METAL IS FOR EVERYONE! A musical collaboration of father and daughter, of professional and 'amateur' musicians, a diverse team that combines genre-transcending elements ... all from a concept initiated by a musician with a so-called 'disability': autism.

I got to know Ruurd Woltring years ago, says Sander Gommans (After Forever/Phantom Elite) and was immediately impressed by his qualities. An absolute pitch and the ability to assemble musical ideas at lightning speed were proof that autism can also be viewed positively. For Ruurd, everything comes straight from his heart, which makes filtering sometimes difficult.

That is why we started working together on this track we baptized with the title Imagine. Ruurd's main theme and chorus really appealed to me and asked for a good collaboration with regard to vocals and lyrics.

A lot of knowledge and experience in this area is available at music school A Different Tune, of vocalist Petra Honing. She laid the foundation of the text (based on Ruurd's fantasy creature The Mandrake) and the song melody.

And completely in Magic O Metal style, we again gave an opportunity to new talent to collaborate: Elske de Martelaere. As a student of Petra, Elske was able to start rehearsing this track in her lessons. The result is impressive, the high and energetic vocals fit perfectly with the Power Metal character of this track! Petra's backing vocals gives it a final and finishing touch.

Laura Ten Voorde lent her violin talent to Imagine, giving the song its own unique sound. Add the drums of Tom Pijnenburg, the tasteful keys of Jeroen Hendrix and the virtuoso and melodic guitar solos of Sebas Honing and Thijmen van der Meer, and BAM ... a new classic metal track is born!

But we weren't quite there yet… Nova's grunt talent exposed in the track Loud and Proud - Children of Hope really got me excited. That's why we wrote a middle part especially for her, which gives the song a slightly different vibe. This than led to the collaboration of Nova and her father Daniel Huijben, who skilfully takes care of the bass guitar!

Last but not least, Erwin Hermsen has once again provided a crystal clear and tight mix and on top of that a cool video production!

Spontaneous and unplanned collaborations often yield surprising results! That's what makes Magic O Metal so special!

#generationmetal | #imagine

This song has chosen its own destiny in support of all the brave people who are determined to defend the future of our children.

Borderland initially had a different title, but with the exact same lyrics. It was written at a time in which we could not yet imagine nor have any notion of what was about to happen. While working on the last details of the video for this track, it struck us how relevant this song had become in the light of what happened. This song has now chosen its own destiny in support of all the incredibly brave people who are now determined to defend themselves, others, and foremost the future of their but also our children.

Borderland was and will still be the first song of a new concept Serenades of The Netherworld. It is also the first in a series of new tracks by HDK, where Sander Gommans collaborates with different musicians. The concept for Serenades of The Netherworld was born from the idea to give a voice to the many talents who wish to carry or pass on the torch of the metal music genre, regardless of whether one is new at the scene or considered to be a veteran. Sander Gommans explains: "We invite bands and/or solo artists to contribute music to this concept, but most of all we encourage everyone to create new things 'metal' through all sorts of musical collaborations. This is where Serenades of The Netherworld can make a difference in creating and releasing music in new and different ways."

We now start the journey of Serenades of The Netherworld with Borderland as an unplanned tribute to the brave souls fighting for what they believe in. This track is in support of the people and the refugees from Ukraine. We kindly ask everyone not just to watch this video, but to come to the aid of these people, especially the children, who became involuntary victims.

With Loud and Proud, Sander Gommans (After Forever) brings young talents together to write and record killer metal-tracks with professional artists. Loud and Proud is a series of heavy metal tracks with a message for everyone, regardless of age, to be inspired and to discover your own true unique powers! It is a reminder to never lose sight of the child in you. Keep wondering and keep playing! The POWER is in you ... BELIEVE ... CREATE!!

The foundation for this new track was laid in cooperation with Frank Schiphorst from the band Mayan. It was then further developed with the help of cool new riffs and ideas from 2 young guitarists Thijmen van der Meer and Alexander de Wit.

Monica Janssen (X-Tinxion and Downcast Collision) gave this song its lyrics and provided the vocals for both melodic and aggressive parts of Loud and Proud - Children of Hope. She was supported in this by none other than 10-year-old grunt-talent Nova Huijben. With her rendition of Arch Enemy's track The Eagle Flies Alone, Nova has recently shown on the show Game of Talents on Dutch and Belgian national TV, that children also have a lot of Metal Power!

The line-up is completed by drummer and Metal Factory graduate Fons van Dijk (Sisters of Suffocation) and bassist Sander Stappers (Sengaia, China White en Souls of Deaf). Erwin Hermsen is responsible for the production and also shot the video clip and added some keyboard fragments to the song at his Toneshed Recording Studios. Sander Gommans eldest daughter, Lana Gommans, made a spoken contribution halfway through the song.

This 10-year-old grunter Nova Huijben recently showed her amazing talent on the stage of Game of Talents on national TV in Belgium (VTM) and in The Netherlands (RTL4).

Nova started taking grunt lessons in April the year before and vocal coach Monica Janssen van Wisselkind - Creative Coaching via Zoom. Monica is also a singer with the bands X-Tinxion and Downcast Collision.

In the 10 months since then, she has not only been in a TV studio but also in a real recording studio. Where she collaborated with Monica, Sander Gommans (After Forever, HDK) and other talented musicians on a new Magic-O-Metal song, which will be released later this year.

Inspired by KISS, Sonia picked up the bass guitar at the age of 14. A year later she started playing guitar as well. She is a self-taught musician.

Her extreme taste developed at the age of 17, and as a bassist, she joined many local metal acts and played various shows internationally with brutal deathmetal band Sepiroth. With deathmetal band Ecocide she released Where the Stars Align.

At the age of 19 she joined her first band as a guitarist, the all-girl heavymetal band Burning Witches. With them, she released the Wings of Steel EP, full-length albums Hexenhammer and Dance With The Devil, and toured internationally, playing huge festivals such as Wacken Open Air, Sweden Rock, Summer Breeze and many more.

In 2019, Sonia founded her own heavy metal band Cobra Spell in which she currently plays lead-guitar. Together with Fernanda and Luana (both former Nervosa members, Sonia started Crypta to go back to her extreme roots on lead-guitar duty. In 2020, Sonia decided to leave Burning Witches due to personal reasons and to focus on Crypta and Cobra Spell.