Diablo Blvd.
| Diablo Blvd. | |
|---|---|
 Band logo |
|
 Diablo Blvd at the Turock Open Air 2014 in Essen |
|
| General information | |
| origin | Antwerp , Belgium |
| Genre (s) | Heavy metal , hard rock |
| founding | 2005 |
| resolution | 2018 |
| Website | www.diabloboulevard.com |
| Last occupation | |
| Alex Agnew | |
| Andries Beckers | |
guitar |
Dave Hubrechts |
| Jan Rammeloo (since 2016) | |
| Kris Martens | |
| former members | |
bass |
Tim Bekaert (until 2016) |
Diablo Blvd was a Belgian heavy metal / hard rock band from Antwerp . The band was founded in 2005 and was signed to Play It Again Sam and Nuclear Blast . Diablo Blvd released four studio albums before the band split up in late 2018.
history
The Greater God and Builders of Empires
The band was founded in 2005 by singer Alex Agnew, also known in Belgium as a stand-up comedian, and guitarist Dave Hubrechts. Later came the second guitarist Andries Beckers from the band Born from Pain . Since Beckers initially did not like the songs written by Agnew and Hubrechts, he initially offered them their own compositions. After several joint rehearsals, this was rejected. The band was completed by bassist Tim Bekaert and drummer Kris Martens.
These musicians previously played in bands such as A Brand or Meuris , while Beckers left his previous band Born from Pain for Diablo Blvd. The band name Diablo Blvd comes from a song by the US band Corrosion of Conformity from their album America's Volume Dealer . Corrosion-of-Conformity singer Pepper Keenan got the idea for this title while visiting his friend James Hetfield , the singer of the band Metallica, at his house one day. The street behind Hetfield's house was called Diablo Blvd.
In 2006 the band released the demo Scarred and Undefeated and was later signed to the Play It Again Sam label . Over a period of over two years, the band worked on their debut album The Greater God , which was produced by Ace Zac. With the album Diablo Blvd reached number 33 on the Belgian album charts. The band played at Belgian festivals such as the Graspop Metal Meeting or Pukkelpop . Two years later the second studio album, Builders of Empires , followed, mixed by the Swedish producer Jens Bogren . Builders of Empires debuted at number 21 on the Belgian album charts. Diablo Blvd made their first music video for the song Saint of Killers .
Follow the Deadlights and Zero Hour
In May 2014, the third studio album Follow the Deadlights was released, which entered the Belgian album charts at number five. The title song was released as a single and reached number 61 in the Belgian single charts. Diablo Blvd played again at the Graspop Metal Meeting and played concerts in support of Life of Agony and Machine Head . Also in May 2014 the first Diablofest took place in Antwerp . a. also Vanderbuyst occurred. In November 2014 the band was signed to the German label Nuclear Blast. According to Andries Beckers, company boss Markus Staiger was impressed by the song Rise Like Lions and wanted to win the band over for his company.
Follow the Deadlights was finally re-released by Nuclear Blast on January 23, 2015. At the same time, the band played a European tour in support of Epica , followed by their own European tour with Coal Chamber and SOiL, as well as festival appearances at With Full Force , Summer Breeze , Out and Loud and the Metaldays . On October 24th, 2015 the second Diablofest took place. a. Born from Pain and John Coffey appeared before Diablo Blvd opened for Armored Saint in December . In the summer of 2016 the band played at the Groezrock Festival before the band recorded their fourth studio album Zero Hour with producer Dag Taeldeman . Bassist Tim Bekaert left the band in the meantime and was replaced by Jan Rammeloo, who previously played for Bliksem .
