Wisdom was a Hungarian power metal band from Budapest. Formed in autumn 2001, the group was known for its practice of basing each song on a well-known quotation. Many of the band's lyrics and all of the album covers center on the story of an old man, a cult figure called Wiseman.
The band originally consisted of bass player Mate Molnar and guitarist Gabor Kovacs. Molnar was a fan of Kovacs' existing band Legendary, and the two agreed to form a new group together. They were later joined by Istvan Nachladal (Nahi) (vocals), Balazs Hornyak (drums) and Zsolt Galambos (guitar), who had also been a member of Legendary.[1] The band was named after the 1986 film Wisdom.[citation needed]
Wisdom played their first concert in Miskolc in 2002.[citation needed] In they were featured as a support act in the 2003 Iron Maiden tour Give Me Ed... 'Til I'm Dead Tour.[2] They subsequently featured in the motorcycle magazine Born To Be Wild, which led to increased public exposure. Wisdom performed as a warm-up act for Saxon and were the support act for the UDO-Doro tour.
Whilst on this tour the band was noticed by Ronny Milianowicz of Swedish/German band Dionysus, who arranged a record company offer which would release the first Wisdom record, a four-track single titled Wisdom EP released in July 2004. It was circulated as a free CD with the Hungarian music magazine Metal Hammer. During the process of recording, Hornyak left the group and was replaced by Csaba Czebely. After the release of the EP, Wisdom supported Europe and in early 2005 toured with the band Ossian.[citation needed]
Molnar wanted to build up a narrative world around the name Wisdom, based on Iron Maiden's Eddie or Megadeth's Vic. During the course of recording their first album, graphic designer Gyula Havancsak (Hjules) created the figure of Wiseman, who became the band's mascot. Each subsequent record released by Wisdom contained references to the character's biography. The band's first independent concert was held on 19 November 2005 in Budapest, and was called Keep Wiseman Alive. Originally a one-off gig, Keep Wiseman Alive ultimately evolved into an annual event.[citation needed] In 2006 Wisdom played as a warm up act for Helloween.[citation needed]
In 2006 the band's first LP, Words of Wisdom, was released under Hammer Records.[3] Peter Kern had by this point replaced Csaba Czebely as the band's drummer. The album was mastered at Finnvox studios. Wisdom then signed to Soundholic Records for the album's Asian release.[4]
Wisdom was nominated as a contender for Hungary's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, although they were not selected. In the spring of 2007, Wisdom embarked on a tour for the promotion of their own record, and also opened for Heaven and Hell at the Sziget Festival.[5] During the tour, Nachladal left the band; Zoltan Kiss replaced him on vocals for their remaining concerts. After the release of the single "At The Gates"', the band took a hiatus from performing. Kern left the band due to health issues and was replaced on drums by Balazs Agota.[6]
After two years, Wisdom returned to performing, playing as the opening act for Judas Priest. The band recruited new vocalist Gabor Nagy in 2010[7] and released a new studio album, Judas, in April 2011. In order to promote the new album, Wisdom went on to tour in the fall of 2010; Nagy wore a mask for all the gig appearances as a promotional stunt.[8] The album featured Mats Levén (Therion and Malmsteen as guest vocalists. Japan's Spinning Records[9] and United States' CD InZane LLC[10] subsequently released Judas.
In autumn the band shot a new video for a track called "Heaven and Hell". The shooting took place Festetics family's castle of Dég.[11] At this time the band celebrated its 10th anniversary with a tour they named Wise Years, which concluded with their annual Keep Wiseman Alive concert in Budapest.[citation needed]
In 2012 the band were signed by booking agency Rock the Nation and record company NoiseArt Records. Galambos was replaced on guitar by Mate Bodor. In August the album Judas was released worldwide, and to promote it the band joined Sabaton on their Swedish Empire Tour.
