Amaseffer

Amaseffer
Origin Tel Aviv, Israel
Genres Progressive metal
Folk metal
Years active 2004–present
Labels InsideOut Music
Associated acts Therion, Krux, Orphaned Land, At Vance, Arch Enemy, Vanden Plas, Yngwie Malmsteen, Prey For Nothing
Website www.amaseffer.com
Members Hanan Avramovich
Yuval Kramer
Erez Yohanan

Amaseffer is an Israeli progressive metal band which was formed in 2004 in Tel Aviv, Israel by drummer and percussionist Erez Yohanan, and guitarist Yuval Kramer. A year later, a second guitarist Hanan Avramovich joined and the band got its structure. This is also when the band got its name "Amaseffer" - from Hebrew "Am Ha'Sefer" (עם הספר) - People of the (holy) book; a name from the Old Testament for the Israelites and later for the Jewish People.[1] The band's music genre is considered progressive metal, but it contains a mixture of rock, metal, world music and Middle Eastern touches.[2]

History

Slaves for Life (2004–2008)

Amaseffer was formed with the idea of a historical trilogy in mind - to tell the old testament's story of the Exodus, from the Hebrew slavery period in ancient Egypt, through the years in the desert, and up to the entrance of the twelve tribes of Israel to the promised land of Canaan (later Israel).[1] The first album of the trilogy, Slaves for Life, tells the story of the events starting with the Hebrews slavery, through the birth of Moses and ends with the ten plagues of Egypt.[3]

In 2006, while the three band members were composing this first album in Tel Aviv, Israel, they started looking for a lead vocalist for the album. On August 2006 Andy Kuntz, lead singer of the German band Vanden Plas, joined the band to fulfill this duty.[4] Through Kuntz, the band got to their recording studio, Bazement Studio, in Germany. In 2007, Kuntz and the band decided to part ways. Shortly after, the band announced that the leading vocals will be performed by Mats Leven (Krux, ex-Therion, ex-At Vance, Yngwie Malmsteen).[5]

In November 2007, the band completed the recording of the album, featuring additional musical artists like vocals by Angela Gossow (Arch Enemy), Kobi Farhi (Orphaned Land), Yotam Avni (Prey for Nothing) and Maya Avraham; flutes by Amir Gvirtzman; tablas by Yatziv Caspi (Solstice Coil); bass guitar by Yair Yona.[1][6] On April 2008, the band signed with InsideOut Music, and the first album was released on 2008-06-06 in Israel, Germany, Austria and Switzerland and by 2008-06-24 released worldwide.[7]

After the production of the first album, the band was approached by an Israeli filmmaker to record and produce the full score soundtrack for the movie "Altalena" - a movie about the Altalena Affair from 1948. This led to the forming of a legal company with the purpose to produce movie soundtracks all over the world, in addition to the Exodus trilogy.[8][9]

When the Lions Leave Their Den (2009–present)

On June 2009, the band decided not to implement the three record deal with InsideOut Music and left the label. In January 2010, Amaseffer went into the studio in order to finish the second installment of the trilogy, which all of it will be recorded at Amaseffer studio in Jerusalem, Israel. Once the album is ready the band will finish looking for a new label hoping to release the album by the beginning of 2011.

In an exclusive sneak-peek to the Canadian website, Metaleater, Erez Yohanan describes the new album: "We could not be happier with the way the new album is turning out to be. It's exactly how we envisioned it. We have made the right modifications in order to release something fresh and not repeat ourselves so the new songs are much more 'in your face', more of the basic structure, It's more commercially oriented, songs will start much faster than our debut and will get to the real fire right from the top but yet again we still managed to keep all of Amaseffer characteristics and sound, just like in Slaves for Life."

On April 9, 2010, the title of the second album's was revealed to be When the Lions Leave Their Den. The name of the album's opening track was also revealed to be "Pillar of Fire", and it was written by Yotam Avni of Prey for Nothing, who wrote all the lyrics for the new album. Mats Levén is once again recording vocals, and it was revealed that half of his vocals were already recorded, as well as all the orchestration. The recording of the album was finished in July 2010, and it was mixed and mastered in Germany.[10]

On December 2, 2010, the band premiered an un-mixed and un-mastered demo version of their song "Pillar of Fire" from their upcoming second album, on a dedicated website for the new album.[11][12]

Discography

Band members

Current members
Former members

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Amaseffer Homepage - The Story of the Band". Amaseffer. Retrieved 2008.
  2. ↑ "Amaseffer CD description on InsideOut Music web page". InsideOut Music. Archived from the original on 11 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
  3. ↑ "The Holy Bible - Exodus". God through Moses. Retrieved 1476BC. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  4. ↑ "Vanden Plas Singer Unveils New Band". metalunderground.com. Archived from the original on 27 August 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-06.
  5. ↑ "Mats Leven to Guest on Amaseffer Project". blabbermouth.net. Retrieved 2007-07-20.
  6. ↑ "Amaseffer CD is done". blabbermouth.net. Retrieved 2007-11-10.
  7. ↑ "Amaseffer "Slaves for life" released". blabbermouth.net. Archived from the original on 18 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-09.
  8. ↑ "Amaseffer News". Amaseffer.com. Archived from the original on 7 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
  9. ↑ "Altalena - JFF". Jff.Org.il. Retrieved 2008-07-10.
  10. ↑ http://www.amaseffer.com/news.htm#april9
  11. ↑ http://www.whenlionsleavetheirden.com/
  12. ↑ http://www.amaseffer.com/news.htm#demoversion

External links