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Believe - a new album to be released in August
Polish progressive rock band Believe is in the final stage of their work on their third studio album, entitled “This Bread Is Mine”. It will be the band's first release with Karol Wroblewski as the vocalist. The new material is currently mixed with the help of a very experienced producer W?odek Kowalczyk. “This Bread Is Mine” will be released by Metal Mind Productions in early August. The standard edition will feature 11 tracks. A bonus track will be added to the digipak edition. Full details to be announced soon.
Believe is an outstanding art rock act formed by the guitarist Mirek Gi, the former leader and composer of Polish progrock legends Collage. Believe’s debut album, “Hope To See Another Day” (2006), received very good reviews from both media and fans. The music appealed to the lovers of the old Collage, but also to the fans of Porcupine Tree, Pink Floyd and Riverside. The follow-up album, entitled “Yesterday Is A Friend” (2008), brought a powerful sound full of faith and melody and gained them many new fans. In July 2008 Metal Mind Productions released the band’s first DVD, entitled “Hope To See Another Day Live”.
Metal Heaven July releases
Metal Heaven will release the following albums on July 24:
FAIR WARNING – Aura
As all the previous albums from Fair Warning, “Aura” too was developed in true FW style. For the production of their albums, the four musicians always choose unusual locations with a very special atmosphere. With “Brother’s Keeper”, it was the mansion of a befriended record company CEO, this time the halls of an old knight’s manor guaranteed the perfect vibes and artistic inspiration. You can hear all that on the album, note for note. As with “Brother’s Keeper”, the current line-up of the band is almost identical to that of the very first one. Each one of these four put their stamp on the album. “Aura” lives and resonates – even when the music has long faded out. The limited first edition digi-pak version will include the two bonus tracks “It Takes More” and “Falling Reprise” plus a video clip “Making Of”. Line-up: Tommy Heart - vocals, Helge Engelke - guitars, Ule W. Ritgen - bass, C.C. Behrens – drums. URL: http://www.fair-warning.de
GEFF - Land Of The Free
GEFF is a new all-star band featuring some of Sweden’s finest and most talented heavy metal and hard rock musicians; Göran Edman (vocals), Anders Johansson (drums), Mats Olausson (keyboards) and Per Stadin (bass). The names may be recognized from such artists as Yngwie Malmsteen, HammerFall, John Norum, Silver Mountain, Snake Charmer, Glory, Brazen Abbot, Jean Beauvoir and Ark, just to name a few. They have joined forces with guitarist and songwriter talent Ralf Jedestedt, who makes his record debut with this album. Ralf is the actual brain behind GEFF. The story behind GEFF is quite simple. Ralf, an old time friend of both Per and Anders, played a couple of songs to Per, asking him if he would consider recording an album in his studio and also do the bass parts. Then they simply gathered a couple of highly regarded musicians, also old time friends, which are considered as being natural and important parts of the Swedish heavy metal and hard rock history. Göran helped Ralf to complete the songs and the arrangements were done by the group. Jens Johansson (keyboards), of Stratovarius fame, was hanging out at the studio at one occasion. He was asked to do a guest appearance on one of the album tracks. He came up with what might be one of his best solos ever. The members strongly believe in GEFF. Therefore the same line-up will record more albums in the future. Actually they are already in the pre-production procedure for a second album.
Eden’s Curse and Ferdy Doernberg part ways
Eden’s Curse have announced that they have parted company with keyboard player Ferdy Doernberg and will be actively seeking a replacement. Bassist Paul Logue comments: “I would like to thank Ferdy for his contributions to chapter one of Eden's Curse over the last three and a half years, covering two studio albums, an EP and our debut tour. We wish Ferdy all the continued success with his musical adventures yet to come”.
Interested parties should send their bio, photos and MP3s to the band’s management at info@hellsgonecrazy.com as soon as possible.
Shadowland reveal cover artwork and tracklist of their forthcoming DVD
As previously announced Metal Mind Productions will release a first live DVD of Shadowland, titled “Edge of Night”.
