“So, what does it actually sound like then? Well, in short I can’t say if you like ‘x’ band you will love this as there really is a lot of influence and styles melded in to its 25 minute run time yet I can say that if you put Kate Bush, Auf Der Maur, Ayreon, Chiasmata, Igorrr, old White Zombie and Amogh Symphony in a blender with several metronomes running different time signatures, add a healthy dash of thrash riffs to the proggy mix and baked the resulting mixture for several hours you probably wouldn’t even come close to the sound…did that help? Nope? OK then check this out” ~ Lee Davidson – Prog Metal Madness
“She puts every ounce of her creative being into her art, so it is part progressive and part avant-garde, but ultimately it is breathtaking in its emotive beauty. She does not confine herself to genres or labels” – Rustyn Rose – Metalholic Magazine
Bio
Oh. — is the moniker of the Greek multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Olivia Hadjiioannou*. Oh. announced her arrival to the international music community in 2013 with a 24-minute debut EP, “Sleeping World”. “Trials”—a song about the struggles of her ‘lost generation’ won an international music video award. The song was selected by the Greek press as one of the top-50 events to mark Greece during the economic crisis.
“Sleeping World’ also caused a stir in the international music press. Reviewers comparing her vocal talents to artists such as Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Happy Rhodes, Céline Dion, Melissa Auf der Maur, Sharon Den Adel and Anneke Van Giesbergen.
In 2015, she followed up with a 34-minute instrumental progressive metal concept album “Synemotion” as a Double Limited-Edition vinyl release.
Between 2016 to 2018 Oh. released four successful single-ballads about love (“Love Will Heal”, “Love of Avalanches”, “I’m In Love” and “Deserted Eyes”). The music video for “Love of Avalanches” was one of the first handmade 360-degree immersive VR videos on YouTube. The innovative workflow to produce the video was showcased at NAB in 2016 by Mettle. A 3D WebGL interactive experience for the launch of the single “I’m in Love” was nominated on Awwwards.com in 2017. And finally, “Deserted Eyes” won four international music video awards, most recently in the London Greek Film Festival in 2018.
Between 2016 to 2018, Oh. released four successful single-ballads about love (“Love Will Heal”, “Love of Avalanches”, “I’m In Love” and “Deserted Eyes”). The music video for “Love of Avalanches” was one of the first handmade 360-degree immersive VR videos on YouTube. A 3D WebGL interactive experience for the launch of the single “I’m in Love” was nominated on Awwwards.com in 2017.
The last of the single ballad series, “Deserted Eyes” was released on January 19, 2018 with an animated music video and innovative WebGL experience. The song was a semi-finalist in the 2017 International Songwriters Competition (ISC) and the music video was the winner of the Cosmocinema Awards for Best Music Video Award in the London Greek Film Festival, an official selection in the 13th Athens Animfest 2018, and winner for Best Video Art in the Five Continents International Film Festival and selection in the Experimental Dance and Music Film Festival.
A progressive metal EP, “Metallia” was released July 27 2018. receiving over 32 reviews from 13 countries worldwide, added to the top 10 prog EPs on Progarchives and listed as one of the best albums of the year for 2018 on Metal Nation Radio.
The music video for the song “Red Lion” from the album is Winner of Best Music Video award in the inaugural French Riviera Film Festival (FRFF) in Cannes, France. And winner Best Music Video at the Cosmocinema Film Festival in London The short is presently a winner and official selection in 12 film festivals worldwide including Winner of Best Experimental Mixed Media in the Paleochora Lost World Short Film Festival and Best music video in The Psychedelic and Transpersonal Film and Music Festival in New York.
One reviewer said, “if you put Kate Bush, Auf Der Maur, Ayreon, Chiasmata, Igorrr, old White Zombie and Amogh Symphony in a blender with several metronomes running different time signatures, add a healthy dash of thrash riffs to the proggy mix and baked the resulting mixture for several hours you probably wouldn’t even come close to the sound.”
