Israel’s progressive/symphonic metal wizards SCARDUST recently revealed new membership within their lineup as their critically acclaimed sophomore concept album “Strangers” continues to pick up accolades and new fans. That new lineup will make its live debut this Thursday, March 18 with a special online performance featuring guest appearances from vocalist Kobi Farhi (OrphanedLand) and German folk musician Patty Gurdy.
The free-entry livestream is taking place on the Play2Fund streaming platform and will be viewable at bit.ly/Scardust-show beginning at 7PM GMT (3PM EST, 12PM PST). Viewers will be able to make donations at any point to show their appreciation and support the band.
SCARDUST has also received permission to have five of their most devoted fans physically attend Thursday’s show. Fans and friends of the band around the world are invited to join the lucky five on the 18th and be eligible to win a merchandise pack – including a CD edition of “Strangers”, a SCARDUST beanie hat and guitar pick – by sharing the Facebook event link (https://www.facebook.com/events/3730810250333346) and tagging the band.
“We missed you guys, and we are finally back, reinforced and ready to play this very special show,” says the band. “We feel very lucky to have our dear friend and amazing singer, Kobi Farhi, join us on stage for a rare performance of ‘Out of Strong Came Sweetness,’ the song he sang on our ‘Sands of Time’ album. We are still waiting patiently for the world to go back to normal so Patty Gurdy can be here physically, but for now, we are just happy that technology will allow us to include her on video performing ‘Concrete Cages’ with us. Finally, we are super-excited to have five of our devoted fans there with us, to sing along and make some noise in the venue. An audience, albeit a small one, feels almost surreal at this point!”
SCARDUST persevered through the challenges presented by the events of 2020 and ended the year by releasing their acclaimed sophomore record “Strangers,” a unique concept album built of complementary song pairs working from the outside in. Several recently released music videos, which can be seen at www.youtube.com/Scardust, further demonstrate the degree to which different tracks from the album are thematically connected. The full album – described by by Dead Rhetoric.com as “captivating from start to finish” – can be streamed on all major digital platforms or purchased on CD and limited-edition gray smoke vinyl at https://smarturl.com/scardust2020.
The group is poised to continue moving forward as 2021 progresses, though the makeup of the band has been slightly altered. Bassist Yanai Avnet and keyboardist Itai Portugali recently said an amicable goodbye to SCARDUST, and the group has officially welcomed into the fold longtime songwriting collaborator Orr Didi (bass) and longtime friend of the band Aaron Friedland (keyboards). Thursday’s livestream will mark their first official performance with the band.
Mastered by Jens Bogren (Opeth, DevinTownsend, ArchEnemy), “Strangers” was written and composed jointly by SCARDUST vocalist Noa Gruman and Didi, who also collaborated with the band on their full-length debut “Sands of Time” and their 2015 EP “Shadow.” The album features guest appearances by Gurdy, the Hellscore choir (Orphaned Land, Amorphis, Ayreon) and England’s prestigious Westbrook Hay Prep School Chamber Choir.
Gruman was also featured as a guest lead vocalist on Therion‘s new record, “Leviathan” (Nuclear Blast), released earlier this year. This is just the latest in a list of impressive recent guest vocal appearances, which also include Amorphis’ 2018 record “Queen of Time,” Orphaned Land’s 2018 album “Unsung Prophets and Dead Messiahs” and Ayreon’s recently released “Transitus.”
