Lost your password?

News

MICHAEL SCHENKER’S TEMPLE OF ROCK: New Song ‘Neptune Rising’ Available For Streaming

Manos Spanos
"Neptune Rising", a brand new song from MICHAEL SCHENKER'S TEMPLE OF ROCK, can be streamed using the SoundCloud player below. The track comes off MICHAEL SCHENKER'S TEMPLE OF ROCK's new album, "Bridge The Gap", which will be released on December 2. MICHAEL SCHENKER'S TEMPLE OF ROCK features legendary German guitarist Michael Schenker alongside vocalist Doogie White, guitarist/keyboardist Wayne Findlay, bassistFrancis Buchholz and drummer Herman Rarebell. The CD marks the first time Schenker and fellow ex-SCORPIONS members Buchholz and Rarebell have appeared on the same album since the classic 1979 SCORPIONS LP "Lovedrive". Says Schenker about "Neptune Rising": "'Neptune Rising' is a song I wrote in the studio. It's about Wayne Findlay. He reminds me of a Neptune with his crazy hair and beard. One day I had this vision of seeing him with the Trident coming out of the ocean. Wayne loves water and the undersea world. So, I suggested that we design a guitar that looks like a Trident. The guitar is almost completed and will be called Trident and will be seen on our next tour." "Bridge The Gap" is described in a press release as "an album of 13 hard-hitting, adrenalin-fueled melodic rock'n'roll songs that showcase Shenker's distinctive and explosive guitar playing." Scottish vocalist Doogie White, who co-wrote the album with Schenker, soars across every song, and stamps his enthusiastic personality with every note and phrase. Wayne Findlayadds another dimension to the dynamic, classic Schenker sound with his Dean seven-string guitar and keyboard orchestrations. "Bridge The Gap" is a thunderous, explosive collection of brand new songs steeped in shades of dark and light. Musically and lyrically, the new album shows a re-energized guitarist at the top of his game, surrounded by top drawer musicians. The album was recorded from January to March 2013 at Kidroom Studios, Germany and was produced by Michael Schenker and Michael Voss, and engineered by Voss. "Michael and I had talked about recording an album together after the tour of 2012," saysDoogie White. "We never spoke about it again until January 2013 when he sent me seven ideas he had been working on. "Last October, I started writing the music for the new album," adds Schenker. "I sent material to Doogie in the New Year and he started writing melodies and lyrics. I laid down some arrangements at Michael Voss's studio. There was a lot of energy flying about during the recording process. I had the same drive making this album as I had when I was 16. I wanted it fast, heavy and melodic. It felt like bridging the gap from my teenage and 'Lovedrive' years to what I am doing now. I'm back to where I was a long time ago and I love it." "Never having really written with Michael before, apart from 'When The Devil Knows You're Dead' (from 2011's 'Temple Of Rock' album), I didn't know how flexible he would be writing wise," recalls Doogie." I laid down some vocal tracks as ideas and when Michael heard them. we were off and running. Within two weeks we were in the studio laying down tracks." Schenker admits that when he wrote this album, he tried to get a balance between songs that are heavy, fast and melodic, complimented by his signature guitar solos. "I wanted to combine the old with the new," he says. "That's why the album's called 'Bridge The Gap'. With Wayne playing seven-string guitar we created some low, heavy modern sounds. Since I play and experiment on a regular basis, I always have some new, fresh sparks to share when I record a new album. I am inspired from within. It's infinite like a kaleidoscope." "As former members of the SCORPIONS, Herman, Francis and I have been out of the loop of rock'n'roll for quite a while. Getting together for the first time since the 'Lovedrive' album is an incredible jump. We're connecting the past with the present. We're bridging the gap." Schenker remains philosophical about the name of the new album. He believes the name reflects what is going on in the fast-moving world around him. "Everything that is currently going on in this world is showing that people are desperate for change," he says. "We need to bridge the gap of poverty. There are too many innocent people getting killed in terrorist attacks. We need to leave all of this chaos behind us. We have to be strong. We have to continue moving forward, working together in a balanced way." Schenker is amazed how melodic the new album turned out, but he still insists the songs still feature a bit of darkness as well. "I came up with the name of the album, before I even started writing. When Doogie started writing the lyrics to the new songs he had something to go by. I guess 'Bridges Burned' is a new song that is something of a word play on 'Bridge The Gap'. I love this song. Doogie's singing is excellent on this." "'Horizons' is a really powerful and exciting track from the new album," says Schenker. "I love the energy and Doogie's great vocal lines."
07 min read