Frenetic harmonic guitar solos, sultry multi-layered harmonic vocals, ecstatic head-banging riffs, fantastical violins, grooving bass lines and furious drums paint the myriad and intricate sonic landscapes of Oh.
Oh. plays guitar (electric and acoustic), bass, drums, violin, piano and percussion – composes, performs, produces, mixes and masters her compositions in a studio in Athens, Greece.
Albums
RELEASES
Oh. released a debut progressive rock EP “Sleeping World” in 2013 with the award winning video “Trials – A Song for a Lost Generation”
The metal album and vinyl release, “Synemotion” in 2015
Two singles, “Love Will Heal” and “Love of Avalanches” in 2016 – one of the first Greek artists to create a 360° virtual reality video without a 360° camera.
A single ballad, “I’m in Love” was released in 2017 with a WebGL online experience which was nominated by Awwwards.com.
The last of the single ballad series, “Deserted Eyes” was released on January 19, 2018 with an animated music video and innovative WebGL experience. The song is was a semi-finalist in the 2017 International Songwriters Competition (ISC) and the music video was the winner of the Cosmocinema Awards for Best Music Video Award in the London Greek Film Festival, an official selection in the 13th Athens Animfest 2018, winner for Best Video Art in the Five Continents International Film Festival and Official Selection in the Experimental Dance & Music Film Festival.
A progressive metal EP, “Metallia” was released July 27 2018. The music video for the song “Red Lion” from the album is an Official Selection in the Paleochora Lost World Short Film Festival, Semi-Finalist in the Indie Visions Film Festival, winner in the Independent Talents International Film Festival, Semi-finalist in Light Future International Film Festival, Official Selection in the Cosmocinema Film Festival and participant in the Lift-Off Sessions and Official selection in The Psychedelic and Transpersonal Film and Music Festival in New York and the French Riviera Film Festival in Cannes.
Oh. is currently in the studio working on the progressive rock album, “Prog Unshaven” coming out in Spring 2019.
Listen
Guitar solos: Bee (Metallia), Red Lion (Metallia), Beckoning (Synemotion), World of Warcraft (Synemotion), Elegy (Synemotion).
Metal: Triumph (Metallia), Androgyny (Metallia), Resurrection (Metallia), Dragon’s Kiss (Metallia), Rumpus (Synemotion)
Vocals: I’m in Love, Love Will Heal, Love of Avalanches, Deserted Eyes, Have You Ever (Sleeping World), Trials (Sleeping World), I’m the Pleasure (Sleeping World)
Metal
Metal
Ballads
Prog Rock
HONORS
• Oh.’s debut EP Sleeping World released in February 2013. The music video for the title track “Trials – a song for a lost generation” won an international video contest
• Oh. was added into Prog Archives into the Crossover Prog category.
• The song “Trials” was considered one of the top 50 influential events that marked Greece in 2013.
• Honored the developers of the Mettle Skybox Suite reposted the unique workflow used to create a 360° virtual reality video without a 360° camera on their Skybox Studio blog – invited to present the workflow at NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) – for the music video, “Love of Avalanches” in 2016. mentioned in Huffington Post (Greece).
• A 3D WebGL interactive experience for the launch of the single “I’m in Love” was nominated on Awwwards.com for site of the day in 2017.
• Semi-finalist in the 2017 International Songwriters Competition (ISC).
• “Deserted Eyes” music video selected in the 13th Athens Animfest 2018.
