Elize Ryd

Early career

Born Hanna Elise Isabell Maj Höstblomma Ryd, Ryd started out her singing career, after graduating from a three-year education at Performing Arts School, as a cabaret performer at the Cabaret Lorensberg in Gothenburg.^[3] She also did some chorus for different local bands such as Falconer. When she met Joacim "Jake E" Lundberg in a club in Gothenburg, he requested that she record vocals for a song with his band Dreamland, titled "Fade Away." Jake E later introduced her to Olof Mörck, who proposed a collaboration with his band Dragonland to which she agreed. It was around this time that symphonic metal band Nightwish took interest in Ryd as a replacement for their previous singer Tarja Turunen, although she was ultimately not chosen for the role. She has stated in an interview that this was because she was a little too young, had a lack of experience and was unfamiliar with the industry. At the same time she, Mörck, and Lundberg talked about starting their own band with her as a lead singer and composer. The band was named Avalanche which was later renamed to Amaranthe for legal reasons.^[4][5]

Amaranthe

Elize Ryd live with Amaranthe at Wacken Open Air 2018

In early 2009, Amaranthe released their debut EP, Leave Everything Behind. In early 2011 they released their first two singles, "Hunger" and "Rain" before releasing their debut album Amaranthe, which reached a peak position of 35th on Swedish charts and 16th on Finnish Charts.^[6][7] With this album the band released two music videos, one for the aforementioned song "Hunger" and another for the song "Amaranthine". Both were directed by Patric Ullaeus for Revolver Films. There was also a video shot for '1.000.000 Lightyears', the fourth single from their debut album.

On 25 January 2013, Amaranthe released a new single titled 'The Nexus' and a music video on 13 March.^[8] Amaranthe's second album, The Nexus, was released in March 2013.^[9] Later in 2013, Amaranthe released two videos for their singles "Burn With Me" and "Invincible."

Amaranthe released a new single and video for 'Drop Dead Cynical' in September 2014. Their third album, Massive Addictive, was released on 21 October 2014^[10] as well as two more videos for 'Digital World' and 'True' and a lyric video for 'Trinity'.

A special compilation Breaking Point - B-sides 2011-2015 was released on 30 October 2015.

Amaranthe released their fourth album Maximalism in October 2016, with That Song as the lead single.

Kamelot

Throughout 2011 and 2012, Ryd joined Kamelot on stage as one of their primary touring vocalists, and recorded guest vocals on three tracks for Kamelot's tenth album Silverthorn, and was featured in one music video.^[8]

On 28 September 2012 whilst supporting Nightwish's North American leg of the Imaginaerum World Tour with Kamelot, Ryd and fellow Kamelot touring vocalist Alissa White-Gluz of The Agonist joined symphonic metal band Nightwish for a one-time concert in Denver when their lead vocalist Anette Olzon was hospitalized.^[11]

Other collaborations

Since Amaranthe's explosion in popularity, Ryd has been featured on songs by several different artists she had not previously collaborated with. In 2011 she had three notable collaborations that were all released commercially. These consisted of guest vocals for Swedish rock band Takida's fourth album The Burning Heart^[4] and Renegade Five's September 2011 EP Life Is Already Fading.^[12] Beside fellow Amaranthe vocalists Jake E. and Andreas Solveström, Elize once again featured on a Dragonland album – this time the band's fifth album Under the Grey Banner.

In 2012, Ryd performed guest vocals on the debut single "Evolution" by the musical project Dreamstate set up by Takida guitarist Tomas Wallin.^[13]

In 2013, Ryd performed vocals in the album The Land of New Hope, from a new metal opera project by Timo Tolkki called Avalon, in which she is the main character. The album was released on 17 May 2013.^[14] She was also confirmed as one of the vocalists for the second album called Angels of the Apocalypse.^[15]

Also in 2013, she recorded a song with the Russian composer Alexey Soloviev. The song is called 'Alone in the Universe'.

In the end of 2013, Ryd took part in the Raskasta Joulua project incorporating the sound of metal to Christmas carols. She sang the song "Julen är här" as a duet with Tony Kakko from Sonata Arctica. She also joined the Raskasta Joulua tour for the final gigs. During that visit in Finland she performed on Finnish national television. There she sang Ave Maria together with Marco Hietala, the bassist from Nightwish.^[16][17] They sold over 20 000 copies of Raskasta Joulua and got platinum record from it. In 2014 she participated again to Raskasta Joulua recordings."Raknarok Juletide" with song "Christmas is here" which is English version from "Julen är här" also with Tony Kakko, and to "Raskasta Joulua 2", where she sang "Himlen i min famn" which is a cover of Carola Häggkvist. "Raskasta Joulua 2" sold over 20 000 copies and they also got platinum record from it.^[18]

During Bandit Rock Awards 2014, Ryd received the award for the years "Rock & Role Model."