This British neo-progressive rock band was originally formed in the 90s, by Clive Nolan and Karl Groom. The band's music tends towards the ‘songy’ side of progressive rock, while retaining its melodic and emotional intensity. They have developed a style that is both complex and easy listening. The band recorded three albums so far: “Ring Of Roses” (1992), “Through The Looking Glass” (1994) and “Mad As A Hatter” (1996). Sadly, due to the onset of other commitments, Shadowland took a lengthy break from recording and performing between 1996 and 2008. Late in 2008 Nolan announced that Shadowland would be reforming for a tour in early 2009. In mid February they played at the famous Wyspianski Theatre during the first edition of the progressive rock festival ProgRock 2009. The band’s performance was recorded and will be released on the DVD.
“Edge Of Night” DVD features an exquisite feast of superb musicianship brought to you by Clive Nolan (Pendragon, Caamora, Arena, Neo), Mike Varty (Landmarq, Credo, Jannison Edge and Mick Pointer’s project ‘Script For A Jester’s Tour’), Karl Groom (a well-known music producer on the progrock scene and a member of Threshold and Strangers On A Train), Mark Westwood (Caamora, Neo), and Nick Harradence (NW10). Almost 2 hours of footage, presenting songs from Shadowland's classic three albums, performed by the elite of the scene!
Tracklist:
1. A Matter Of Perspective
2. The Hunger
3. The Whistleblower
4. Mephisto Bridge
5. The Kruhulick Syndrome
6. The Waking Hour
7. Painting By Numbers
8. Hall Of Mirrors
9. The Edge Of Night
10. U.S.I.
11. The Seventh Year
12. Jigsaw
13. Dreams Of The Ferryman
14. Ring Of Roses
The DVD also features an interview with Clive Nolan and Karl Groom, the documentary “Shadowland Live in Holland 2009”, a photo gallery, desktop images, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and more! The DVD will be available in 3 different formats: DVD, a limited DVD+2CD edition (including 2 bonus audio CDs with songs recorded during the gig at the theatre) and 2CD digipak (limited to 1,000 copies). The release date is scheduled for July 6 in Europe and August 11 in USA (via MVD).
Aspera: melodic progressive metal from Norway
Norway is already renowned for its diverse metal scene. Once originally best known for breeding talented and creative death/thrash metal bands, the country is now becoming equally famous for producing highly talented melodic progressive acts. Joining the ranks of the likes of Pagan’s Mind or
Circus Maximus come Aspera, a new melodic band with progressive influences, ready to step up to the platform of worldwide fame.
The five aspiring young musicians from Skien are already starting to compete with more established bands in the international metal scene. Under the name Illusion, Aspera have already released three self-recorded EPs and have 40+ live shows under their belt, so they are no newbies when it comes to playing to an audience. But being just 19 years old, the band members have not only a long and healthy future ahead of them but also a talent and creativity which belies their relative youth. On their first album, “Ripples”, they deliver to a consistently high standard and in vocalist Atle Pettersen the band have a frontman with an outstanding and very unique voice.
Ten solid songs will be released on the album once a suitable record/publishing deal has been finalised. The songs were mixed by Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios, Örebro, well known for work with Opeth, Symphony X, HammerFall, Amon Amarth and Paradise Lost. Atle comments: “We are very satisfied with our first album and are lucky enough to have a number of options with interest from labels and publishers. To put the first album out is still a huge and important decision for a new band, even in this digitalised age. So we want to make sure we do it right first time!”
With an expected audience of over 2,000 people, Aspera will play at the annual festival Sluserock in Lunde, Telemark on June 6.
URLs:
http://www.asperaofficial.com
http://www.myspace.com/asperaofficial
Frontiers Records: July 3 releases
Frontiers Records will release the following albums on July 3, 2009:
CONSTANCIA – Lost And Gone
Constancia is a new band made up of experienced musicians mostly of the Swedish scene, namely Mikael Rosengren (ex-Scudiero, Token), Janne Stark (Overdrive, Locomotive Breath, Zello), TrumPeter Svensson (Locomotive Breath, Mountain of Power), Michael Mueller (Jaded Heart) and David Fremberg (Andromeda). The result is a truly outstanding release that could be described as the perfect marriage between the melodic rock, some progressive moments and an aggressive touch added. Fans of the pompish Kansas sound of the 80s, Rainbow, Styx and City Boy will just love this record !