• “Deserted Eyes” music video selected in the Experimental Film, Dance and Music Festival
• “Deserted Eyes” music video winner best video art in the Five Continents International Film Festival 2018
• “Deserted Eyes” music video winner of the International Cosmocinema Award for Best Music Video in the 11th London Greek Film Festival 2018
•”Red Lion” Winner French Riviera Film Festival 2019
•”Red Lion” Winner Independent Talents International Film Festival 2019
•”Red Lion” Winner Cosmocinema Film Festival 2019
•”Red Lion” Winner Paleochora Lost World Short Film Festival 2019
•”Red Lion” Winner The Psychedelic and Transpersonal Film and Music Festival 2019
•”Red Lion” Finalist Oniros Film Awards® 2019
•”Red Lion” Semi-Finalist Light & Future International Film Festival 2019
•”Red Lion” Semi-Finalist Indie Visions Film Festival 2019
•”Red Lion” Official Selection Athens Marathon International Film Festival 2019
•”Red Lion” Official Selection Solaris Film Festival 2019
•”Red Lion” Official Selection Insomnia International Animation Film Festival 2019
•”Red Lion” Official Selection The Lift-Off Sessions 2019
•”Red Lion” Official Selection Music Shorts Film Festival 2019
•”Red Lion” Official Selection Aphrodite Film Awards 2019
•”Red Lion” Official Selection Los Angeles CineFest 2019
SOUNDSLIKE
Reviewers have compared her voice to Sharon Den Adel and Anneke Van Giesbergen, others to Happy Rhodes and a cross between Kate bush, Tori Amos, Melissa Auf der Maur, and Eivør. They emphasized her quite unique style, as one said, “she defies analysis somewhat as Queensryche” with distinctive sound of her own. Elements of bands like Sacrilege, Black Sabbath’s “Zero the Hero” period and a bit of Exciter have been mentioned in various commentaries.
Reviews
“If you put Kate Bush, Auf Der Maur, Ayreon, Chiasmata, Igorrr, old White Zombie and Amogh Symphony in a blender with several metronomes running different time signatures, add a healthy dash of thrash riffs to the proggy mix and baked the resulting mixture for several hours you probably wouldn’t even come close to the sound.”~ Lee Davidson – Prog Metal Madness
“This is not a garrulous display of technique. There is inspiration, delineations, intense vision, to the point of fever pitch chaos, which will delight the “metal” senses and is altogether a monumental showcase. The girl seems to have more riff in her, than half the Greek heavy metal scene of the past 10 years. ” ~ “Pan Pap” – Rocktime.gr
It’s still a mystery to me, how a young lady like Olivia can invent, perform, and produce such a gorgeous piece of musical art. I suppose she got somehow a blessing from the forgotten gods of Olympus… No, really. It’s a wonderfully creative and inventive EP which sounds much more substantial and thought-provoking than many recordings from well-known grandees of modern instrumental Prog-Metal. ~ Igor Gorely – R.A.I.G. Records (Progarchives)
‘Metallia’ is what it is, not music for fragile souls but an evanescent storm of instrumental music (the voice being used not for words, but as sound) that will suit the enthusiast of powerful, progressive and experimental music.” ~ Rinco Ennema ~ Rock Affairs
“Do you get bored quickly by the standard prog metal music offer? that will not happen to you with ‘Metallia’! ~ Herman Beunk – Xymphonia
“Oh wow! What the bloody hell’s going on here then? Freshness. Uniqueness. Boldness. An outlier! Call it what you like, but this is anything but your typical run of the mill, bog standard, meat and potatoes, vanilla-like metal.” ~ K-MaNriffs – Blessed Altar Zine
“Chaos becomes order, the mind blowing ‘Metallia’ by Oh. ~ Martin Hutchinson – Progradar
An interesting well thought out project from a talented-mult-instrumentalist ~ Geoff Penn – Progplanet
“Cacophonous, complex, illustrative, dense, awash in radiance, terrifying, challenging- all of it driven by the taut, ferocious guitar work and instrumental mastery demonstrated by Ms. H. Waves of feminine choral sounds weave in and out of the tapestry, washes of intensity rarely relenting, leading me to recall why at one point in my younger days I was strongly drawn to consider using psychedelic drugs. Mind expansion, spirit expansion. Transcendence. Enlightenment. ~ Stephen Conrad – Progressive Rock Fanatics–Progarchives
After some interrogations the EP grows on you, which gives us music in a little different vintage, so for the curious, just release the handbrake and discover! ~ Conny Myrberg – Artrock.se
Metallia has already drawn the attention of progressive circles, but they have yet to analyze the enigmatic, versatile, bold, suspiciously attractive style of its music.This is one of those circumstances where you think you have heard something similar before, but you can not parallel it with something recognizable. Her material sounds “metallized”, adventurous, and has a cinematic affinity. Above all, however, the sound is disruptive, the vocal injections arouse this impact. Clearly interesting, in a sense, it could be co-production of Shrapnel and 4AD. Check it out. ~ George Politopoulos – Flight of Pegasus
