Dol Ammad

Dol Ammad is the music spaceship that combines 3 initially very different music worlds and ultimately proves that good music should be free of rules, unprejudiced and universal. Mixing elements from the electronic, the operatic and the heavy-metal music worlds, Dol Ammad have created a new universe of sounds and feelings. Their music is characterized by the plethora of sounds, the adventurous compositions and the now 14 member choir (7 men – 7 women) who are the "singer" in Dol Ammad. Dol Ammad is the first project of the "Electronica Art Metal" vision of Thanasis Lightbridge.

Formed in the year 2000, Dol Ammad released 2 demo CDs in 2001 and 2002 which were incredibly well received by the metal world. In 2003 Dol Ammad recruited the talents of one of the best power/progressive drummers in the world, Alex Holzwarth (Rhapsody of Fire, Sieges Even), whose input was recorded and produced in Germany's "Gate Studio" by Sascha Paeth and Olaf Reitmeier.

Their much awaited debut album "Star Tales" was released in November 2004 and features 12 tracks of operatic progressive fantasy metal. "Star Tales" received amazing reviews and feedback and has opened the way to a steadily growing fan-base for Dol Ammad. "Star Tales" features psychedelic artwork by Brian Exton and is released in a high quality digipack format.

In 2005 while recording their second album Dol Ammad faced some difficult times when their previous label went bankrupt in the middle of their production and with Thanasis' imminent army obligations in 2006 coming closer and closer.

However Dol Ammad managed to overcome all these problems and release their second opus in August 2006. "Ocean Dynamics" is another unexplored fantasy trip, this time inspired by the powers of the sea, that reveals the band's maturity and evolution. Apart from an updated lineup and the once again amazing Alex Holzwarth, "Ocean Dynamics" features one of the greatest melodic metal singers DC Cooper, as a guest together with the choir in the song "Aquatic Majesty" of the album.

"Ocean Dynamics" was also received with rave reviews and positive input by fans and media. "Ocean Dynamics" features artwork made with the "Flames" technique by Andrew Ostin and is released in a high quality digipack format.

Seeking total artistic freedom and control, Dol Ammad have since 2006 formed their own personal record label "ElectronicARTmetal Records" which will carry the task of releasing and promoting Dol Ammad's works as well as many other projects that Thanasis Lightbridge has planned for the future.

The future holds great new things for Dol Ammad. The next step will be an upcoming EP that will feature some rare tracks and an exclusive extra song that Dol Ammad did with DC Cooper during the "Ocean Dynamics" sessions.

With the creation of Dol Theeta as the more atmospheric second project of the "Electronica Art Metal" vision, Thanasis has stated that the future of Dol Ammad will be focused more on "epic" and "power" feelings!

What does "Dol Ammad" mean?

The name "Dol Ammad" is taken from one of the best PC-Games ever made, "Descent 3" by Outrage/Interplay/Tantrum and in that game it is the name of a fuel refinery station in planet Europa. Thanasis is a big fan of the "Descent" game world and also of music bands with strange names! Etymologically however, the word "Dol" could be derived either from Tolkien's world where it means "castle" (remember Dol Amroth) or the latin word "dolor" which means pain. ("dol" also used to be a measurement unit for pain). As for the word "Ammad" it seems that it is a Palestinian name meaning "pillar/column". So Dol Ammad could be the "Castle of Columns" or the "Columns of Pain" ?! (Thanasis: "It's just a strange name that I like how it sounds! ;-P)

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Dol Theeta

Dol Theeta is the second project of the "Electronica Art Metal" vision of composer Thanasis Lightbridge, and includes Kortessa (Vocals) and Dim (Guitars) members also in Dol Ammad.

Thanasis' vision of total artistic freedom in music involved blending sounds and feelings from extremely diverse music genres such as heavy metal, electronica and opera/classical. Having released 2 albums with Dol Ammad, Thanasis needed to create more sides of his music in order to fully materialize his musical freedom. (Thanasis: It was clear from my early experiments in sound that there are countless ways to express and evolve this vision. If the words "Electronica", "Art" and "Metal" were chemicals in test-tubes, I often feel like a crazy scientist locked in his illegal laboratory doing unorthodox mixings and tests. The results of the tests using these elements can sometimes be so diverse that it makes me feel like a kind of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde! Due to this fact I came to the conclusion that if I wanted to express my vision freely and in an unobstructed way, it would require more musical vehicles than just the one called Dol Ammad. That is why it has been about 2 years now that I have the feeling of Electronica Art Metal as a Pyramid! Or like a polyhedral dice! As I see things now there will be 3 projects including Dol Ammad and their names will share the word "Dol". These projects will be like a different side of the same coin. They will be interconnected but also very different at the same time.)

Thus Dol Theeta were born to express a more atmospheric and psychedelic version of "Electronica Art Metal".

Dol Theeta's discography starts in Spring 2008 with the single/mini CD "Goddess" which apart from the track "Goddess" taken from the upcoming full album, also includes 2 more exclusive/unreleased tracks and a video clip for "Goddess". The video clip is the first video released for Thanasis' music and is directed and produced by Harry Kalogirou. The video was fully constructed and created in the amazing open source software "Blender" but also includes video footage of the Dol Theeta members.

The upcoming full Dol theeta album is called "The Universe Expands" and is an innovative album, deep with emotions and meditative melodies. Thanasis Lightbridge focused more on dreamy and improvisational performances for the recordings in order to capture a more instant and artful expression from the participants. Dol Theeta also feature a lot of ethnic elements and instrumentation something new and exciting for Thanasis who apart from the various sounds and synthesizers, also performed the drums in the album.

The vocals of Dol Theeta are undertaken by soprano Kortessa whose truly artistic voice and unique singing abilities portray a variety of styles and emotions throughout the album.

Both "The Universe Expands" and "Goddess" feature stunning artwork from artist Werner Hornung and are released in a high quality digipack format.

What does "Dol Theeta" mean?

"Theeta" is a mutation of the word "Theta" which is the eight letter of the Greek alphabet. It is the letter written with a circle and a line within it. It is the first letter in Thanasis' name and also his birth city Thessaloniki in Greece. This letter and its symbol have amazing history behind it. "Dol" is chosen to create a uniformity between the "Electronica Art Metal" projects which are to be considered as one in the end. The two "e"s are there to match the two "m"s in "Ammad". (Thanasis: "Again, it's just a strange name that I like how it sounds! ;-P)

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Thanasis Lightbridge

Thanasis Lightbridge was born in Thessaloniki Greece in the 10th of August 1978. Growing up with the influences of great electronic music masters such as Jean Michel Jarre and Vangelis, Thanasis discovered along the way the energetic and powerful world of heavy metal which changed the way he thought about music.

During the end of the 90s he began to experiment with sounds and set out to create a new kind of music that would initially satisfy his strange personal and hard-to-satisfy music taste but also anyone else looking for something fresh, adventurous and experimental, a new sound.

His creative and exploring nature creates highly descriptive and unpredictable music, music that doesn't always follow structure and rules.

Thanasis and his "Electronica Art Metal" vision were presented and interviewed in the Music University of Thessaloniki Greece in 2002 for giving birth to a new music genre.

Thanasis has created Dol Ammad and Dol Theeta and has often stated that there are countless more projects in his mind. In a recent interview he has implied of an imminent third project that would be a darker more brutal side of his music.

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