ICON OF SIN is a band centered around the vocal talents of the popular Brazilian YouTube sensation Raphael Mendes together with two other stellar Brazilian musicians, Sergio Mazul (Semblant) and Marcelo Gelbcke (Landfall) who work as songwriters and producers.
Raphael Mendes has become a very popular figure in the YouTube world due to his jaw-dropping vocal covers. His recognition as one of the hottest new talents in metal started in 2016 when he was invited by guitarist Fabio Lima to record a YouTube video that wound up going viral. Encouraged by the reaction, Mendes launched his own YouTube channel to create more videos for fans to enjoy. As more and more fans around the world started to discover him, he was invited to join other musical projects, including Marius Danielsen’s “Legend Of Valley Doom Part 2,” which also featured Michael Kiske, Vinny Appice, Mark Boals, Michele Luppi, and Diego Valdez, among others. One of the things that made Mendes’ reputation grow considerably earlier in 2020, when a video series called “What if Bruce Dickinson sang in other bands” was launched. With Mendes’ Dickinson-esque singing style being used to cover songs by Megadeth and more, these versions impressed fans worldwide and word quickly spread in the metal community.
ICON OF SIN’s debut album showed a true emerging star in the work of traditional heavy metal. Sergio Mazul and Marcelo Gelbcke crafted a no-nonsense, straight-ahead classic pure heavy metal album which blew fans of Iron Maiden and classic Dio-era Sabbath away! Mendes comes out of it not as a mere imitator of someone else’s vocal style, but rather as an artist with something really hot especially for the followers of the new trends in traditional heavy metal revival.
‘Legends’ follows up to the task of bringing forward and forging a true and solid identity for ICON OF SIN. Once again, the songs stretch Raphael’s vocal capacities without any mercy, taking his undeniable talents to the next musical level. Gelbcke (appearing this time also as lead guitarist) and Mazul wrote again an exciting set of tunes which–while taking inspiration from masters like Maiden, Priest, Dio, Saxon—offer a head-bangingly addictive, one hundred percent infectious, album.
ICON OF SIN already made their live debut in Brazil and are looking for opportunities to bring their music outside their own country. |