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PT KONTAK PERKASA - Noora Louhimo is best known for screaming her head off in Finnish power-metal sextet Battle Beast, whose fourth album, Bringer of Pain, quickly
rocketed to the top of her homeland's charts after its release in
February. But Louhimo recently became part of a different outfit —
supergroup Pentakill, in which she joins luminaries like Mötley Crüe's
Tommy Lee and Ureas' Per Johansson — that could match that mark not only
in Finland but also internationally. The band just dropped a new
album, II: Grasp of the Undying, the full-length follow-up to a 2014 EP, Smite and Ignite, that landed in the Billboard Top 40 without any traditional promotion.
"Tear of the Goddess," the lead single off Grasp of the Undying, isn't far outside of Battle Beast's mythic wheelhouse, with its crystallized slab of downtuned guitar and Louhimo's trademark aerial vocals. But there is one big difference between the singer's two groups: Pentakill isn't real. Instead, it's a band made up of characters sourced from the ridiculously popular free-to-play multiplayer game League of Legends. The easiest reference point for Pentakill would be Gorillaz, if Gorillaz were constructed within the framework of an existing canon. Louhimo became part of the project after she was contacted by Mike Pitman, a freelance songwriter and session musician who serves as the composer and puppeteer behind the Pentakill veneer. He wanted her to play Kayle, the angelic justicar who brandishes a massive flaming sword on the battlefield.
"I'm super excited how people have received [the single] — we've already gotten so much good feedback," says Louhimo. "I'm excited for the outcome for this, because Battle Beast is gonna get so much attention [through Pentakill]."
Louhimo didn't appear on Smite and Ignite, which was released by Riot Games (League of Legends' publisher), and accompanied by a collection of in-game skins that dressed up some of the game's most popular champions in brutal, Ozzfest-ready costumes. The EP hosted performances from Dragonforce's ZP Theart and Dream Theater's Derek Sherinian, and the combination of legit talent and League's cult-like fandom propelled the record up the charts. Grasp of the Undying is more ambitious. Riot recruited a new set of band members — both fresh faces like Louhimo and repeat collaborators such as Norwegian singer Jørn Lande — to work with the company's in-house music composition and production team to record a 10-track full-length album that will tacitly serve as the first unabridged artistic statement from a band that does not exist.
That said, Pentakill is a very legit part of the League of Legends universe, with a fully fleshed-out origin story that reads like a demonic malformation of an episode of Behind the Music. A black knight (and League of Legends character) named Mordekaiser seeks out a legendary guitar known only as "Numero Uno," but the corrosive power of the axe was too great, and eventually its dark whispers compelled him to murder his other bandmates. It's silly and tongue-in-cheek, but Riot's commitment to the Pentakill vision mirrors the reason a lot of people start listening to metal: Sometimes it's fun to pretend music is magic.
This puts Louhimo in an interesting spot. In Battle Beast she's sung about populist demagoguery and Viking folklore, but now she's offering her voice to Kayle, one of the oldest and most adored League of Legends champions. Like most characters in the League universe, there isn't much to Kayle's personality. She's equipped with a few lines of dialogue and two paragraphs detailing her origin on the official website. So in a lot of ways, Louhimo has the opportunity to mold Kayle to her own liking. The singer says she didn't have to rethink her creative process in the studio ("I recorded as I would in Battle Beast — [my voice] is something they really wanted to use in this project," she explains), but she may have to readjust her career outlook after being injected into an entire universe of prospective new fans. League of Legends has a huge, cross-continental following. Pro players compete in the World Championship every year for a multimillion-dollar prize pool. Last year, that championship series sold out both Madison Square Garden and the Staples Center, with 43 million more people watching live on the internet. Pentakill might not be a mainstream metal band, but don't count out their influence.
"I have never played any video games, but I've always been intrigued to be part of those fantasy worlds. One of my dreams is to do voice-acting for games and movies," says Louhimo. "League of Legends is a huge honor for me. I knew that it was very popular. There's nothing but good things coming out of this."
Pentakill don't tour in the traditional sense. They will not be rolling through a series of club dates, nor will they be holding down a fringe stage at Hellfest. Instead, they perform at League of Legends ceremonies and conventions around the globe. In the summer of 2015 they shredded for Brazil's League of Legends professional division. One of the League characters, the grim, ghoulish Karthus, arrived in full cosplay to trade growls with Jørn Lande. With that history in mind, Louhimo believes that her turn in Pentakill could be more than a one-off gig.
"I've had some conversation with Riot about being a part in some live shows, and I'm really excited about that. It'd be great to perform [the songs] live," she says. "They're looking for some collaborators who can stick around for more than one thing. So I really hope we can continue our collaboration in the future."
