Chalice: Real 'Em In.

Chalice play the Alliance Tavern on Friday, the Gabba Hotel on Saturday and the Surfers Paradise Beergarden on Sunday 

Certainly one of the more unique sounding acts on the Australian metal landscape are Adelaide act Chalice. Formed by drummer Adrian and vocalist Shiralee five years back, their latest offering An Illusion To The Temporary Real showcases the band’s multi-faceted sound; a mixture of metal and folk with a soaring and enlightening vocal melody.

“The album’s been out since late last year,” Shiralee confirms. “We’re actually at work on the next one already. I think we’ve evolved a bit since Illusion, which grew from the album before it. I think there’ll be another step away with the next album. More intense mood swings and a few more progressive and technical elements again.” 

As well as fronting the band, Shiralee is the principal songwriter.

“Most of the writing is done by me. I wrote about 80% of the album. Usually I’ll write all of the music that has vocals to it, so I get the vocal melodies and the harmonies behind it. Then we bring it together and the other guys add some bits. Some songs I completely did, like the title track, but other ones Justin does quite a bit of as well.” 

Shiralee’s musical background comes to the fore in the expansive sound the band creates. She’s not the only one with a schooled musical upbringing.

“I’ve got some classical vocal training from a while back. I went to the Queensland Conservatorium for about six months, but I’ve been self-taught since then. Both our guitarist and our flautist both have degrees in music. Alana has a bachelor of music with first class honours, and out guitarist has a diploma in jazz music.” 

“It’s a huge help, because I write with a lot of folk and Celtic influences, so having done a bit of musical history and studying medieval music and things like that, knowing all the modes and cadences really comes into what we do a lot.”