EVANESCENCE returns with self-titled, third studio album --“EVANESCENCE” released by Polyeast Records

Meet and Greet session with Evanescence on February 19, 1pm at  SM Megamall, Event Center.

In line with their first visit in the Philippines, the female fronted metal group and Grammy Award-winning band EVANESCENE has finally released their third studio production and self-titled album "Evanescence" which is now available nationwide released by PolyEast Records.

As the premiere band visits their Pinoy fans, Polyeast Records are also delighted to announce that there will be a Meet and Greet Session with where fans can have an up-close encounter with Amy Lee of Evanescence on February 19, Sunday, 1pm at SM MEGAMALL which is made possible by Polyeast Records, Ovation Productions Manila and Odyssey Music and Video.  Mechanics to be a part of the CD signing is simply buy a copy of Evanescence CD in Odyssey at SM Megamall.

Following a three-year sabbatical after the multi-platinum, worldwide success of their sophomore effort, The Open Door, the third album is produced by Grammy winning Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Alice in Chains, Rush). It contains the hard-driving anthems and introspective ballads the hard rock group has mastered since their breakout debut in 2003. Eight years after the debut album, the new 12 tracks demonstrate the growth of the band's writing style and lyrical content.

Front woman Amy Lee says, "It's about freedom," when describing the album's first single, "My Heart is Broken," a track driven by Lee's signature lyrics and piano playing. Other songs include "Lost in Paradise," which Lee calls, "The most intimate song on the album" and the hard-charging, "What You Want."

 "We can't wait to show everyone what we've been working on!  We’ve been finding ourselves, reinventing our sound, experimenting with things we've never done before and at the same time embracing the things we love most about Evanescence. This journey has made us the strongest we’ve ever been as a band, and I am in love with the music. Nick Rasculinecz is the perfect fit for this record.”

Backed by the heavy guitar sound of Terry Balsamo and pounding drums of Will Hunt, the new album is powerful and aggressive. "We've been working on this music for a very long time and seeing it all finally come together is a really amazing feeling." Lee continues, "This album is about us and also our fans. We’re combining the best of Evanescence with some new attitude and we re just dying to share it."

The inherent drama in Evanescence’s music – a kind of audio odyssey that can turn on a dime from piano-led introspection to hammering guitar – has resonated with listeners everywhere. The music’s core, which ranges from beautiful to subtle to aggressive, finds a counterpart in Lee’s passionate vocals, lyrics that forge a connection with audiences searching for identity or struggling with feelings of desire, hope love and loss.  Sales of the band’s first two albums are more than 24 million worldwide.

With what some call a meteoric rise to the top, Evanescence’s first album Fallen brought the band to global success, selling more than 17 million copies. It spawned two Top 10 singles, “My Immortal” and “Bring Me To Life,” and two Grammy^® Awards in 2003 (Best New Artist and Best Hard Rock Performance for “Bring Me To Life”).

Evanescence is Amy Lee (vocals, piano), Terry Balsamo (guitar) Tim McCord (bass), Will Hunt (drums) and Troy McLawhorn (guitar).

Catch EVANESCENCE LIVE IN MANILA on FEBRUARY 19, 2012 at the SMART ARANETA COLISEUM featuring their special guest, Bush brought to you only by Ovation Productions Manila.

EVANESCENCE albums are exclusively available under POLYEAST RECORDS and are now available at all ASTROVISION / ASTROPLUS, ODYSSEY MUSIC & VIDEO, O MUSIC, FULLY BOOKED, SM DEPT. STORES’ RECORD BARS AND LANDMARK DEPT. STORES nationwide.

SLAPSHOCK reloads 15 year-old career in “KINSE KALIBRE”, Featuring the first single “Ngayon Na”

When SLAPSHOCK first hit the scene with “Fourth Degree Burn” 15 years ago, many automatically tossed the band aside as a part of the growing "rap metal" movement. When they emerged in 1997, we knew what to expect from them. They were a junior rap-metal band to sell thousands of albums and more likely being compared as KORN of Philippine rock scene. More than a decade on, Slapshock has effectively brought a world into the moshpit -- done it with poetry, pounding drum and bass, and a whole lot of power.

Having just released their seventh studio album under Polyeast Records, KINSE KALIBRE documents the band’s 15-year old career.  Featuring “Ngayon Na”, the album’s first single referencing some stylistic Slapshock trademarks --stomping through "Ngayon na, isigaw sa mundo… Ngayon na" gives a fiery shout-along hook while introducing some fresh dynamic sensibilities. The single’s music video is directed by Team Manila and now being aired on MYX Channel, which is running it’s number 1 seat in one month.

At this point, Slapshock's seventh studio album finds the rap-rock luminaries recording with the original line-up in over 15 years. The band includes Jamir Garcia (vocals), Lee Nadela (bass), Lean Ansing (guitars) and Chi Evora (drums). This full-length album consists of 12 tracks --produced by the band, all songs originally written by Jamir Garcia, mixed in Malaysia and was mastered at John Greenham Mastering in San Francisco, USA. Aside from working with notable artists outside the country, Slapshock also worked with Xander Angeles (photographer) and Team Manila for the album artwork who have also done many projects with the band.

With Kinse Kalibre, the band has once again found a place for reinvention, created a multi-layered and genre-smashing album set to cater more to our local market.  Jamir said, “In this album, we we’re challenged to produce something that will cater more to our Filipino listeners. This time, I have challenged myself to write five Tagalog songs”. Tracks include Kinse Kalibre (intro) Ngayon Na, Reset, Deliryo, Asal Demonyo, Burn In Hell, In The Line Of Fire, Langit, Under The Needle, Heartless, Salamin and All Hope Is Gone.