"I think it's important to combine different worlds like the music industry and the gaming industry," Louhimo continues. "This is the future we're headed towards, and I really like it. These worlds can meet each other … I'm really excited that I can be one of the people who can be part of that."
Source : revolvermag.com
"Tear of the Goddess," the lead single off Grasp of the Undying, isn't far outside of Battle Beast's mythic wheelhouse, with its crystallized slab of downtuned guitar and Louhimo's trademark aerial vocals. But there is one big difference between the singer's two groups: Pentakill isn't real. Instead, it's a band made up of characters sourced from the ridiculously popular free-to-play multiplayer game League of Legends. The easiest reference point for Pentakill would be Gorillaz, if Gorillaz were constructed within the framework of an existing canon. Louhimo became part of the project after she was contacted by Mike Pitman, a freelance songwriter and session musician who serves as the composer and puppeteer behind the Pentakill veneer. He wanted her to play Kayle, the angelic justicar who brandishes a massive flaming sword on the battlefield.
"I'm super excited how people have received [the single] — we've already gotten so much good feedback," says Louhimo. "I'm excited for the outcome for this, because Battle Beast is gonna get so much attention [through Pentakill]."
Louhimo didn't appear on Smite and Ignite, which was released by Riot Games (League of Legends' publisher), and accompanied by a collection of in-game skins that dressed up some of the game's most popular champions in brutal, Ozzfest-ready costumes. The EP hosted performances from Dragonforce's ZP Theart and Dream Theater's Derek Sherinian, and the combination of legit talent and League's cult-like fandom propelled the record up the charts. Grasp of the Undying is more ambitious. Riot recruited a new set of band members — both fresh faces like Louhimo and repeat collaborators such as Norwegian singer Jørn Lande — to work with the company's in-house music composition and production team to record a 10-track full-length album that will tacitly serve as the first unabridged artistic statement from a band that does not exist.
That said, Pentakill is a very legit part of the League of Legends universe, with a fully fleshed-out origin story that reads like a demonic malformation of an episode of Behind the Music. A black knight (and League of Legends character) named Mordekaiser seeks out a legendary guitar known only as "Numero Uno," but the corrosive power of the axe was too great, and eventually its dark whispers compelled him to murder his other bandmates. It's silly and tongue-in-cheek, but Riot's commitment to the Pentakill vision mirrors the reason a lot of people start listening to metal: Sometimes it's fun to pretend music is magic.
This puts Louhimo in an interesting spot. In Battle Beast she's sung about populist demagoguery and Viking folklore, but now she's offering her voice to Kayle, one of the oldest and most adored League of Legends champions. Like most characters in the League universe, there isn't much to Kayle's personality. She's equipped with a few lines of dialogue and two paragraphs detailing her origin on the official website. So in a lot of ways, Louhimo has the opportunity to mold Kayle to her own liking. The singer says she didn't have to rethink her creative process in the studio ("I recorded as I would in Battle Beast — [my voice] is something they really wanted to use in this project," she explains), but she may have to readjust her career outlook after being injected into an entire universe of prospective new fans. League of Legends has a huge, cross-continental following. Pro players compete in the World Championship every year for a multimillion-dollar prize pool. Last year, that championship series sold out both Madison Square Garden and the Staples Center, with 43 million more people watching live on the internet. Pentakill might not be a mainstream metal band, but don't count out their influence.
"I have never played any video games, but I've always been intrigued to be part of those fantasy worlds. One of my dreams is to do voice-acting for games and movies," says Louhimo. "League of Legends is a huge honor for me. I knew that it was very popular. There's nothing but good things coming out of this."
Pentakill don't tour in the traditional sense. They will not be rolling through a series of club dates, nor will they be holding down a fringe stage at Hellfest. Instead, they perform at League of Legends ceremonies and conventions around the globe. In the summer of 2015 they shredded for Brazil's League of Legends professional division. One of the League characters, the grim, ghoulish Karthus, arrived in full cosplay to trade growls with Jørn Lande. With that history in mind, Louhimo believes that her turn in Pentakill could be more than a one-off gig.
"I've had some conversation with Riot about being a part in some live shows, and I'm really excited about that. It'd be great to perform [the songs] live," she says. "They're looking for some collaborators who can stick around for more than one thing. So I really hope we can continue our collaboration in the future."
"I think it's important to combine different worlds like the music industry and the gaming industry," Louhimo continues. "This is the future we're headed towards, and I really like it. These worlds can meet each other … I'm really excited that I can be one of the people who can be part of that."
Source : revolvermag.com