Ryd also performed vocals in the new Timo Tolkki's Avalon album called Angels of the Apocalypse, along with Simone Simons, Floor Jansen, Fabio Lione, and other female power metal vocalists, which was released on 16 May 2014.

She is also featured on the new Nergard album A Bit Closer To Heaven. It was released in May 2015. The album also features Nils K. Rue (Pagan's Mind), Michael Eriksen (Circus Maximus) and Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear). The song is called 'On Through The Storm' and was a duet with the Swedish singer Andi Kravljaca.

She is featured in the second Smash into Pieces album, performing in the song 'My Cocaine'. It was released in February 2015.

She took part in Swedish Melodifestivalen 2015 with Swedish opera tenor Rickard Söderberg. The song is called "One by One," which is composed by Ryd and Jimmy Jansson. They came 5th of the first semi-final (2nd of the 2nd round), but unfortunately they were eliminated after a big crash of the application.^[19]

Ryd is featured in the new Gus G album 'Brand New Revolution', released on 24 July 2015. The song is called 'What Lies Below'.

She is featured in Docker's Guild album called The Heisenberg Diaries – Book A: Sounds of Future Past, released on 21 January 2016, where she sings the sci-fi soundtrack tunes "Never Ending Story" and "Suspension" (from the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century movie soundtrack) in duet with Douglas R. Docker.^[20]

On 5 March 2016, a new single, 'At The Break of Dawn', featuring Ryd, was released by the Finnish band Arion.

In December 2016, Ryd joined once again the Raskasta Joulua tour for eight gigs in Finland. In March 2017, she joined the guitarist Gus G for a few dates in Japan.

In December 2017, Ryd will join once again the Raskasta Joulua tour for their tour in Finland. She is as well featured on the new Raskasta Joulua album on the song called 'Stjärnan I Min Hand'.

Awards

2012 Bandit Rock Awards together with Amaranthe "This year's Swedish breakthrough".^[21]

2013 Gold Disc with Amaranthe "Hunger".^[22]

2013 Gold Disc with Amaranthe "Amaranthine".^[23]

2013 Platinum Disc together with Raskasta Joulua.^[24]

2014 Platinum Disc with Raskasta Joulua 2.^[25]

2014 Bandit Rock "Rock & Role Model".^[26]

2015 Playboy Magazine "The 14 Hottest Metal Maidens in Face-Melting History".^[27]

2015 Gold disc with “Amaranthe” for the album "Nexus" in Finland

2017 Three Gold disc with “Amaranthe” for album "Amaranthe" album "Nexus" and single "Nexus

2017 Gold disc with “Amaranthe” for the single 1000000 Lightyears

2017 Gold disc with "Amaranthe" for "Massive Addictive"

2018 Gold disc with "Amaranthe" for album "Maximalism"

Singles

With Amaranthe

• "Hunger" (2011)
• "Rain" (2011)
• "Amaranthine" (2011)
• "1.000.000" Lightyears (2012)
• "The Nexus" (2013)
• "Burn With Me" (2013)
• "Invincible" (2013)
• "Drop Dead Cynical" (2014)
• "Trinity" (2014)
• "Digital World" (2014)
• "True" (2014)
• "That Song" (2016)
• "Fury" (2016)
• "Maximize" (2016)
• "Boomerang" (2017)
• "365" (2018)

With Kamelot

• "Sacrimony (Angel of Afterlife)" (2012)

With Timo Tolkki's Avalon

• "Enshrined in My Memory" (2013)

With Dreamstate

• "Evolution" (2012)

Melodifestivalen 2015

• "One By One" by Elize Ryd (duet together with Rickard Söderberg) (2015)

With Nergard

• "On Through The Storm" (2015)

With Arion

• "At the Break of Dawn" (2016)

Albums

With Amaranthe

• Leave Everything Behind (EP, 2009)
• Amaranthe (2011)
• The Nexus (2013)
• Massive Addictive (2014)
• Maximalism (2016)

With Kamelot

• Silverthorn (2012)

With Falconer

• The Sceptre of Deception (2003)
• Grime vs. Grandeur (2005)

With Dreamland

• Future's Calling (2005)

With Dragonland

• Astronomy (2006)
• Under the Grey Banner (2011)

With Houston

• Relaunch (2011)

With Takida

• The Burning Heart (2011)

With Renegade Five

• Nxt Gen (2011)

With Timo Tolkki's Avalon

• The Land of New Hope (2013)
• Angels of the Apocalypse (2014)

With Raskasta Joulua

• Raskasta Joulua (2013)
• Rakgnarok Juletide (2014)
• Raskasta Joulua IV (2017)

With Crossnail

• Sand of Time (2015)

With Karmaflow

• The Rock Opera Video Game (2015)

With Smash into Pieces

• The Apocalypse DJ (2015)

With Nergard

• A Bit Closer To Heaven (2015)

With Gus G

• Brand New Revolution (2015)

With Docker's Guild

• The Heisenberg Diaries – Book A: Sounds of Future Past (2016)