Progressive symphonic metal act Scardust to celebrate the launch of their acclaimed new concept album “Strangers”, the Israeli band Scardust – praised by Prog Magazine as “serious contenders in the symphonic/prog metal world” – hosted a live-stream release party on Facebook on Nov. 14. The event featured the first-ever live performances of several songs from the new record, as well as a Q&A with special guest musician Patty Gurdy, who appears on the album’s “Concrete Cages”. Archived video of that event is now available for free on-demand viewing below:
“2020 was a hell of a ride for Scardust!” says vocalist Noa Gruman. “Covid-19 tried to sabotage the recording of our album and the making of no less than six music videos (and more to come), but we managed to keep to our schedule even when we barely could meet up with each other. Countless fans told us they wished they could see us live on stage with the new songs, so on Nov. 14, we returned to Bardo Studios, where we recorded the drums and choirs for ‘Strangers,’ to play a live-stream show to celebrate the release of the new album. We’ve missed performing live so much, and it made us very happy to play live again and interact with our beloved audience. The thousands of people who joined the live stream that night made it double the thrill. This video is an unedited record of that wonderful event – technical glitches and all!”
An intriguing concept album built of complementary song pairs working from the outside in, “Strangers” is available now in stores and on digital music platforms such as Amazon, Apple Music, and Spotify. CD and limited-edition gray smoke vinyl editions of can also be ordered here.
Setlist:
00:00 – Break the Ice
04:09 – Tantibus II
08:16 – Q&A
15:30 – Arrowhead
20:52 – Thank You!
24:37 – Q&A with Patty Gurdy
34:52 – Gone
40:14 – Mist Challenge Winners
44:44 – Mist
Mastered by Jens Bogren (Opeth, Devin Townsend, Arch Enemy), “Strangers” – described by Dead Rhetoric as “captivating from start to finish” – was written and composed jointly by Noa Gruman and composer Orr Didi, who also collaborated with Scardust on their full-length debut “Sands of Time” and their 2015 EP “Shadow”. In addition to Gurdy, the new album features guest appearances by the Hellscore choir (Orphaned Land, Amorphis) and England’s prestigious Westbrook Hay Prep School Chamber Choir.
Scardust has released multiple music videos in recent weeks that reflect the concept of “Strangers”. The video for ‘Tantibus II’ told the tale of a protagonist who decided to disconnect from reality into her own mind, and the complementary video for ‘Addicted’ revealed that there was a caring person that tried to dissuade her from those actions. Meanwhile, the videos for ‘Stranger’ and ‘Gone’ tell a story from two different perspectives – one from a person that feels abandoned by someone that was close to them, and the other from a person that feels that they need to leave their current situation in order to evolve. The band also gave fans a behind-the-scenes peek at the recording process for “Strangers” via the video for ‘Break The Ice’, which – like the other videos from “Strangers” – can be viewed here.
Israel’s leading progressive metal group, Scardust has performed at such major festivals as Ramblin’ Man Fair (UK), Metaldays (Slovenia) and Midi (China). In addition, the band hosts the annual “Scarfest” event in their home country, where they’ve also appeared alongside the likes of Therion, Epica and Symphony X.
Band lineup:
Noa Gruman – Vocals
Yanai Avnet – Bass
Yadin Moyal – Guitar
Itai Portugali – Keyboards
Yoav Weinberg – Drums
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