TURISAS: ‘Turisas2013’ Track-By-Track Breakdown (Video)

Manos Spanos
A track-by-track breakdown of "Turisas2013", the new album from Finnish "battle metal" warriors TURISAS, can be seen below. Released on August 26 in Europe and September 3 in North America, the CD was once again produced by vocalist Mathias Nygård and the majority of the album was recorded by Nygård and guitarist Jussi Wickström in a remote house outside of Helsinki that served as the "Turisas2013" command center and headquarters. Additional recordings were done in three other studios: the drums at Atomic Spa Studio and orchestral recordings at 5 by 5 Studio, both in Helsinki. A lot of vocals and numerous additional acoustic elements were laid down at Sound Supreme Studio in Hämeenlinna where TURISASalso recorded "The Varangian Way" and "Stand Up And Fight". "Turisas2013" track listing: 01. For Your Own Good (4:34) 02. Ten More Miles (4:16) 03. Piece by Piece (5:37) 04. Into The Free (3:50) 05. Run Bhang-Eater, Run! (4:43) 06. Greek Fire (4:51) 07. The Days Passed (4:33) 08. No Good Story Ever Starts With Drinking Tea (2:51) 09. We Ride Together (6:33) Says vocalist Mathias Nygård: "'Turisas2013' is a very diverse album: it has some of the heaviest and fastest tracks that we've ever done, but 'For Your Own Good' comes more from the lighter end. It's a very catchy song and we hope you'll enjoy the track that we picked to give you a very first taste of the many flavors to come." With "Turisas2013", TURISAS deliberately aimed for a more organic sound. Comments Nygård: "When it comes to the production, it's just the opposite of the polished and massive 'Stand Up And Fight'. It's raw and dry and in your face, but still maintaining thatTURISAS largeness. "People attest us that we are a great live band, and we wanted the album to be based more around that than orchestral massiveness. It's our most varied record to date and even if some of the songs sound very different, I think the common thread is that every single one has a lot of energy to it." The mix and mastering was done by London-based producer Jaime Gomez Arellano, who previously worked with GHOST, PRIMODIAL and ULVER, just to name a few.
02 min read

GEOFF TATE On QUEENSRŸCHE: ‘I Just Can’t Give It Up. It’s Me. It’s Who I Am.’

