Much to the anticipation of fans and music press alike, 5-piece progressive metal band By Blood Alone will be playing select dates on the east coast this April. Though critics praise the band, who hail from Portland Maine, for their complex-but-seamless song writing, determination to dodge stylistic cliches and all-around gothic grandeur, that’s not what makes By Blood Alone unique. The key element that sets this band apart is its approach and attitude. One never feels as though By Blood Alone are truly content with the body of their work, but always reaching into the murky darkness before them for what mystery lies ahead. You’ll not see a head-banging, raucous crowd at stage-front of a By Blood Alone show: instead, you’ll find a captivated audience unmoving and silent – locked into the moment. "If you're new to By Blood Alone, you'll get 45 minutes of breathtakingly dark progressive rock, unlike anything you've heard before. If you HAVE seen us previously, you know to expect the unexpected," says guitarist John Graveside. "For some reason when we are onstage people really study our music. They watch very quietly and only make a sound when they cheer at the end of songs. It's sort of like a classical concert or a scene from 'Monterrey Pop', and after 5 years in the band still a tad unnerving."
"Everyone in the band is clearly an accomplished musician in their own right and demonstrates imagination and creativity, but the rhythm section possesses two qualities which are rare to find at the same time in a metal band; precision and finesse. With the powerfully tasteful guitar compositions of John Graveside and the powerful, emotive vocals of Cruella it would seem that By Blood Alone have everything in place for launching a very successful career." - Komodo Rock
Formed in 2004, By Blood Alone proudly sound like no one else in their hometown, and few elsewhere. By virtue of association, they might be compared to the likes of Finland’s operatic Nightwish or Florida’s decidedly progressive Kamelot, and though that is certainly good company to be in, such comparisons are somewhat inaccurate. The songs on By Blood Alone’s 2007 CD Seas of Blood possess a cinematic quality, brought to life by keyboard tones that bring to mind classic horror and 1950's science fiction films that sit alongside crucial sections of dramatic orchestration. At any given moment you are as likely to hear a solitary piano delicately underscoring vocalist Cruella’s quiet whispers as you are a relentless guitar/bass/drums gallop of bone-crunching verses propelling her wail of contempt. A sultry mix of bitter loss, inglorious defeat and even a bit of gallows humor can all be culled from the furious aural denouement unleashed upon the audience before them. These are not simply encores – they are epilogues.
2005 saw By Blood Alone map out their path with the debut EP Eternally. Ambitious in scope, it set the stage for what is clearly their pinnacle achievement, Seas of Blood. Amongst accolades from numerous press outlets, Portland’s primary arts weekly The Phoenix has twice placed By Blood Alone on their year-end Top-10 list, in 2007 for Seas of Blood and in 2005 for Eternally. These achievements can be added to a string of stunning live performances across New England with the likes of Joey Belladonna of Anthrax, Metal Blade Recording artists Goatwhore, as well as former Misfits vocalist Michale Graves and countless other local and regional acts.
By Blood Alone will be performing on the following dates:
April 1 (Thurs) - Ralph's Diner, Worcester, MA
April 2 (Fri) - The Fuzebox, Albany, NY
April 3 (Sat) - New Wave Cafe, New Bedford, MA
"As a whole, I think By Blood Alone has only scratched the surface of where they could take their music. The band has all of the tools to take their music to the next level. Stephen King may have put Portland, Maine on the map as far as pop culture goes, with the right producer and a little bit of luck, By Blood Alone could carry this town’s legacy well into the future.” - Hard Rock Hideout
Along with the band's special blend of progressive metal, the artwork for the new CD is nothing less than spectacular. "Cruella is a visual artist, and I am a graphic designer, so the packaging was very important to us," says Graveside. "We licensed the painting from a museum in the UK, and I 'doctored' it a bit and did the overall layout. The cover is getting lots of compliments. I see a lot of indie CDs with very mediocre artwork, and as a graphic designer it pains me to look at some of them. Even though the world is moving away from CDs to downloadable files, artwork is still an important point of expression for any band, and usually a dull cover means a dull band. And if there’s no artwork at all…well, you get the point." Cruella adds, "Artwork is extremely important. I didn’t want it to be an afterthought with the album. I am constantly thinking and creating with pictures, so when it came to choosing an image for the cd I already had tons of ideas. Luckily, Graveside and I were on the same page."
"This is a scrumpious blend of gothic and heavy metal. Unlike most, this band does not sacrifice anything from either catagory to make its sound. It has all of the darkness, beauty and drama of the gothic category, but it also rocks socks and trades licks like the best of the metal bands. In a pit or on a stage, this band could stand up there with Judas Priest or Iron Maiden." - NeoZine
As far as the future goes for By Blood Alone, the band plans on releasing a new CD in the Fall of 2010. "These are all the songs we wrote during or after Cruella's breast cancer battle in the fall of 2007," John Graveside explains. "It was a pretty trying time for both her and the rest of us, and it shows in the music. As soon as she started chemo I was determined to have the bulk of the next disc written in the next few months, and after I got done with writing each one the band started fleshing them out while Cruella wrote lyrics at home. So, I got 5 songs done (all about 8 minutes each), and a few months after we started gigging again I wrote a sixth song and Runtt brought in a song, so we now have 7, about 50-55 minutes of material. We're laying down basic tracks in our new studio as we speak (and hopefully we will be done with basics before the tour starts.) So far everything is coming out great and we're hoping to release the disc in the Fall." By Blood Alone will also be performing at the Furfright Festival in Connecticut this coming October.
