VAN CANTO (Acapella Metal)

We play Metal A Capella. Melodic metal songs, arranged for 5 singers and one drummer. All instruments that would be played by musicians in a regular metalband are imitated by our voices. Bass, guitars, solos, keyboard sounds. On top we put two lead singers, a male one and a female one. But we left the drums what they are, as we do not do disco pop. And having a drummer like Bastian it would be a shame not to let him play. Our self produced debut A Storm to to come was released by our own label in december 2006. It was attended by our first video clip of 'The Mission' From then, everything went quite fast. Festival gigs, upbeat reactions, record deal with sony records, gigs with Nightwish, Rage and so on. In summer 2008 we did a tour in Brazil and the Wacken Open Air. Our mixture of own songs and covered metal classics (of which Metallica's 'Battery' made it on our first album) works great on stage.

In September 2008 our second album Hero was released. Produced with Charlie Bauerfeind in Blind Guardian's studios we put some more covers aside from our own songs. Nightwish, Manowar, Iron Maiden and Deep Purple are rearranged in metal a cappella style. Highlight is Blind Guardian's 'Bard's Song', which inspires Hansi Kürsch to contribute some guest vocals to our own Song 'Take to the Sky'. The release is followed by a german tour and another one as support of 'Letzte Instanz'. With some summer festivals (amongst others together with Manowar) we finish our hero tour. We are now two and a half years old, released two albums and played about 60 gigs. Our „Rakkatakka Motherfucker" is well known by metal fans, which makes us very proud.

From August 2009 we worked on our third album Tribe of Force, again together with Charlie Bauerfeind. It contains 13 songs and features Victor Smolski, Tony Kakko, Chris Boltendahl and a real orchestra. Tribe of Force is released in february 2010 and enters the german album charts on rank 83. The release was followed by an extended clubtour with many sold-out venues. After that we played festivals in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Italy and were honored to join Grave Digger as special guest on Wacken main stage. We were guest musicians on Blind Guardian's new album and arranged/sung backing vocals for Tarja Turunen and Grave Digger. In October we were allowed to support Blind Guardian in Germany's big concert arenas. Afterwards we played our first gig in Russia. Moscow loves Rakkatakka!

In the meantime we are writing new songs, our experiences on and beside the stage are great inspiration. We enter the studio again in April 2011 and finish the album three months later. We celebrate a great festival summer, among others with gigs in Sweden's Rockstad:Falun and with a show on Wacken:Open:Air in front of more than 20.000 people.

Break the Silence is released in September 2011. Again we focus on our own compositions, although we also have 3 coverversions on the album: Primo Victoria, Bed of Nails and Master of the wind. We are proud to welcom Sabaton's Joakim Brodén and Blind Guardian's Marcus Siepen as guests. The limited edition contains A Storm to Come, a first preview of our crossemedia-project Peer Returns which is about to be unleashed at the end of the year.

The release is followed by a european tour on which we would be very happy to meet you!

The most strong-voiced band of the world releases their fifth album "Dawn of the Brave" and elevates their unique A Cappella Metal to the next level. Only supported by a drummer, the German sextet offers the perfect blend of sweeping original songs and cover versions of legendary Rock classics such as "Paranoid" (BLACK SABBATH) or "The Final Countdown" (EUROPE). As a special bonus, more than 200 VAN CANTO fans took part in the choir recordings, and can hear themselves on the new album. Charlie Bauerfeind (BLIND GUARDIN, HELLOWEEN, etc.) produced the drum recordings. The album was mixed by sound wizard Ronald Prent (MANOWAR, RAMMSTEIN, etc.) at the legendary Wisseloord Studio 2. He gave the A Cappella sound and outstanding and omnipresent dynamic. The artwork is based on superhero concept, and this theme runs as a red thread through the photographs and visual design which was provided by Stefan Heilemann. Once more VAN CANTO shows the scene, that it doesn’t need electric guitars to rock!