The release of Zero Hour was carried out by the Belgian album charts on 22 September 2017 and reached number three. In addition to a few concerts in the opening act of Life of Agony and Wednesday 13 , a headlining tour through Europe followed in autumn 2017, further concerts in the opening act of Wednesday 13 and an appearance at the Metal Hammer Paradise festival . In early 2018, the band took part in the cruise 70,000 Tons of Metal . In summer 2018 the band played at the Wacken Open Air , the Graspop Metal Meeting, the Rockharz Open Air and the Alcatraz Hard Rock & Metal Festival . The song Sing from the Gallows was nominated for the Metal Hammer Awards 2018 in the category Metal Anthem . However, the award went to Dimmu Borgir . On December 10, 2018, the band played their last concert at the Ancienne Belgique club in Brussels before the group broke up.
style
Singer Alex Agnew founded the band with the intention of combining everything he loves about metal , rock and hardcore . The band's main influences include Agnew Danzig , old Metallica, Type O Negative , Black Sabbath , Iron Maiden , Alice in Chains and the Cro-Mags . Singer Alex Agnew's lyrics deal mainly with the topics of religion and politics . He had already dealt with these topics during his time as a comedian. According to Agnew, the difference to that time is that he doesn't have to bring up a joke at Diablo Blvd in the end .
Jörg Staude from Classic Rock magazine described the band as a combination of the dark sound of the 1990s from Type O Negative and Danzig with classic cult melodies and modern elements from the Five Finger Death Punch brand . He compared the voice of singer Alex Agnew with that of Volbeat singer Michael Schøn Poulsen . Raymond Westland from the online magazine This Is Not a Scene compared the band musically to Down and Metallica. According to Martin Iordanidis of German magazine Visions, “Diablo Blvd. alternatively whitewashed stoner metal with hard rock ”and are“ more epic than Mustasch and smarter than Transport League ”.
Discography
Albums
| year | Title music label |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
 BE F
|
|||
| 2009 | The Greater God Play It Again Sam |
BE F33 (7 weeks) BE F |
First published: March 27, 2009
|
| 2011 | Builders of Empires Play It Again Sam |
BE F21 (13 weeks) BE F |
First published: April 25, 2011
|
| 2014 |
Follow the Deadlights Play It Again Sam |
BE F5 (33 weeks) BE F |
First release: May 17th, 2014
Re-release: January 23rd, 2015 via Nuclear Blast |
| 2017 |
Zero Hour Nuclear Blast |
BE F3 (12 weeks) BE F |
First published: September 22, 2017
|
Singles
- 2011: Black Heart Bleed
- 2013: Rise Like Lions
- 2014: Beyond the Veil
demo
- 2006: Scarred and Undefeated
Music videos
- 2011: Saint of Killers
- 2014: Follow the Deadlights
- 2014: Rise Like Lions
- 2014: Son of Cain
- 2017: Animal
- 2017: Sing from the Gallows
- 2017: Summer Has Gone
- 2018: The Future Will Do What It's Told
- 2018: The Song Is Over
Awards
| year | category | For | result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Metal anthem | Sing from the Gallows | Nominated |
swell
- ↑ a b c Jörg Staude: Now or never . In: Classic Rock , January / February 2015, page 38
- ↑ Todd Jolicoeur: INTERVIEW: ANDRIES BECKERS of Diablo Blvd - December 2014. 100 Percent Rock, accessed April 7, 2019 .
- ↑ DIABLO BLVD - sign with Nuclear Blast, Lyric Video online, new album in January! Nuclear Blast , accessed April 6, 2018 .
- ↑ METAL HAMMER AWARDS 2018: These are the nominees! Metal Hammer . Retrieved July 18, 2018 .
- ^ Daniel Laich: Diablo Blvd. Stormbringer.at, accessed on January 20, 2015 .
- ^ Raymond Westland: Diablo Blvd - Follow The Deadlights. This Is Not A Scene, accessed December 23, 2014 .
- ↑ Martin Iordanidis: Diablo Blvd. - Follow the deadlights. Visions , accessed September 16, 2017 .
Web links
- Official website
- Diablo Blvd on Allmusic (English)
- Chart source: BE / F