For more information visit the band's official website at www.bybloodalone.com
"Everyone in the band is clearly an accomplished musician in their own right and demonstrates imagination and creativity, but the rhythm section possesses two qualities which are rare to find at the same time in a metal band; precision and finesse. With the powerfully tasteful guitar compositions of John Graveside and the powerful, emotive vocals of Cruella it would seem that By Blood Alone have everything in place for launching a very successful career." - Komodo Rock
Formed in 2004, By Blood Alone proudly sound like no one else in their hometown, and few elsewhere. By virtue of association, they might be compared to the likes of Finland’s operatic Nightwish or Florida’s decidedly progressive Kamelot, and though that is certainly good company to be in, such comparisons are somewhat inaccurate. The songs on By Blood Alone’s 2007 CD Seas of Blood possess a cinematic quality, brought to life by keyboard tones that bring to mind classic horror and 1950's science fiction films that sit alongside crucial sections of dramatic orchestration. At any given moment you are as likely to hear a solitary piano delicately underscoring vocalist Cruella’s quiet whispers as you are a relentless guitar/bass/drums gallop of bone-crunching verses propelling her wail of contempt. A sultry mix of bitter loss, inglorious defeat and even a bit of gallows humor can all be culled from the furious aural denouement unleashed upon the audience before them. These are not simply encores – they are epilogues.
2005 saw By Blood Alone map out their path with the debut EP Eternally. Ambitious in scope, it set the stage for what is clearly their pinnacle achievement, Seas of Blood. Amongst accolades from numerous press outlets, Portland’s primary arts weekly The Phoenix has twice placed By Blood Alone on their year-end Top-10 list, in 2007 for Seas of Blood and in 2005 for Eternally. These achievements can be added to a string of stunning live performances across New England with the likes of Joey Belladonna of Anthrax, Metal Blade Recording artists Goatwhore, as well as former Misfits vocalist Michale Graves and countless other local and regional acts.
By Blood Alone will be performing on the following dates:
April 1 (Thurs) - Ralph's Diner, Worcester, MA
April 2 (Fri) - The Fuzebox, Albany, NY
April 3 (Sat) - New Wave Cafe, New Bedford, MA
"As a whole, I think By Blood Alone has only scratched the surface of where they could take their music. The band has all of the tools to take their music to the next level. Stephen King may have put Portland, Maine on the map as far as pop culture goes, with the right producer and a little bit of luck, By Blood Alone could carry this town’s legacy well into the future.” - Hard Rock Hideout
Along with the band's special blend of progressive metal, the artwork for the new CD is nothing less than spectacular. "Cruella is a visual artist, and I am a graphic designer, so the packaging was very important to us," says Graveside. "We licensed the painting from a museum in the UK, and I 'doctored' it a bit and did the overall layout. The cover is getting lots of compliments. I see a lot of indie CDs with very mediocre artwork, and as a graphic designer it pains me to look at some of them. Even though the world is moving away from CDs to downloadable files, artwork is still an important point of expression for any band, and usually a dull cover means a dull band. And if there’s no artwork at all…well, you get the point." Cruella adds, "Artwork is extremely important. I didn’t want it to be an afterthought with the album. I am constantly thinking and creating with pictures, so when it came to choosing an image for the cd I already had tons of ideas. Luckily, Graveside and I were on the same page."
"This is a scrumpious blend of gothic and heavy metal. Unlike most, this band does not sacrifice anything from either catagory to make its sound. It has all of the darkness, beauty and drama of the gothic category, but it also rocks socks and trades licks like the best of the metal bands. In a pit or on a stage, this band could stand up there with Judas Priest or Iron Maiden." - NeoZine
As far as the future goes for By Blood Alone, the band plans on releasing a new CD in the Fall of 2010. "These are all the songs we wrote during or after Cruella's breast cancer battle in the fall of 2007," John Graveside explains. "It was a pretty trying time for both her and the rest of us, and it shows in the music. As soon as she started chemo I was determined to have the bulk of the next disc written in the next few months, and after I got done with writing each one the band started fleshing them out while Cruella wrote lyrics at home. So, I got 5 songs done (all about 8 minutes each), and a few months after we started gigging again I wrote a sixth song and Runtt brought in a song, so we now have 7, about 50-55 minutes of material. We're laying down basic tracks in our new studio as we speak (and hopefully we will be done with basics before the tour starts.) So far everything is coming out great and we're hoping to release the disc in the Fall." By Blood Alone will also be performing at the Furfright Festival in Connecticut this coming October.
For more information visit the band's official website at www.bybloodalone.com
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