Courtesy photo Candace ‘Ace' Aum, her brother Sky Aum and Orry Zickefoose are ready to rock your world.

She is: Candace “Ace” Aumµ

The sound: Old-school heavy metal. Aum and her band, Hierophant, play covers of Iron Maiden, Queensrÿche, Helloween and Judas Priest, and they do it the way it was meant to be done. “You know the way they used to play heavy metal back in the '80s? We want to try to bring that into a modern setting,” said Aum, a student at Palo Alto College. “There was more theatrics and operatic vocals. There was more of a show when they performed. Now it's hard to find a heavy metal band that can fill an arena.” It was that kind of rock star charisma combined with her smokin' guitar licks that won Aum first place in Alamo Music's 2006 Guitar Wars competition in the electric category. She was only 17 and the lone female in the finals.

The band: Aum plays lead guitar in Hierophant along with her brother, Sky Aum, on vocals, and bassist Orry Zickefoose, but the band is on hiatus while they look for another guitarist and a drummer.

Her words: “I do my best to try to put on a good performance. I've seen a lot of bands. The guitarists have a lot of talent but they just stand in one place; they're not looking at the audience. They play a lot of good stuff but there's no show.”

Where to see her: She'll be competing again in Guitar Wars at the Venue on May 23.

The Web: myspace.com/hierophanttheband

The 210 take: After her win at Guitar Wars last year, Aum got attention for being young and being female. But in the end, only one thing matters: She's a kick-ass guitar player. Heads up, headbangers. Ace is going places.

Jessica Belasco | 210SA contributor