Van Canto: A Capella Metal Masterminds

Hey guys! I just finished all my exams for this semester so I'd figure I'd celebrate by talking about one of my favorite bands that I discovered in the last couple of years, Germany's Van Canto.

A Capella groups usually confined to performing covers and mash ups of pop songs and occasionally doing some original songs here and there.  No one told Germany's Van Canto that.  The German tribe of force has been crafting their own unique brand of metal since 2006.  One that uses no instruments, except drums, but will keep your head banging and fists pumping while you are hypnotized in by the craziness that is a capella metal.

Now some people who know a capella music will be quick to jump up and protest "Zach you can't call them a capella because they use a real drummer instead of a beatboxer."  To which I respond "yes but calling it 'vocal ensemble metal' doesn't have the same ring to it."  Plus the band has stated that they know a capella doesn't use any drums, but when you have a drummer as talented as Bastian, their drummer, is you would want to use him too.  Let me just first say that he is good.  Each hit of his drums is brilliantly precise, his feet rumble at break neck speeds, his drums sound like thunderclaps and only enhance the Van Canto musical experience.

Van Canto is a sextet; Sly and Inga handle the lead vocals.  Ross and Stefan handle the rakka takka style vocals.  Ross handles the high rakka takka vocals and Stefan handles the low rakka takka vocals as well as the guitar like solos.  Ike handles the bass vocals and the aforementioned Bastian on drums.  The 'rakka takka' vocals are their own unique style of vocals that imitate the sounds a guitar would make.  It has also become a catch phrase for the band, during shows they will chant "rakka takka!" and the crowd responds "mother fucker!" They also have t-shirts that say "rakka takka mother fucker!" on the back and I really want to get one of those.

But I digress.  I first heard about Van Canto when I saw an add for their cd Tribe of Force (pictured above) in a Napalm Records add (again further reenforcing my statement that Napalm has a knack of finding the most unique metal bands out there).  I was intrigued by the idea of a capella metal and decided to look them up on youtube.  The first video I saw was a cover of Metallica's "Battery" off their album A Storm to Come.  The video starts off slow and quiet just like the original song.  Sly and Inga being singing "Battery" in order to imitate the guitar sounds, which may sound silly at first, but then you try thinking of a better way to imitate a guitar sound rather than just saying "doo" or "la" on the correct pitches.  To me singing "battery" makes more sense.  The sound continues to build until about 1:08 and if you're a Metallica fan like I am you know what the intro builds to.  Once 1:08 hit at the song picks up tempo, my jaw hit the floor.  I couldn't believe what I was hearing, they were executing "Battery" with the same sense of ferociousness that Metallica does.  This was not your average a capella cover, but then again Van Canto is not your average a capella band.  Its in this song (as well as all of Van Canto's songs) that you can say this is why they need a drummer like Bastian.  If they had a beat-boxer trying to mimic what Lars Ulrich originally did on the song it would sound incredibly silly.  Bastian mimics Lars with incredible accuracy and instead of making the song sound silly, he makes the song sound, well, metal!  Then there is the 'guitar' solo, I put 'guitar' in quotes because obviously they don't have a real guitar player, but they do have Stefan.  Stefan has the ability, and I think surprisingly with out the aid of any affects pedals but I can't say that with any fact, to imitate a guitar sound as if they were soloing.  What does Stefan do with these amazing powers? Why he sings Kirk Hammet's solo on the song.  Any Metallica will easily recognize it as Kirk's solo and would have to applaud Stefan for doing an amazing job making his voice sound exactly like Kirk's guitar.  Needless to say once I heard this first taste of Van Canto, I only wanted more and they quickly became one of my favorite bands.

Here is the video of their 'Battery' cover 

A quick note before I continue, Van Canto is one of the few bands that I like that my mom likes.  Its one thing to get my sister to like a metal band because she has a pretty eclectic music taste, but when my mom likes a metal band its pretty monumental, and Van Canto successfully claimed the title as the one metal band my mom likes.  

Now Van Canto doesn't only do covers, on average their albums may feature two or three covers, the rest are original songs.  When they are not covering metal masterpieces of the past (look up their covers of "Fear of the Dark" and "Master of Puppets") they are writing their own awesome power metal songs.  It is pretty easy to say that while Van Canto may be in their own category of a capella metal, in the grand scheme of all things metal the German sextet definitely falls under the sub genre of Power Metal.  They write about fantastic adventures that involve epic heroes conquering evil and songs that pertain to the power of metal and how it unites every one of their listeners.  Each song of theirs could easily be covered by bands like Hammerfall or Sabaton, but I don't want to see that happen, at least not yet.  

Take their song "Lost Forever" off of their album Tribe of Force (my favorite album of theirs).  The song begins with a catchy melody line that you could easily picture two guitars playing, yet for some reason it sounds better when Ross, Stefan, and Ike sing it.  The song quickly goes from there to galloping along at a pretty quick tempo that would make anyone start headbanging.  I can picture them singing this song to a big crowd at Waken Open Air Festival and seeing the whole crowd jump up in down or headbang in unison to the beat of the song.  Once the chorus hits the listener is hit with an amazing chorus of sound that could accompany a man riding a horse as he treks along the country side looking for his next adventure.  Then you've got Stefan taking another crazy vocal guitar solo, that to the unfamiliar ear would just sound like a real guitar, but is really just Stefan's voice.  What I am trying to say with all of this is that Van Canto does not stand up on their covers alone.  Their original songs are just as good if not better then some of their covers.  These guys are more than just a cover band, they are their own power/a capella metal entity.  

Here is the video for 'Lost Forever'

Now being an a capella band they do perform songs that are a capella in the true sense.  Bastian doesn't play drums but he may jump on the mic and help the band by doing some singing (talk about a double threat!).  The two best examples of this are "The Bard's Song" (my sister's favorite song of theirs) and "Last Night of the Kings".  "The Bard's Song" is a cover, but I am blanking on who originally wrote the song I think it might have been Blind Guardian but I don't know for sure.  "Last Night of the Kings" is an original but the two songs are equally beautiful and equally awesome.  I will admit I did not like "The Bard's Song" at first, but the more I listened to it the more I realized just how beautiful it is.  The group vocals on the chorus sends chills down my spine every time I hear it.  For being only a sextet Van Canto has the ability to produce a huge sound that I haven't heard from a capella groups that are larger in size than they are.  "Last Night of the Kings" is a sinister song about a group of rebels planning to take over a castle (there is the power metal element), but still just as beautiful as "The Bard's Song".  Like "Lost Forever", "Last Night of the Kings" has a catchy intro melody that can easily get stuck in your head and like "The Bard's Song", it has the epic group vocals that give me chills.  

Here is a clip for "The Bard's Song"

Here is the video for "Last Night of the Kings" 

Overall, if you like a capella, metal, good music, or anything really, you will like Van Canto.  They don't use harsh vocals (something I know turns a lot of people off with metal) and produce some of the best and most unique music that exists today.  Also, even though they are German, they sing in English so no need for translating (they have one song they do in German but that's it).  For anyone who wants to get into metal, I would highly recommend listening to Van Canto.  Out of all the metal bands I listen to, Van Canto, along with Nightwish maybe, are some of the best bands to listen to if you are a new comer to the metal genre.  Their last album Break the Silence (Napalm) was released last year and is an awesome album! 

Thanks guys! 

-Zach 

PS- Van Canto its time for you to tour the states! I really want you to come to my school, Willamette University, and give a concert.  Please find a way to make a US tour happen! 

Remember if you have a band you want me to talk about or an album you want me to review leave a comment below or tweet me @zachktheanimal.