Manos Spanos
Shawn Perry of VintageRock.com recently conducted an interview with QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below. VintageRock.com: Earlier this year, you released an album, "Frequency Unknown", which I believe was the first album of yours under the QUEENSRŸCHE name without the members of the other QUEENSRŸCHE. And I read that there were some issues early on with the mix, which were later resolved. But overall, were you pleased with that record? I've been listening to it and it sounds really good to me. Tate: Yeah, yeah, [I'm] very pleased with it. It was a really fun record to make. I had a lot of help making it, you know, a lot of different people coming in and contributing their performances for the record. That was really, really fun. I loved doing that. I'm a collaborator; I love collaborating with people. I had a lot of great players come in and do their spin to the song, which was really, really fun. VintageRock.com: Are you preparing a follow-up to the album? Tate: Yeah, we're working on a new record now. I'm about … I don't really know where I'm at with it. I'm in bulk writing mode where I write every day and put ideas down in a rough form and typically I'll go back after a few months of doing that and see what I have and then piece together an album out of good ideas that I've got recorded. VintageRock.com: As I'm sure you're aware, the other QUEENSRŸCHE released a record this year. I don't suppose you heard that or listened to it at all, did you? Tate: No, but I heard they released one. VintageRock.com: It gets a little confusing with there being two QUEENSRŸCHEs and I did read in a recent interview with you where you discussed the issue of who gets to keep the name, and that whole issue will be resolved next year. Is that correct? Tate: Yeah. We have a court date that was set for November that recently got pushed back to January. So that's when our actual court date will happen, is at the end of January. VintageRock.com: Why is it important to you to keep that name? Tate: Well for me, it's my life's work. It's…what you hear when you listen to a QUEENSRŸCHErecord is my ideas. My hopes, my dreams, my fears, my fantasies — all the stuff that is me is in those records and those songs. I've worked tirelessly over the years to protect the name, to bring value to the name, and I just can't give it up. It's me. It's who I am. VintageRock.com: Do you have any sentiment for the other guys — do you miss playing with them at all? Or are you just kind of moving forward and you're digging playing with new guys? What's your feeling on that? Tate: Oh, I'm really interested in playing with the guys I'm playing with now. They're all really fantastic musicians and we have a generally good time when were on the road. It's a bunch of personalities that really work well together. And I'm just digging it. It's a happy scene. VintageRock.com: That's the important thing, right? Tate: Yeah, it is. It's no fun to go to work and not get along with the people that you're working with. It's much better if you're hanging out with people for days on end and hours on end to be able to laugh and have a good time and enjoy life. Read the entire interview at VintageRock.com.
03 min read

BEHEMOTH To Release ‘Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel’ Single, Video; First Teaser Available

Manos Spanos
A teaser for "Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel", the brand new video from Polish extreme metallers BEHEMOTH, can be seen below. The song will be released as a digital single and limited-edition 12-inch EP on December 4 via Behemoth/New Aeon Musick in Europe. The gatefold EP will be limited to 2,000 copies (1,000 on white and 1,000 on black 180-gram vinyl), all of which will be hand numbered and signed by the BEHEMOTH bandmembers. In addition to the title track, the single will include two more compositions that will not appear onBEHEMOTH's tenth full-length album, "The Satanist": "If I Were Cain" and a cover of"Ludzie Wschodu" from the influential 1980s Polish punk rock band SIEKIERA. The music video for "Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel", which was described by BEHEMOTHfrontman Adam "Nergal" Darski as "killer" and "a monster," was directed by Polish producersGrupa 13, with whom BEHEMOTH previously collaborated on the clips for "At The Left Hand Ov God" and "Ov Fire And The Void". Fan-filmed video footage of BEHEMOTH performing "Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel" during their October 19 appearance at this year's edition of the Loud Park festival at Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo, Japan can be seen below. "The Satanist" is due in early 2014 via Nuclear Blast in Europe and Metal Blade in North America. The CD was recorded at Hertz studio in Bialystok, Poland with the help of theWieslawscy brothers and Daniel Bergstrand (MESHUGGAH, IN FLAMES, SOILWORK,STRAPPING YOUNG LAD). Other songtitles set to appear on the effort include "Messe Noir"(French for "The Black Mass") and "Ora Pro Nobis, Lucifer" (Latin for "Pray For Us, Lucifer"). The effort was mixed by Matt Hyde (SLAYER, HATEBREED, CHILDREN OF BODOM) and was mastered by Ted Jensen (METALLICA, AC/DC) at Sterling Sound in New York City. "The Satanist" cover artwork was painted with Nergal's own blood. He provided a container of his plasma to Russian symbolist painter Denis Forkas in Moscow. Forkas then blended the blood into the painting so that it would have a more "organic" feel. Additional artwork was handled by Metastazis and Zbigniew Bielak. "I wanted to incorporate some of my DNA into the art," Nergal told Australia's Heavymagazine. "This album seems to be so defining of who we are now as people and as individuals, and considering all the instances in recent years, [we wanted] to make it more 'ours' than it is usually." In a recent interview with Revolver magazine, Darski described BEHEMOTH's new songs as "very atmospheric" and "very emotional." "Think BURZUM meets NEW ORDER meets KILLING JOKE," he added. But at the same time, fans shouldn't expect the album to sound too far removed from BEHEMOTH's past efforts. "Take SLAYER, for example," Darski said. "Whatever genre they deal with, they still end up sounding like SLAYER. Even when they were flirting with nu-metal, it was a SLAYER record. Same with BEHEMOTH."
04 min read

