Eternal Hill>>FATIMA HILL - JAPAN

Valhalla - 1997 - Independent
Aion - 2002 - Worldchaos
The Snow Tower - 2009 - Worldchaos

Fatima Hill image
  
 
Members
Vocals
HIROSE YUKO

Guitar
YAMASHIRO ANJUE


Bass
Kato Hideki - Hard Gear, Shadow Fall>>ASANU HAYATO

Drum
Shadow Field>>Sato Akihito - Sugimoto Takeru


Keyboard
Koeda Takamichi




History & Biography
Inspired by '80s hard rock musically and the famous Portuguese site's mysticism thematically, guitarist Yamashiro formed Fatima Hill in Sapporo Japan. The guitarist was looking to infuse different moods and influences into a traditional metal sound. The Ring And Queen demo appeared in 1993 and the band climbed the stage for the first time. The demo is handed out for free and the cover is indeed appropriate for the monicker. A live demo called Ikaros follows in the same year and is followed by 1994's Beatrice. The band is undergoing several line-up changes at this point. A recording session was booked for December of 1994 for Fatima Hill to record its debut album. The sessions have to be scrapped when frontwoman Yuko leaves the band due to musical differences. The band contributed a couple of demo songs to Disk Heaven's Melodical Renaissance sampler and ponders the future.

1997 saw the return of Yuko and the recording of a new demo tape called Invitation to Valhalla. The band lost bassist Kato and replaced him with session musician and former Shadow Fall member Asanu. Valhalla was released in September 1997 and the band appeared with the track on a sampler from Germany's Rock Hard magazine. Worldchaos re-released the debut in December 2000 and signed the band for future albums. With Akihito Sato as session drummer, Fatima Hill entered the studio in the autumn of 2001 to record its second album. Elevate Records licensed the album for the Italian territory. The band issued a DVD in 2005 called All Rain All Friends All Rain Song And Rain. The band issued an album in 2009. The group gave concerts and re-released demo tracks independently, but over the years was active only nominally and was reduced to singer Yuko and guitarist Anjue only.

Perhaps coincidentally, classic Japanese female-fronted hard rock band Terra Rosa’s first album was called The Eternal Basis. This album included a song called Fatima. Eternal Hill was Fatima’s early monicker.


Reviews

FATIMA HILL - AION - WORLDCHAOS
The awful cover art and touting of 'Female Poetic opus Metal' might have many running for cover, but things are not so dire. The female singer referred to (not the entire band is female) has a suitable voice and, forgive the cliche, took me back to the eighties and Hellion. Aion features both heavier and melodic songs with a song like The Black Bat revealing a Middle Eastern influence reminiscent of Kamelot's Knights Of Arabia. The hypnotic effect is oft repeated on the album. There is some good musicianship at work here and the guitars, in particular, shine through. The whole thing has a vintage feel to it and were it not for the keyboards this would be actually recommendable to HM fans. As is, there is something here for followers of Led Zeppelin, Rainbow, Kamelot and Jag Panzer. Fatima Hill is an intriguing import, somehow removed from the norm, with a quality booklet and intriguing rhythms.


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