NEWS: Metal a capella Van Canto embark on latest venture

THEY are on the more unusual arm of metal sub-genres, with their 'metal a capella' sound of just voices and drums, but there is something compelling about Van Canto.

As you may know were enjoyed their last release (review is here). but the band are taking it to the next level when on March 11th they release their new album 'Voices of Fire' on earMusic in collaboration with bestselling German author Christoph Hardebusch, who is releasing a fantasy novel, Feuerstimmen, the same month

　

"We are barely able to tell what came first: the music as part of the novel or the novel as part of our album. Christoph Hardebusch and we worked hand in hand on this. Our compositions did influence the novel and vice versa. Simply put, we created our own world – a world full of competing kingdoms, epic battles, dragons, fire and bards. Not always deadly serious but full of adventures to set your imagination running wild… like Van Canto does," said lead singer Sly who developed the plot of the novel together with Christoph Hardebusch.

„On the one hand working closely with Van Canto was a lot of fun but on the other hand it was also very demanding," adds author Christoph Hardebusch. "The great picture can only be achieved when creative minds interact with each other; the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Right from the start, story and music has been a unit which has influenced and fueled each other."

For the first time, Van Canto is working with the London Metro Voices – a choir which also sang on the soundtracks of the popular blockbuster saga "Lord of the Rings".

"Nowadays, especially in metal, everyone is creating this pseudo symphonic metal, trying to squeeze as many drum machine tracks and fake orchestra sounds in one song as possible. We wanted to do it differently. We wanted to create an album full of human sounds – either by using one’s hands for drumming or using your voice," drummer Bastian, who is responsible for directing the various international choirs on the album, explains.

The cover artwork for "Voices Of Fire" as well as its various illustrations were created by fantasy artist Osmar Arroyo from South America.
"For this album, we wanted people to actually see the most important scenes. Omar is a great artist who understands our vision," Ross, responsible for the guitar vocals, adds.

Coinciding with the album release, the band is going to tour Europe in 2016.
"We will surely find a way to present the songs from the new album in a special way live. But not only, we are of course going to play the most loved Van Canto songs and will also pick songs who weren’t part of our setlist for a long time," announces lead singer Inga.