Blades formerly known as ''Blades of Hades'', are an Australian hip hop group from Newcastle.Planet Urban Interview with Likewyze
Since forming in the late 1990s they have released four albums, ''Blades of Hades'', ''This Installment'', ''Shadow Art'' in 2008, and ''The Leak'' in 2013. The group took its name from

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

, where

Hades Hades (; grc-gre, ᾍδης, Háidēs; ), in the ancient Greek religion and myth, is the god of the dead and the king of the underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea, although this also ...

was the Gatekeeper of the

Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

. Their hardcore style lyrics and dark production are reminiscent of many British Hip Hop 'Britcore' acts, such II Tone Committee,

Hijack Hijack may refer to: Films * ''Hijack'' (1973 film), an American made-for-television film * ''Hijack!'', a 1975 British film sponsored by the Children's Film Foundation - see Children's Film Foundation filmography * ''Hijack'' (2008 film), a Bol ...

and Killa Instinct. The group have developed a strong following overseas, having performed at many festivals in Europe, including Germany's ''Mass Hysteria'' in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. In 2008, they were the first independent Australian hip hop act to perform at the

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

in the United Kingdom.

History

Newcastle brothers Kid Lyrical and Wizardry met Likewyze onstage, when the duo began rhyming over a performance of a funk band Likewyze was playing guitar in. At the time Likewyze was studying audio at music school and offered to record the duo, along with Scotty B and DJ Skoob, the three time NSW DMC champion. This resulted in their debut album, the self-titled, independently released ''Blades of Hades''. By 2005, Jane Tyrrell had joined the Sydney hip hop group The Herd full-time. The group counter-acted the line-up change and shortened their name to just 'Blades' in 2006. The same year, they released their second album ''This Installment'', which was distributed by

Obese Records Obese Records was a record label that released music from the Australian hip hop genre. It was the largest Australian independent hip hop label, including performers Pegz, Thundamentals and Dialectrix. Obese Records also operated two retail st ...

. The album featured Newcastle DJ Mark N on cuts and production for the track 'Blast Opposition', which they also released a video clip for. Blades appeared on Oriel Guthre's documentary ''Skip Hop: Volume One'' in 2006. They were interviewed and also contributed to the project's soundtrack. ''Shadow Art'' was released in 2008, followed by their free to download mix tape ''Two Thousand And Nine'' the following year. Another free to download mix tape was released in 2010. In June 2010, Blades became a signee of Difrnt Music, a record label known for representing COG,

Regular John Regular John are an Australian Psychedelic Rock band based in Sydney, NSW. The group consists of Ryan A (guitar, vocals, synths), Caleb Goman (bass, vocals), Ryan McDonald (drums) and Miles Devine (guitar). Their first EP Marrickville 2204 was ...

, The Snowdroppers and iconic Australian rock band The Angels. Notably, Blades became the label's first hip hop group. The signing was facilitated by Lui from

Unda K9 Unda K9 Records is an independent Australian record label founded by a female hip-hop record producer Lui. Since the formation, the label has represented a number of hip-hop acts including Figgkidd a.k.a. Lee Monro, Bishop a.k.a. Michael Sison, ...

who was serving as the Operations Manager for David Edwards, the former manager for

INXS INXS (a word play, phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian Rock music, rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. The band's founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboar ...

Michael Hutchence Michael Kelland John Hutchence (22 January 1960 – 22 November 1997) was an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and actor. Hutchence co-founded the rock band INXS, which sold over 75 million records worldwide and was inducted into th ...

and the Executive Producer of Rock Star: INXS, and who helped negotiate the deal. Lui also played a pivotal role in the strategic marketing of Blades debut single "Where The Fire's At", which generated significant buzz in the commercial music space at the time. This helped propel Blades' subsequent efforts to secure a release from Difrnt Music. and ultimately sign with Warner Music, with Adam Marshall taking on the role of the group's official manager.Blades Official Myspace

Discography

Albums

*Blades of Hades – Independent (2003) *This Instalment –

(2006) *Shadow Art – Steal City Records (2008) *The Leak – WHITEHOUSE (2013)

Singles

*Where The Fire's At – Difrnt Music,

Universal Music Australia Universal Music Australia Pty Ltd. (UMA) is the largest Australian music corporation. It is a division of the Universal Music Group. Universal Music Australia's corporate headquarters are located in Sydney, Australia. Labels Universal Musi ...

(October 2010) *One – Difrnt Music,

(November 2010) *City Called Home – Difrnt Music,

(December 2010) *Radio – Independent (November 2013) *Australian / Run This Shit – Britcore Rawmance (2016) *The Rhyme Slayers EP – Naked Ape Records / Underground United (July 2019)

Mix Tapes

*Two Thousand And Nine – Free MP3 Download (2009) *2010 Mixtape – Free Facebook MP3 Download (2010)

Video Clips

*''Find Ya Higher'' (2004) from Blades of Hades *''Blast Opposition'' (2007) from This Installment *''Cannibalistic Act'' (2009) from Shadow Art *''Where The Fire's At'' (2010) *The Rhyme Slayers (2019) from The Rhyme Slayers

Other Appearances

*Underground United Vol. 1 (2009, Naked Ape Recordings, Underground United) – Contributed the track ''Kaos Orda'' from ''Blades of Hades''. *Skip Hip: Volume One (2009, Rubber Records,

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

) – Contributed multiple tracks: ''Intro'' (DJ Scoob, Scotty B), ''Choirific'' (Scotty B), ''Mr. Mister'' (Tyrrell), ''Austyles'' (Blades Of Hades) and ''Hardcore'' (Blades Of Hades). *King HIts by Bouncer (2009) – "Can't Get Past Us" (Feat. Blades Of Hades)

References

External links

Blades Official Myspace
{{Authority control Australian hip hop groups New South Wales musical groups Australian industrial music groups Alternative hip hop groups Musical groups established in 2000 Obese Records artists