DESTRUCTION To Play Special ‘Best Of 30 Years’ Show In Germany

Manos Spanos
German thrash metal veterans DESTRUCTION will celebrate "30 years of total destruction" with a special headlining show on November 15 at Helvete in Oberhausen, Germany. Support at the gig will come from Polish thrash outfit WAR-SAW and Swedish retro rockers YEAR OF THE GOAT. Commented DESTRUCTION vocalist/bassist Marcel "Schmier" Schirmer: "2013 was a very busy year for DESTRUCTION. We have played the biggest festivals around the globe and we headlined in the venues and clubs of this round earth. "Unfortunately, we couldn't do this earlier, but now at the end of our 30th anniversary, we are most happy to announce that there will be a 'Best Of 30 Years' show in Germany as well. "After so many years and records, it is still a challenge to put up a setlist. "For our headliner shows, we have a special song selection and an extended concert for all of you that will blow the fans' minds for decades to come. "I love playing festivals, but thrash metal and DESTRUCTION work out best in a sweaty club! "It has been a while since we have been in the Ruhr Area and we are really looking forward to the gig at Helvete!" DESTRUCTION's 30th-anniversary album, "Spiritual Genocide", was released on November 23, 2012 via Nuclear Blast Records. The follow-up to 2011's "Day Of Reckoning" was recorded at Gernhart Studios in Troisdorf, Germany with engineer Martin Buchwalter and was mixed by Andy Classen. The album features guest appearances by Thomas "Angelripper" Such(SODOM), Andreas "Gerre" Geremia (TANKARD) and Ol Drake (EVILE). In addition, the"Mad Butcher"/"Release From Agony" lineup of DESTRUCTION — featuring guitarist Harry Wilkens and drummer Oliver Kaiser — reunited for one song. Asked how DESTRUCTION's sound has evolved over the years, Schmier told Metal Assault, "We were 17-18 years old when we started, and we were young and wild. We didn't play that well at the time. Of course now, we have the experience of 30 years and our playing skills are totally different, so we cannot really compare, but I still compare the style of music and it's still thrash metal. We still do it with a lot of emotion and a lot of aggression, and those things will never change. I think we even came more brutal and more aggressive with this new album as compared to the old ones, actually. [Today's] DESTRUCTION doesn't sound like an old band."
02 min read

KERRY KING On SLAYER’s Future: It’s Going To Be Business As Usual, Just One Member Less

