Daniel Maldonado is a California based composer, musician, guitarist, and producer to name just a few of his musical rolls. Maldonado first began composing original music at the age of 12 and has since been involved in several projects as well as honing his recording and mixing skills. To date he is a member of or solo artist to at least four projects ranging from metal to ambient music. Daniel Maldonado's skill set includes more than apt abilities on guitar, bass, violin, viola, ocarina, trombone, baritone horn, tube, and keyboard making him a truly versatile and talented musician.
Invoke The Wake
Maldonado plays the role of bassist in the band Invoke The Wake. Invoke The Wake carries a strong online following, is very active in the California live music scene, and perhaps the most widely known of his projects. Described by Maldonado as "straight metal", the band is currently recording an EP entitled "A New Suffering".
Antecantementum
With Maldonado at the helm as guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter/lyricist, Antecantamentum is another multi-member band. The band began as a solo project of Maldonado with the goal of portraying a "symphony of metal" sound (the name 'Antecantamentum' comes from the Latin word for "overture") but has since taken on members from an earlier project. Now a full on band, the act has moved away from the symphonic sound towards what could be called atmospheric dream metal.
The latest release from Antecantementum via Bandcamp.
Dracan Ceolan
Joined by Drazen Rodriguez of Ezra Yates, Dracan Ceolan is a collaborative project between the two in which Daniel Maldonado contributes the guitar, bass, and programming, and splits the vocals between Rodriguez and himself. Again with a strong metal influence, Dracan Ceolan can be best described as "shoe gaze metal" bouncing between moments of melodic, melancholy and black metal style brutality.
Thaumiel Sonozaki
Maldonado's solo project is Thaumiel Sonozaki in which he usually forgoes his metal influences in favor of a more orchestrated, ambient theme with a focus on synthesizers and abstract soundscape tones. He has stated that the project is "at times beautiful, at times nightmare" ambient music. This is a perfect description for the sound of Thaumiel Sonozaki as the albums often take you on a journey through themes of dream-like contentedness before delving into grimmer dark ambient territories. Thaumiel Sonozaki has recently joined up with online music label 'Nine Gates Records'.
The latest release from Thaumiel Sonozaki via Bandcamp.
You can hear Daniel Maldonado speak in depth about his musical history, influences, and various projects on the recent EMG Radio podcast interview, EMG Radio Episode #19: Invoking the Throat Dragon of Duality, Part 1. Part 2 of the interview coming soon. For more music from Daniel Maldonado, check out Xokoyotzin on SoundCloud.
Social Links:
- Invoke The Wake on Facebook
- Antecantamentum on Facebook
- Dracan Coelan on Facebook
- Thaumiel Sonozaki on Facebook