Listening to Metallia, expect to be unexpected. Nothing is obvious here, nothing sounds as you would expect, and surprise is surprising. ~ Artur Chachlowski – MLWZ
Neither guitar hero nor singer metal, OH. invents a progressive rock art metal where Olivia’s guitar is queen, sometimes supplanted by her war cries sung like a second guitar. An extraordinary musical experience, extreme for canterbury fans, so to discover absolutely. ~ Jean-Christophe – Neoprog
What Oh. screams out of her guitar is not for the faint-hearted, by the constant stream of trash riffs this is a dirty Steve Vai or a vicious Joe Satriani but with balls or better said without balls or at least as well. It is unsettling in the metal scene when a longhaired guitarist turns out to be a woman in the end…Her voice meanders from mood to emotion. From fear to love. The songs do not have a standard structure but are textures like the wandering Etesian winds that so often thrash the Aegean Sea. ~Jos Driessen – Progwereld
An excellent example of how instrumental guitar albums can still sound inspired and interesting. – Jupiter Variation
“In 2008 Jannick Top sent a shock wave through progressive rock community with the release of “Infernal Machina”. The sound that he created on that album was absolutely unique, a fascinating collision of zeuhl, metal and primal screams. Now after ten years I found the same formula rediscovered and applied, again with astonishing result, by OH. (Olivia Hadjiioannou) in her new album Metallia.” ~ Tomasz Grzywalski – Secret Exhibition
“The hidden leitmotives and recurring patterns in the compostion reveal themselves only after multiple listens and make this EP a real grower that you will return to over and over again and still be surprised and impressed every time you hear it. With Metallia, Olivia Hadjiioannou has proven to be an incredibly gifted and creative composer and technically talented musician. If you are tired of progressive bands repeating the same old stuff over and over again, look no further – Oh. has you covered.” ~ Matt S. – Metal Soliloquy
“Only after a few passages does the open music lover begin to discover that the pieces are multi-layered and rich in detail and that the electric guitar is only used as one means of expression among many. Besides the parts for the guitars and drums, one discovers the ethnically coloured percussion, the creative rhythms and breaks and the polyphonic, mostly very wild vocals as well as the more extreme and unusual sounds that one can elicit from the human vocal cords. ~ Siggy Zielinski – Babyblauen Seiten
“With top notes of Dream Theater and the intensity of Liquid Tension Experiment, Olivia takes the listener on a dark yet vivid journey that intersects the mind of Edgar Allen Poe and the imagination of Stephen Gammell” ~ Vinny Iacocca – The Closet Concert Arena
“Stunning, raw and uncompromising” ~ Sébastien Bonnays – Prog Female Voices
“Time to tell you about this stratospheric lady who comes from nowhere or from another planet, that of metal-prog-fusion-trash-dream-haunting and not only!” ~ Alain Massard – Profil Prog
“The most important adjective is “powerful”. Everything oozes power. The compositions, the sound effects, the arrangements, the use of dynamics in mixing; everything has received a large dose of attention, creating an epic sound. These elements make a grandiose mix, where nothing stays the same, except the powerful impression that it all leaves.” ~ Jerry Van Kooten – Dutch Progressive Rock Page DPRP
Olivia Hadjiioannou is always up for a surprise… After the quite heavy “Synemotion” album, she released a couple of distinctly art rock oriented singles. However, her latest EP is quite different from everything we have heard of her before: It’s a tour de force into high-grade prog metal realms with shredding guitars, sinister vocal layers, and unexpectedly transforming rhythm patterns. All music composed by Oh. All instruments played by Oh. An overwhelming one-woman show! Favorite track: Androgyny. ~ Sven B. Schreiber – Bandcamp
This girl isn’t afraid to sound unique with this gorgeous, mind expanding instrumental feast of experimental prog metal gifted with shredding riffs, eastern vibes, ethereal interludes and dramatic shifts in pace and complexity. There’s no empty virtuosity here though, since everything flows together into one sonic experience that never ceases to sound warm, emotional and organic. An ambitious and compelling endeavour. Favorite track: Androgyny. ~ Sauro Fabi – Bandcamp
