Insignia is a progressive heavy metal project that was born in the early part of 2003, out of Toronto, Canada. The project saw its humble beginnings as a three man effort working on songs out of a basement. With a different mix of influences and musical approaches Carlos Vides (composer/vocalist), Pablo Padilla (guitars) and Oscar Azahar (saxophone) joined forces to create a type of heavy metal that steps away from the mainstream metal scene.
Carlos (former vocalist/composer for short-lived "Eternal Blasphemy") contributed most of the work he originally intended for his former band, while Pablo (ex "Wrekked" guitarist) contributed his guitar playing, song editing and computer recording skills to the project. Oscar (originally playing for bands like "The Sauce", "Dominicanada", "Mambo Urbano", etc.) added his music writing skills and many complex saxophone playing talents to make this a very original sounding act.
The purpose of Insignia is to explore heavy music from all its possible angles, to add to it and make it grow, and expand it to heights it has not yet envisioned. To achieve this, influence has been borrowed from every other possible music style, and no effort has been made to hold back from the inevitable. In this way, more variety has been added, more venues have been explored and more choices for exploration have been created.
To date a five song demo has been produced to illustrate the project's unique direction and taste. However, at this very moment, more material is being written, and a brand new four song demo should be available soon. Insignia, has not made any live appearances as of yet because most of the time is being spent coming up with fresh quality recordings and, as usual, working to pay bills.
Auditions for drums, bass and keyboards are scheduled to take place in the near future, at which point it is expected the project will grow to become a full fledged band. At the moment, however all lacking instruments have been recorded using midi renditions of the actual thing.
To hear sound samples of the current Insignia demo, please click on our demo section.
Please feel free to contact Insignia in regards to this demo at the following e-mail address: talent_and_effort@hotmail.com