Germán Pascual - A New Beginning

Track listing:

01: Seek the Truth
02: The Wrath of God
03: If the Sky Would Fall
04: Misty Dreams
05: Open Your Eyes
06: I Call for the One
07: Unbroken Wings
09: Come Ease the Pain
10: Fate of the Blind
11: Cancion Con Todos

Release date: 9 October 2012
Label: Nightmare / Sony / RED

Do you remember in 2009, when the amazing band Narnia hit us with the new album Course of a Generation that introduced us to a hot new voice handling the vocal position. Remember how the new band totally blew us away, and then as quick as it hit us, they announced that Narnia was no more. Well, here he is again with a solo release, and let me tell you - it is amazing.


Now, personally I have a long history of loving the music of Narnia with Christian on vocals, but when Germán took over on vocals, it was such a hot and fresh new feel that it became instantly one of my favorite releases by the band. And truth be told, this new release could easily be considered a follow up to that great Narnia release. Musically it is of course a blistering slab of melodic metal/power metal, dipping ever so slightly into a melodic thrash feel. At times, I tend to feel that maybe the Narnia release has a slightly more aggressive sounding edge in places, this album remains true to the style while feeling a bit more smooth throughout.

Vocally, I think Germán sounds even hotter this time around. I cannot quite lay my finger on it, but the occasional "oddity" in his vocal style that I had mentally noted on the Narnia release seems absent hear, to the point where if I were given a blind listening test between the two, I am not really sure I could tell you it was the same singer.

This is Euro-metal at it's finest! Tight blistering riffs and leads, and power hungry drums and bass fill the space behind Germán and build one monster of a power metal release. Now, a bit about the man behind the music with this official bio release:

Vocalist Germán Pascual has appeared on releases by Divinefire, Narnia, and Mind's Eye. This solo release, "A New Beginning," is being released to North American and Europe via Nightmare / Sony / RED.

Blessed to have these special guest musicians joining on the album are Carl-Johan "CJ" Grimmark (Narnia / Fires Of Babylon / Rob Rock/ FullForce) and bassists Per Schelander (Pain of Salvation / Royal Hunt) and Raphael Dafras (Almah / Seven Horizons). This all star line up should let you know just how good this is sounding.

Germán Pascual is a man with a very special voice, he's achieved much notoriety around the world, lauded greatly and likened with the greatest melodic metal voices of our day, like Ronnie James Dio, Jorn Lande, David Coverdale to mention but a few in international reviews. Germán was the last voice of NARNIA, a well known Swedish melodic heavy metal band, similar to Stryper and Rob Rock, The new music is hard heavy and melodic power metal without compromise. Germán was named as "the best metal voice 2009" by ”The Gates of Metal”.

Germán Pascual, born 1974 in Uruguay, raised in Brazil, and moved to Sweden with his family at an early age. At five years old, Germán sang to the radio with everything… popular music to opera even classical music. In 1994 Germán began an education in voice and music. Longing for Sweden again, he returned to look for work and a way back into music, doing a short stint with a Rap artist D.J. Mendez, but his friends helped him realize… he was meant for metal.

Starting music as a drummer in a thrash band at 15, he was invited to try out for a much better band rehearsing next door as a vocalist when they overheard him screaming next door. It was to be his destiny, the band next door was MINDS EYE. In 2008 NARNIA needed a singer, and through a good friend Germán made contact with Narnia guitarist C.J Grimmark. The rest is history… “Course of a Generation”  by Narnia was launched in late 2009.  Feeling blessed to have found this great situation in Narnia, Germán was stunned when the band decided to end all activity. In addition to music, Germán works with the less fortunate, the homeless, and in drug addiction.

Discography

1994 Minds Eye – Demo ”Afterglow”
2008 Minds Eye – “1994 The Aterglow” (Full album)
2009 Narnia – “Course of a Generation” (Full album)
2010 Soulspell – “The Labyrinth of truths” (on tracks : “The Labyrinth of Truths” and “A Secret Compartment”
2010 Golden Resurrection – “Glory to My King” (backing choirs)
2011 Divinefire – “Eye of the Storm” (Full Album sang with vocalist Christian Liljegren)
2012 Germán Pascual - "A New Beginning"