! Die besten Bands ohne deal" (Best unsigned bands), compiled & distributed by the german major magazine ROCK HARD in 1998. The track was voted #4 of 18 in the reader´s poll. "Spiral Stairs", recorded 1999, has gained an impressive number of very positive reviews from the domestic and international scene. "Tip The Scales" (from "Spiral Stairs") was chosen for issue #3 of the well known DURP Progressive Sampler Series ("Progressive DisDURPance"), released in May 2000 by the magazine "DURP - Tales from the progressive ocean". Discography: 1997 "Signs Of Warning"; self budgeted EP/CD (originally a demo tape, remastered for CD release), containig four tracks 1999 "Spiral Stairs", self budgeted EP/CD, containig 5 tracks Contact info: Hardtale Music
GbR / Matthias Koch-Schirrmeister
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