On 27 September 2013, the band's third album was released titled Marching For Liberty. It was distributed internationally through NoiseArt records. The album entered the official Hungarian Album Charts (Mahasz) at number 1. Fabio Lione (Rhapsody, Vision Divine, KamelotAngra) sang several parts in the title song. Immediately after the new release, the band started touring in Western Europe alongside Powerwolf.[12] At the 7th annual Keep Wiseman Alive show, Powerwolf performed as the guest act.[citation needed]
On 1 April 2018 the band announced that they were splitting up. Nevertheless, they still planned to record and release a fifth studio album.[13]
Omega was a Hungarian rock band formed in 1962, which has been described as the most successful such band in history. They have released more than 20 albums both in Hungarian and English. After several early personnel changes, their classic lineup came together in 1971 and was intact for more than forty years. Singer János Kóbor was with the band continuously from 1962 until his death in 2021; keyboardist/singer László Benkő was present from 1962 until his death in 2020. Guitarist György Molnár and bassist Tamás Mihály joined in 1967, and drummer Ferenc Debreczeni joined in 1971. Omega won several prestigious awards for their contributions to Hungarian culture.
FreshFabrik is a Hungarian two times award-winning industrial nu metal band, consisting of Szabolcs Oláh aka (kju:), András Szabó (drums) and Levente Kovács and László Szvoboda. FreshFabrik is the first Hungarian English-singing rock/metal band using DJ and rap performances, and the first Hungarian rock/metal band contracted to a major record label. FreshFabrik is one of the best-selling English-singing Hungarian rock bands of all time. After a three-year break, in 2011 they released a brand-new album MORA. In 2013, after a successful 20 years anniversary tour, FreshFabrik released a new single, and video Higher & Higher with reunited members: Istvan Horvath and Matyas Koncz.
The Hungary national handball team is administered by the Hungarian Handball Federation.
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The Moog were a Hungarian indie rock band based in Budapest, Hungary formed in 2004. The group is noted for being the first in the region to be signed to an American record label. The band consists of members Tamás Szabó, Gergő Dorozsmai, Ádám Bajor (guitar), Gergő György (guitar) and Csaba Szabó. The Moog have been compared to bands The Strokes and The Hives and dubbed "Hungary's hottest new export".
Powerwolf, often stylized as POWERWOLF, is a German power metal band founded in 2003 in Saarbrücken by members of Red Aim. The band consists of vocalist Karsten Brill as "Attila Dorn", lead guitarist Benjamin Buss as "Matthew Greywolf", bassist/rhythm guitarist David Vogt as "Charles Greywolf", keyboardist Christian Jost as "Falk Maria Schlegel" and drummer Roel van Helden. The group uses religious themes and images, contrary to traditional power metal music, as well as corpse paint, gothic-tinged compositions and songs about werewolf and vampire legends.
The Idoru is a post-hardcore band from Budapest, Hungary. It was formed in 2003 by ex-members of the Hungarian hard-core and metalcore band Newborn. The original line-up consisted of Tibor Szalkai (guitars), Gábor Nagy (guitars), Mátyás Mohácsi (bass), Denis Valach (drums) and András Bödecs (vocals). However, three of the original members left the band in 2009.
Besh o droM is a Balkan music group. Their music blends folk and contemporary instruments (including the cymbalom and the EWI, in styles ranging from punk-rock to world music. They acknowledge particular influences from Transylvanian, Jewish, Turkish, Afghan, Egyptian, Lebanese, Armenian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Macedonian and Greek musical traditions.
Hard is a Hungarian hard rock supergroup formed in late 2004 in Budapest, Hungary by József Kalapács and Gábor Mirkovics. The rest of the band consisted of guitarist Zsolt Csillik, keyboardist Dénes Makovics and drummer Zoltán Váry.
Superbutt is a Hungarian rock and heavy metal band. The Budapest-based act started up in 2000, and has released five full-length albums in English, as well as a 4 track EP and a bonus disc for their latest album with 4 new songs in Hungarian. Superbutt has toured all across Europe since 2001 and played over 600 concerts in 15 countries.
David Nagy is a singer, guitarist. He currently plays with his soloband. He was member of the Hungarian heavy metal band Pokolgép from 2001 to 2010, but penned lyrics for the 2000 album Csakazértis. In February 2013 he started a new band with ex-Pokolgép drummer Csaba Czébely under the name of Helland. The band released their debut album called Hellness in 2014. In 2014 he left the group to start a solo career.
Sear Bliss is a Hungarian atmospheric black metal band from Szombathely, formed in 1993 by bassist, vocalist and now also keyboardist András Nagy. Apart from the usual heavy metal instruments they adopted synthesizer and wind instruments in their songs. The Netherlands' leading metal magazine, Aardschok awarded Sear Bliss debut album Phantoms the title of "CD Of The Month". It was the first time in the magazine's history that the award went to a black metal album.
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