“The whole thing is realized through multi-layered vocals, frenetic but harmonious guitar solos, ecstatic pounding riffs, imaginative violins, rhythmic basses and wild drums. It should Metallia hijack the listener in a wondrous acoustic landscape, which should make him forget everything around him.” ~ Joan Degener – Betreutes Proggen
A symphonic approach for “Dragon’s Kiss”, in truth a melodic melting pot to better blur the tracks, Olivia wanders according to her inspirations and goes from a nostalgic rock to a screaming and fusion metal, revealing an amazing skillfulness. The last “Triumph” track, which is a real slaughter, exudes a great freshness of inspiration and shows, if necessary, the imperial mastery of the lady.Impregnated with a heavy atmosphere, an eclectic and electric music with a fast tempo, this “Métallia” is a very beautiful album where the lovers of Olivia Hadjiioannou and the others will find what they are looking for! ~ Gabriel Badelier – Progcritique
“Time signatures change, bombastic elements come in and out, and it really feels like the listener is being swept along in a maelstrom, or being put inside a washing machine when it is at full pelt.” ~ Kev Rowland – Firebrand radio – Framemusic
“Truly mindblowing. And speaking of mindblowing, here we have a musician that seems to excel at everything she does. Fluent in drumming, bass, guitars, piano and violin!” ~ Peter Cox – Your Music Blog
“She has developed a musical style of her own, which can best be placed in the utmost corner of extreme prog metal” ~ Henric van Essen – Dutch Metal Maniac
“Olivia Hadjiioannou shows us the female side of progressive metal, muscular and aggressive like that of her male colleagues, but the Greek musician is also attracted by the contrasts between primordial chaos and latent tension that this can produce….The music does not stop at progressive metal with a symphonic touch but inside there emerge inflections that point towards Middle Eastern, operatic and Hellenic stylistic elements, all fundamentals that contribute to increase the melodramatic depth of the work. It must not have been easy to design the complex stratifications that make up the pieces in solitude.” ~ Lorenzo Barbagli – Open Magazine
“Olivia begins the Great Work by pouring the devastating fury of the Erinyes into inhuman vocalizations that fully invest the listener, annihilating him definitively with Sabbathian riffs and a killer groove. The sound is repeatedly fractured by acid lashed metal and by a percussive tribalism that the traditional toumperleki dominates, underlining its oriental features.” ~ Antonio Menichella – Hamelin Prog
Social Media
Connect
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Spotify
Listen on Bandcamp
Listen on Soundcloud
Olivia Hadjiioannou on IMDb
Statistics
Website traffic:
64K new users/yr
165K pageviews/yr
Top Countries: US, Canada, UK, Germany, Greece, Italy, Australia, France
Facebook Likes: 11.050
Facebook Followers: 11,140
Twitter Followers: 4,678
Instagram Followers: 10.1K
YouTube views: 165,656 (lifetime)
YouTube subscribers: 1000
Spotify: 19.7k listeners
Spotify: 60.9k streams
SoundCloud streams: 82.3K
SoundCloud likes: 3,601
SoundCloud reshares: 831
Email list: 3827
all numbers above are with little or no paid advertising
Statistics
Top Sales
United Kingdom
United States
Germany
France
Netherlands
Holland
Canary Islands
Switzerland
Cyprus
Canada
Norway
Peru
Italy
Greece
Top Cities: Athens, Tokyo, London, Lima, Vienna, Seattle, New York, Los Angeles
IMDb
19 SHORT FILM AWARDS
Official Selection 13th Athens Animfest 2018
Official Selection Experimental Film, Dance and Music Festival 2018
Winner Five Continents International Film Festival 2018
Winner International Cosmocinema Award London Greek Film Festival 2018
Winner French Riviera Film Festival 2019
Winner Independent Talents International Film Festival 2019
Winner Cosmocinema Awards 2019
Winner Paleochora Lost World Short Film Festival 2019
Winner The Psychedelic and Transpersonal Film and Music Festival 2019
Finalist Oniros Film Awards® 2019
Semi-Finalist Light & Future International Film Festival 2019
Semi-Finalist Indie Visions Film Festival 2019
Official Selection Athens Marathon International Film Festival 2019
Official Selection Solaris Film Festival 2019
Official Selection Insomnia International Animation Film Festival 2019
Official Selection The Lift-Off Sessions 2019
Official Selection Music Shorts Film Festival 2019
Official Selection Aphrodite Film Awards 2019
Official Selection Los Angeles CineFest 2019
Reviews
“Cacophonous, complex, illustrative, dense, awash in radiance, terrifying, challenging- all of it driven by the taut, ferocious guitar work and instrumental mastery demonstrated by Ms. H.
