Candlepower Records and ElectraCast Media have announced a distribution agreement with STRYFE, a progressive metal band out of Southern California. The first single under the deal, "Breathe", arrives August 22.
STRYFE trade in intricate arrangements and strong vocal presence, and the detail that separates them from the rest of the Los Angeles progressive field is where the melodic material comes from: alongside the expected progressive metal reference points, the band draws on Armenian classical and folk traditions, producing something that sounds simultaneously unfamiliar and deeply rooted. Every member arrives with decades of playing behind them and a different musical inheritance. The label's own shorthand for who this is aimed at: listeners who already own records by TOOL, FATES WARNING, DREAM THEATER, THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT and KARNIVOOL.
The signing came out of a live show rather than a demo submission. Candlepower first caught STRYFE at a packed Viper Room in West Hollywood, where label co-founder Diego Negrete watched a set compelling enough that he found himself imagining the same performance on the stage at The Forum.
The label is not a hobby operation. Candlepower Records, a division of ElectraCast Media, was founded by two people who have spent their working lives inside heavy music. Negrete is a founding member of 1980s metal band MX MACHINE and a three-time Primetime Emmy Certificate recipient. His partner is Bill Metoyer, former vice president of Metal Blade Records, whose production and engineering credits include SLAYER, D.R.I., FATES WARNING and DARK ANGEL — which is to say, a substantial portion of the records that defined American thrash and progressive metal in the 1980s.
For a band still building an audience, that pedigree matters more than the size of the cheque. Candlepower describes itself as built by musicians for musicians, and STRYFE fits the profile of an act that has done the work in clubs without a distribution deal to show for it.
"Breathe" is released August 22 through Candlepower Records.
Source: blabbermouth.net