Manos Spanos
SLAYER guitarist Kerry King was interviewed on the November 1-3 edition of Full Metal Jackie's nationally syndicated radio show. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below. A transcript of the question-and-answer session follows. To see a full list of stations carrying the program and when it airs, go toFullMetalJackieRadio.com. Full Metal Jackie: SLAYER, of course, has the North American headlining tour [coming up at the end of October], the band's first in two years. It runs through the end of November. You guys have been touring all summer [in Europe] with Paul [Bostaph, drums] and, of course,Gary Holt [guitar, also of EXODUS]. At what point over the last five months did you know that this lineup of the band was ready to go into the studio, or work on new music? King: Well, realistically, as soon as Paul got with us, I started teaching him new stuff, because I've got probably thirteen, fourteen songs [written for the next record]. So when we didn't have any touring schedule that we had to learn stuff for, I was, like, "Well, let's take this time to get your and my chops up together to work on this new stuff so when the time comes, we'll already have 90 percent of the work under our belt." Full Metal Jackie: Kerry, metal fans around the world were terribly saddened by the death ofJeff Hanneman. Will his style and what he brought to the band continue to influenceSLAYER's legacy even after he's gone? King: I think so, because, I mean, when you play guitar opposite somebody — Jeff with myself or myself with Jeff — I think our styles infused a bit. I think in some of the things I write, I think people are gonna say, "Wow, that sounds like Jeff would have wrote it," and stuff he would have wrote, had he written anymore, people would have said, "Man, that sounds like something Kerry wrote." But, you know, we've been together so long that we kind of infused ourselves into each other. So I think it's going to be business as usual going forward, [but] just one member less, which sucks for everybody. Full Metal Jackie: This is the first full-blown SLAYER headline tour in quite a few years. What are you looking forward to the most about it? King: Yeah, this is the first one in at least six or seven years. Every time we've come through the States, it's either been on [Rockstar Energy Drink] Mayhem [Festival] or on SLAYER / [MARILYN] MANSON tours or SLAYER / MEGADETH tours, so we might have maxed out [with our time on stage] at an hour and five [minutes], an hour and ten [minutes], but on this one, we get to play an hour and thirty [minutes], an hour and thirty-five [minutes], which we haven't been able to do in the States in a very long time. I enjoy doing full headline sets, because if you're the actual last person playing, most people spent their money to come seeyou. So I wanna be able to give them something they're gona remember for the first time in quite a while. Full Metal Jackie: What can we expect from the setlist from the rest of the tour? Will you be debuting any new music prior to releasing it?
07 min read

SAMMY HAGAR On Split With VAN HALEN: ‘I Was Stabbed In The Back And Left For Dead’

Manos Spanos
GRAMMY.com recently conducted an interview with legendary rocker Sammy Hagar (VAN HALEN, CHICKENFOOT, MONTROSE). You can now watch the chat in eleven parts below. Asked if he misses his friendship with the Van Halen brothers, Hagar replied: "Oh, every part of me — from my hair to my toes — miss my friendship with Eddie and Alex Van Halen. "I think Alex and I are probably still good friends. Eddie and I, we hit a real hard bump in the road. It's kind of like a relationship with a partner and things go so wrong that you just don't feel like you can ever let that go. But we'll see. 'Cause I think I can let anything go. I don't know if Eddie can let anything go; maybe he can. But right now, there's a lot of resentment built up. It's almost like there's so much anger that I don't wanna even run into him." He continued: "I used to always say, 'Oh, if I ran into him somewhere, it'd be, like, 'Oh, Eddie. How are you doing?' Big hugs and kisses. I don't think it'd be like that right now. I think it'd be, like, 'You did this' and 'You did that' [laughs]; we'd get in each other's face. "It got real ugly. "Unfortunately, when I wrote my book, I had to say it all, because in my whole life, what do I do? I go through life and I run into fans. 