Taking seven albums to put together in 15 years and continuously building a huge fanbase against this pop-generation, Slapshock’s feat over those years was a tough ride for these four hardworking individuals. Jamir expanded, “We have released seven albums and each release gives us the pressure of coming up of something NOT better than the other but the best the band can deliver.” Following the 6^th album Carino Brutal’s commercial success, the band took another three years touring in and outside the country and was able to produce “Kinse Kalibre” that will mark their 15^th year this coming February 2012. 

Jamir also explains, “Kinse Kalibre represents our 15 years of existence as band. Kalibre means that after 15 years, the band is still here—creating what we’re known for”. However, the band indeed created a long-lasting impact-- maturing with every album but never attempted changing their sound and exploring new territory have become their least priority. How did they make it?

When the band signed their first record deal in 1998 with OctoArts (now Polyeast Records), there was no denying they were original—original sound, original brand of songwriting, original heavy rock songs being replayed for years. Jamir added, “This album sets an example of a phenomenon… because for 15 years, we have come a long way building relationships. We are the same members, we never switched music labels, we’re under the same management and we still work with the same crew. People who supported us from the very beginning are still the same people around us up to this moment. That probably made us stay stronger—we work with people we trust and people who trust the band at the same time”

Around this time, Slapshock performed at a number of high profile events, big-time endorsements, bagged numerous awards and sold thousands of albums in and out of the country. The band have proved strongly that loud modern heavy rock music could be good, and have established Slapshock as one of the most important and biggest bands of the last two decades. As Jamir ended, “Lahat ng banda dumating, andito na kami. Umalis na sila, andito pa rin kami...”

KINSE KALIBRE is now out in stores nationwide at Php 350. Special thanks to RED HORSE and DICKIES.

Bamboo Mañalac Gives Fans A Solo tasting

“No Water, No Moon,” the new album from Bamboo Mañalac

 to be released in the market on Sunday, November 20th under PolyEast Records

Here, according to  a press release, is the abbreviated story of Bamboo Mañalac's fab comeback:

Good music never ends and one great artist never stops. Just one spin of the most anticipated album in OPM rock this year, “No  Water, No Moon," Bamboo Mañalac's first solo release under PolyEast Records, and it's clear there is life beyond his career as frontman. “Nothing’s changed. It’s the same pressure that I’ve always put on myself. Whether in a band or going out on my own, or whatever I do. Just wanting to push, claw and climb,” Mañalac said in an interview.

Manalac’s debut album will be released in the market on 20 November by Polyeast Records. Produced and compositions by Mañalac himself, the album preceded by the lead single “Questions” which debuted the radio stations nationwide last Sept. 22 accompanied by a music video co-direction with Treb Monteras III.

“Questions” however gave us a glimpse of the polished-pop direction Mañalac’s music is heading-- towards on-trend synth chord progressions with cascading backup strings. “Questions” according to Mañalac, “I felt this was a good intro to the album because it has a lot of colors and instrumentation that we have in the album in just one song. The song is personal but I thought it spoke of human experience.”

Mañalac continued sharing his thoughts about the album title, “It’s a Japanese Koan. Something I’ve read from time to time over the years. I never thought of it as a album title but when it came down to choosing one and basing it on the general tone and sound of the album and what the koan meant for me. It just fit with the album’s concept”.

The release includes such songs as “In Shadow”, “Please”, “Morning Rose”, “Back on my Feet”, “Spin”, “In This Life”, “Down the Line”, “All Hail the Fool”, “The Only Way”, “Just Go”  and a bonus track and only  Tagalog song in the album “Ikot ng Mundo.”

“The songs just draw from my own personal church of music. The stuff I sit around listening to. So I see this album as homage to my favourites. The idea was to still continue doing what I enjoyed when I was with a band. Some songs have an element of hearing it again for the first time because of what the other players brought to the pot”.

Paving his own name from a band’s frontman to a solo act, is no easy feat. That did not stop Mañalac’s ambitious resolve to conjure up a new and eclectic set. Teamed with some of the top musicians in the music industry like Ria Osorio, Kakoy Legaspi, Jun Jun Regalado, Bong Gonzales and Simon Tan, he presents his musical visions as he says, “I wanted to find a chemistry between the players that made me feel like we’ve been playing together as a band for years. So the process was longer than usual from my experience and we hit a snag or two along the way.”

As Mañalac goes back to what he’s known for, he’s also back with depth and personal nature of his lyrics, coupled with his cool, smooth voice and brilliantly adept song writing capabilities. Mañalac, who produced and wrote most of the songs, has been in the US for mixing at Hyde Street Studios by Scott Mcdowell and final mastering of the album by Brad Blackwood at Euphonic Masters. He also visited parts of the US like New York City and California to Canada. Mañalac will again continue his US tour this November and will be back in the country to promote his album before the year ends.

Mañalac’s infusion of rock, pop, jazz and bluegrass melodies along with a 12-piece orchestra  to create a collection of hypnotic, genre-bending material shows renewed confidence from musician unafraid to stride beyond industry expectations. 

“It’s a restart. The whole process from start to finish was different from all the years I’ve been doing this. It was just great to relearn a lot of the stuff and get that joy back again, “Mañalac shared.

"No  Water, No Moon" tracklisting:

1.     " In Shadow"

2.      "Please"

3.      "Morning Rose"

4.      "Back on my Feet"

5.      Questions

6.      "Spin"

7.      "In This Life"

8.      "Down the Line"

9.      "All Hail the Fool"

10.  "The Only Way"

11.  "Just Go"

12.  Ikot ng Mundo (Bonus Track)