Waves of feminine choral sounds weave in and out of the tapestry, washes of intensity rarely relenting, leading me to recall why at one point in my younger days I was strongly drawn to consider using psychedelic drugs. Mind expansion, spirit expansion. Transcendence. Enlightenment.
I thought the music must be considered a language of its own, and interpreting another’s language is risky and delicate.
Yet, if you do take time to listen and not only listen but HEAR, you will be rewarded, even, perhaps, transformed.” ~ Stephen Conrad – Progarchives
Wonderful melodies and the constant flow through complex spaces stimulate impassionate moods and emotions; sometimes hammock, sometimes bed of nails, but always full of hope.” ~ Peter “Brutus” Habermann – DEAF FOREVER
It is well worth spending about 40 minutes of your time to take this journey, with the talent of this 25 year old Greek-American. With lots of music, with few but essential words, and with originality. Something tells me that we will soon be hearing again about her even larger (music) plans … ~ Elias “DEMON” Papazoglou – Hard Music
“Something rare and unique about this artist. A young female multi instrumentalist composer and vocalist in the realm of progressive rock. Makes me a bit misty in this day of EDM muzak. Lovely textures throughout, from acoustic guitars, haunting melodies behind the powerful narration. Solid Prog cred on the arrangement, with stellar production value head to toe on sound and image. OH is force to be embraced with gratitude by any ProgArt rock fan, of which I am one.”
Mark Alan Dooley ~ Fluence
Definitely a piece of progressive art by a very talented young woman. ~ Angelo Hulshout – Background Magazine
OH. – A Bombshell. Take the time to listen and see this album is a bombshell to the world of guitar! ~ Progcritique.com
OH. Yes! Providing proof positive for all time that Greek women rock, here is OH. with a tune from her 2015 album Synemotion. It’s clear that OH. is a significant talent, sure to impress again. ~ Jon Davis – Exposé
Anyone that is into guitar virtuoso types of music will love this release. Some of the tracks I found exhilarating and others interesting but in the end an appreciation for the overall talent this artist brings to the table. You can count on some amazing six string runs throughout this listen.
She has my utmost respect for such a huge accomplishment. ~ Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck – MuzikMan Productions
The gorgeously packaged double vinyl record is a worthy addition to any collection. The heavy music is powerful and explosive, and OH truly leads you on an emotional journey.
The song synchronizes the emotional journey into something tangible and accessible, and you get to hear a bit more of OH’s gorgeous voice which she highlighted in her 2013 debut, Sleeping World. When you know someone can sing, but yet they eschew that for the larger vision, which is to wring emotion out of the listener on the strength of the music alone, that takes courage and confidence.
I told you OH was precocious and creative. She’s also strikingly beautiful, as one can experience in her sensual and artistic music videos that accompany this release (check out the track Run Away on Youtube. OH is definitely an artist to keep an eye on. With her talent, vision, and drive, she is definitely going to make a name for herself in the music world. ~ Dave – Virtuosity