'Oh, man, I loved you in VAN HALEN. You were the best guy.' Of course they tell me I was the best guy in VAN HALEN and they tell the other guy he was the best guy. But the truth of the matter is, they would say, 'Why can't you andEddie get…? Man, you guys…' And I'm going, 'You don't understand.' So when I wrote my book, I wanted to clarify that; I just wanted to throw that out the window. Don't ever ask me again why I'm not in VAN HALEN. I was thrown out, I was stabbed in the back and left for dead. And you just can't go back and hug and kiss those kind of people that do that to you. So I wrote about it in my book. And now that I really wrote about it in the book, I don't thinkEddie would ever look me in the eye and shake hands and no hugs and kisses. But Alex knows it's all true and he knows it was all… Well, he knows what happened. He was a bystander who stood by his brother, and I love 'em both." He added: "I still love Eddie Van Halen with all of my heart and I wish him nothing but good health and hopefully he gets himself together. But he put me through some miserable stuff that one human being should not do that to another human being. And it's not like I didn't have a choice. I had a choice; I could have split in the middle of that tour, but when I did, I was threatened to be sued for so much money that it was, like… 'I'm gonna stick it out.' And sticking it out through those situations [meant] I had to get my own airplane, [we] couldn't fly on the same plane, he was in this dressing room in the arena, I was in the farthest one over there I could get. And it was, like, every night, sitting there and looking at the clock, it's time to go on, Michael Anthony [then-VAN HALEN bassist] and I, and we'd hear Eddie's guitar. It was, like, 'OK, he made it. Let's go.' We'd walk out on stage every night. [We'd] wait and make sure the guy could make it. "But I love him; I really do love him. My friendship and the songs and the music we made makes up for all of that — if he would be willing to say, 'Hey, let's let it go.' "But I'm not looking to get back [in VAN HALEN]. CHICKENFOOT is my band now." Hagar recently said that Eddie Van Halen isn't as "fluent and versatile" as Sammy'sCHICKENFOOT bandmate Joe Satriani. Hagar, who just released the star-studded collection,"Sammy Hagar & Friends", took a swipe at Van Halen while downplaying his own guitar playing, telling Gibson.com, "In CHICKENFOOT and VAN HALEN, I just put the guitar on and got a big cheer always, and then I'd burn for a little bit and then take it back off before I ran out of chops, y'know? I rate myself as a guy that can play, and I can express myself extremely well but only in one language. I can only play blues-based guitar. And when a guy like Joesteps up there, he can play. Once he finishes with my repertoire, he can go into French, Spanish and Russian on the guitar! He's just so versatile and fluent." Hagar pressed on, comparing Van Halen to Satriani, saying, "Eddie's not as fluent and versatile. Eddie's got a style for himself and he's very much in that pocket, but Joe can play anything. He freaks me out." Hagar told The Pulse Of Radio that the split between him and Eddie Van Halen became apparent during the sessions for the band's 1995 "Balance" album, which was his last full-length set with the band. "Eddie needs somebody to make decisions and a leader, y'know?" he said. "He's not a natural born leader kind of guy. And his brother was always the leader before — or [David Lee] Roth was the leader before — and when Roth left, his brother and him bumped heads so much, when I walked in, it was like, 'Well, what does Sam wanna do?' y'know? So it became kind of like, yeah, I was making all the decisions, so then on 'Balance', all of a sudden he didn't like my decisions, and it was, like, really weird."
07 min read

