French band HEADLINE was formed in 1992, originally named Escape, with Sylvie Grare (vocals), Didier Chesneau (guitars) Sébastien Roland (keyboards), Frederic Roland (bass) and Frédéric Moreau (drums) as the founding members. At the time they started recording their debut album the Rolands had left though, replaced by Phil Woindrich (keyboards) and Christophe Babin (bass).
In 1997 their initial effort "Escape" was issued, and was given an overall positive reception for their brand of powerful metal with distinct, female lead vocals. 1998 saw Headline explore other facets of their sound though, as they gave an acoustic tour this year. The acoustic setting forced the band to rearrange their material, with celtic and oriental textures added. Some of these rearrangements were issued on the live album "Escape Thru The Lands" issued the same year.
The band starts recording their second full length album in 1999, and also have to get their new line-up in working order this year, as Moreau and Woindrich now were out of the band. New men in became Aymeric Ribot (keyboards) and Dirk Verbeuren (drums). Towards the tail end of the calendar year "Voices Of Presence" saw the light of day, as well as the EP "Other Voices". Both of them issued by newly formed record label NTS.
Prog Archives
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It has been eight years since, by chance (or not), I have stumbled upon the Frenchmen from HEADLINE. I have heard a good song on the radio, it was something progressive with female vocals. But I still have no idea which band it has been. Shortly after I found this band in the shop and I have been almost certain that this was the band I was looking for. They have been accredited certain similarities with DREAM THEATER. So I have instantly grabbed the cassette (oh yes, in those times you could still buy them!) and I was on my way home, but there I had to realize that the song is not to be found on this album and even more, this is not at all the band I was looking for.
But on the other hand I wasn't really sad that this quest of mine bore no fruits, cause HEADLINE turned out to be a really worthy consolation prize. Bands which follow a more or less progressive path and have a female vocalist are really welcomed with me. And HEADLINE have these two "qualities" and above all they are doing a pretty good job as well.
But I think you would be rather interested in the music these Frenchmen create than in my life's story. I can understand that. So: we have here the debut album of the French band HEADLINE from the year 1997. But time hasn't done any harm to this record, on the contrary. It is the kind of Progressive Metal that sounds just as fresh today like it did some years ago. What the similarities with DREAM THEATER concerns, well it might seem a bit far-fetched, but one could compare their raw sound with the sound of the classic "Awake" album of the Americans. Besides that, they are also playing a Progressive Metal that is very melodic and often crosses the boundaries to Power Metal.
The mastermind behind the band is a gentleman called Didier Chesneau, who is responsible for the music and for the guitar parts as well. The lyrics are praising vocalist Sylvie Grare. If we didn't know, her accent would tell us, from which land the band comes from, but don't get me wrong that is not at all a flaw, her vocal performance is not at all diminished by that. She shows feeling for ballads ("Who We Are", "What Can I Do") and fills more powerful tracks with passion and life just the same.
After the short intro "Avalon", we are already given a taste which direction the band is heading for, "The Time Of Lords" offers powerful riffs, with atmospheric keyboard parts and a high tempo. Most of the songs are following the same path and I would like to recommend you the title track of the album. Don't get me wrong the songs are not at all the same, I am just referring to the tempo, the songs are varied and they are more after good melodies then instrumental ego-trips.
Why HEADLINE? Cause in my humble opinion, the band has a face of its own and its own sound, not only because of the voice of Sylvie Grare, but also because of the very good production, with the guitars sounding raw, but no instrument is being neglected. The band consists of able musicians, who really have something to offer: inspired melodies, soulful solos, a very good voice and a really pleasant atmosphere. And in addition to these, the somewhat powerful approach really fits them.
The Metal Observer
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Ever since their formation in 1994, Headline has been creating progressive and melodic music. Their first album "Escape" (1997) already mixed power and melody with a major and new asset in this style: a female voice (Sylvie Grare). Enthusiastically welcomed, Headline shows up in the specialized press referendums as "best international hope", "best French band", "best voice". Strongly encouraged, Headline hit the road 1998 to perform an acoustic FNAC tour, which gave the band the opportunity to rearrange their songs and to add Celtic and oriental instruments and a string quartet. These new versions came out on "Escape Thru The Lands" that mixed acoustic live songs, bonuses and covers from Queensryche and Yes. Headline also took part in an electric tour next to Dio, Angra, Superior and Vanden Plas.
The first French signature (NTS) came with the second album "Voices Of Presence" in November 1999. This ambitious opus gave rise to "Trilogy" - a song in three parts backed up by an orchestra - out of which the band distilled their first video "The Message" (Trilogy II). This video got broadcasted on MCM TV. Meanwhile, songs like "Seven", "The Call" or "Last Will" have proven to be excellent crowd pleasers. In spite of the complexity of their music, the public chose Headline as one of the "best French bands" in the specialized press.
The year 2000 has been very busy: NTS republished "Escape" as a double album with "Escape Thru The Lands". "Voices Of Presence" got distributed abroad through AFM (e.g. Edguy) and Rock Brigade (e.g. Angra) and the album obtained good reviews in the foreign press ("Rock Hard", "Heavy, Oder Was?" etc.). On top of that, Headline got the opportunity to tour through France, but also next to Dream Theater, Vanden Plas, Stratovarius and Rhapsody. In 2001, the band took a small break in order to allow band members to develop their other projects. Dirk Verbeuren worked on the second Scarve album, Aymeric Ribot composed and recorded "Metis", a rock opera, and Didier Chesneau produced many albums for other artists. Early 2002 it was "back to the studio" to work on third album "Duality" that clearly shows the band's intention to keep the progressive mood while gaining a more direct edge. The ingredients are there: powerful rhythms (Dirk Verbeuren on drums and Christophe Babin on bass), Didier Chesneau's vicious guitar and Aymeric Ribot's increasingly atmospheric keyboards, which gently support Sylvie Grare's vocals. Without being a concept album, the texts of "Duality" are all linked to anger and the ambiguity that's part of it: manipulation in "Exorcise Me", death in "For Those Who Die", handicap in "Bereft Of Sky". With this song, rearranged from the famous piano sonata n° 14 "Clair de Lune" of Beethoven, Headline reiterates the "Trilogy" experience with a concept song that puts the orchestra in the spotlights. Thanks to Stephane Roland and his dream team, the fantastic video "Exorcise Me" is now a reality. This video will appear on the limited edition of "Duality". See you on stage in 2003!
REVIEW FROM
WWW.PROGARCHIVES.COM:
Headline is a progressive metal with power metal elements coming from France, formed in 1994 and releasing so far 3 studio albums and another couple of other releases before disbanding in 2003. Their second album named Voices of presence released in 1999 is to me their best from all three. A nice and very effective combination of progressive metal arrangements and power metal elements, with a good doze of intristing chops and quite complex musical escapades. The female voice of Sylvie Grare who is very powerful and fits perfectly for this kind of music, did a great job. Headline remind me a lot in manner of composing and sound with Austrian Dreams of Sanity. Grteat riffs and very good vovocal parts. Keybords are used sporadicaly but when enters in the atmosphere, is all pleasent and well done. The best pieces to me is , Getting Down To It , but as a whole all album is agood, nothing realy groundbreaking but pleasent most of the time. 3-3.5 for this album, quite unnoticed to larger public, but for sure needs a better view. They opened in their almost a decade career for big named like Dream Theater, Vanden Plas or Symphony X, the albums were selling ok, the disbanded problem is even more stranger then, but happend after all, never heared about them for more then 5 years now. Still a good band that worth to be discovered by prog metal listners.