DEATHSTARS To Release New Album In February

Manos Spanos
Swedish death-glam quintet DEATHSTARS will release its much-anticipated new studio album in February 2014 via Nuclear Blast Records. The follow-up to 2009's "Night Electric Night"will be recorded at Studio Bohus in Kungälv, Sweden with Roberto Laghi who will co-produce the album with DEATHSTARS guitarist Emil "Nightmare Industries" Nödtveidt. Comments vocalist Andreas "Whiplasher Bernadotte" Bergh: "DEATHSTARS is an adventure for us. It's as if it is a phenomenon of its own, and our forum for destruction, glitter and darkness. "We are very excited about the new material and every time we hit the studio, we never know what the outcome will be. I mean, we have a general idea, but we're never a 100 percent sure how the final result will be until we're done and can sit back and listen to it." DEATHSTARS' "Claws Through Europe Tour 2014" will kick off on March 15 in Stockholm.
01 min read

RAGE To Pay Tribute To JON LORD At Special Concert

Manos Spanos
On Friday, May 23, 2014, German power metallers RAGE will take part in a very special event. The band will perform at "Tribute To Jon - Celebrating The Music Of Jon Lord", set to take place at in Bergheim, Germany. Art director for this project will be Martin Doepke, who accompanied Lord live on keyboards. RAGE will be responsible for the rock part of the concert, the "NuMetal Symphony" — orchestra bridging the gap from rock to classic. See the greatest hits from DEEP PURPLE and the "classic" works of Jon Lord in a superb concert. Jon Lord died on July 16, 2012 at age 71 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Lord, who was known for his keyboard virtuosity and his reinvention of the Hammond B-3 organ sound, co-wrote such PURPLE classics as "Smoke On The Water" and "Child In Time", among others. Lord and drummer Ian Paice were the only original members to last through the band's initial run from 1968 to 1976. He was on board for their 1984 reunion and stayed on through to his 2002 retirement from the band, after which he's worked primarily in the classical field. Over the course of his career, Lord also worked with the ARTWOODS, FLOWER POT MEN,PAICE, ASHTON AND LORD, WHITESNAKE and good friend and neighbor, George Harrison. In a recent interview with Peter Makowski, METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich stated aboutJon Lord: "I'm not sure that the people in today's hard rock world really truly understand how innovative this guy was. He wasn't just another keyboard player on the side of the stage. In '66/'67, when Hendrix, Townshend and Ritchie Blackmore were taking the electric guitar to a new level, by using banks of Marshall stacks beefing up the sound, Jon Lord was one of the first guys in hard rock to take the keyboards through the same process. He took a fairly standard instrument like a Hammond organ put it through amplifiers and Leslie cabinets and introduced a whole new way of forcing the sound out of the keyboards. "Ritchie Blackmore said the other day that Jon formed DEEP PURPLE; he was certainly the instigator that made things happen. If not the musical leader, Jon was the spiritual leader of the band. He was a pioneer, and I think that somehow that's gotten a little lost in the last few [months]. People are talking about, obviously, what a gentleman he was and what a fantastic band member but he really did something nobody had done before with the sound of the keyboards and I think that's probably the biggest thing to remember him for."
02 min read

On The Tour Bus With FIREWIND And TURISAS (Video)

Manos Spanos
TURISAS and FIREWIND are featured in the latest episode of "Bus Invaders". Shot on February 10, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois, the clip — which can be seen below — features TURISASsinger Mathias Nygård and FIREWIND guitarist Gus G. giving a tour of their bus. FIREWIND celebrated its 10th anniversary by releasing a live album on June 24 via Century Media Records in Europe. Entitled "Apotheosis - Live 2012", the CD contains 17 songs recorded at special anniversary shows in Greece as well as all over Europe during the band's"Few Against Many" tour in 2012. With a playing time of 69 minutes, the effort is a great overview of the band's career so far, which consists of seven studio albums. It also marksFIREWIND's final release with singer Apollo Papathanasio, who decided to leave the group at the end of last year. He has since been replaced by Kelly Sundown Carpenter (ADAGIO,BEYOND TWILIGHT) as session frontman for all 2013 live activities. The cover artwork for "Apotheosis - Live 2012", which was released as a digipak in its first limited-edition pressing, was designed by FIREWIND's longtime partner in all design matters,Gustavo Sazes (ARCH ENEMY, ANGRA, DREAM EVIL) based on live photography by Hans-W. Rock. FIREWIND's latest album, "Few Against Many", entered the official chart in Greece at No. 42 and in Germany at No. 90. Released in Europe on May 21, 2012 via Century Media Recordsand in North America on May 22 through DisManic, Inc. via eOne Distribution, the CD was mixed by Jason Suecof and Eyal Levi at Audiohammer Studios (TRIVIUM, ALL THAT REMAINS, DEATH ANGEL) in Sanford, Florida. TURISAS's new album, "Turisas2013", was released on August 26 in Europe and was made available on September 3 in North America. The CD was once again produced by vocalistMathias Nygård and the majority of the album was recorded by Nygård and guitarist Jussi Wickström in a remote house outside of Helsinki that served as the "Turisas2013" command center and headquarters. Additional recordings were done in three other studios: the drums atAtomic Spa Studio and orchestral recordings at 5 by 5 Studio, both in Helsinki. A lot of vocals and numerous additional acoustic elements were laid down at Sound Supreme Studioin Hämeenlinna where TURISAS also recorded "The Varangian Way" and "Stand Up And Fight". The mix and mastering was done by London-based producer Jaime Gomez Arellano, who previously worked with GHOST, PRIMODIAL and ULVER, just to name a few.
02 min read