URL: http://www.myspace.com/constanciamusic
CRASH THE SYSTEM - The Crowning
Crash The System is a recording project masterminded by Swedish producer/drummer Daniel Flores and sonwgriting genius Soren Kronqvist, a guy who after being a national athletic champion in Finland moved on to become a songwriter for House of Lords, CC Rock and Michael Bormann. Appearing on vocals are the 3 tenors of Swedish hard rock, namely Göran Edman (ex-Yngwie Malmsteen, John Norum, Brazen Abbot, etc.), Mats Levén (ex-Yngwie Malmsteen, Infinite Mass, etc.) and Thomas Vikström (ex-Talk Of The Town, Candlemass, etc.) plus the excellent Björn Jansson (ex-Ride The Sky, Tears Of Anger, etc.). Fans of 80s metal with influences of modern symphonic metal should not be disappointed with the catchy choruses and great melodies sung by some of the top hard rock singers around.
URL: http://www.myspace.com/crashthesystemproject
HOWARD LEESE – Secret Weapon
Howard Leese has been for more than 20 years the guitar player for Heart. With this band he had 20 top 40 singles, 3 international number 1 singles, a number 1 album (“Heart”, 1985), has received 4 Grammy nominations and has sold 40 million records worldwide. In 1997 he started working with the legendary Paul Rodgers (ex-Free, Bad Company) and more recently he became a touring member in the reformed Bad Company line-up. “Secret Weapon” is Leese’s first solo record and it is an effort that’s sure to thrust him into the spotlight he so patiently has watched dance around in front of him for decades. Howard Leese offered up legends like Joe Lynn Turner (former Rainbow and Deep Purple singer), Paul Rodgers, Keith Emerson or Jimi Jamison (ex-Survivor), for the space, or better yet, the lesser known talents of Deanna Johnston or Andrew Black. Howard Leese takes great pride in having his work heard from the dark depths that linger behind the spotlight. The only difference now is that the secret is out, so he might simply be a weapon – one hell of a weapon!
URL: http://www.myspace.com/howardleese
MIND KEY – Pulse For A Graveheart
Italian progmetal outfit Mind Key debuted with “Journey Of A Rough Diamond” in July 2004. Soon they landed a few prestigious gigs in support of bands like Dream Theater, Pendragon and Vision Divine and have played a few dates all throughout Europe in support of the release. They have also released a DVD for Metal Mind Productions, recorded live in Katowice. Since that time the band went through a big restructuring with awesome singer Elio Fierro (who comes from the “Hunchback of Notre Dame” musical) taking the lead as the band’s frontman. His vocals, akin to Jorn Lande, David Coverdale and Ronnie James Dio, have strongly enhanced the band’s strengths. Also the songwriting has matured a lot and now the guys are ready to climb the ladder that leads to the top progressive metal bands in Europe. “Pulse For A Graveheart” finally sees the light in July 2009, with some amazing guest musicians appearing such as Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater, Alice Cooper), who plays a keyboard solo on “Citizen Of Greed”, Reb Beach (Whitesnake, Winger) on “Now Until Forever” and Tom Englund from Evergrey, dueting with Elio Fierro on “Graveheart”.
URL: http://www.myspace.com/mindkey
Shake City and UZI
Eonian Records will release the following two albums on July 21:
SHAKE CITY – Shake City
Featuring twelve sleazy, ear candy tracks, this is the album fans of hair metal have been screaming for over 20 years! According to the band, all they ever wanted to do was satisfy music fans by serving up the kind of songs that made you pump your fist and shout: “Hell yeah, that f**kin’ rocks!”
The album has been produced by Erik Turner of Warrant and Tommy Thayer of Black N’ Blue and features “Game Of War”, written by Jani Lane of Warrant.
UZI – Madhouse
UZI was influenced by the metal rock wave, ridden by bands like AC/DC and Mötley Crüe. Their debut, a collection full of razor guitars, piston-powered drums and sleazy-pop hooks, displays ten extraordinary songs unleashing a barrage of swagger. “American Dream” and “Rocker” are soon to be classic metal anthems. The title track, “Madhouse”, arguably the album's best song, will raise blood pressure after just one listen. “Away From My Heart”, one the band’s strongest songs, undoubtedly rivals any rocker ballad by GNR, Mötley Crüe or Skid Row.
New epic prog CD “Terra Incognita” by Roswell Six
ProgRock Records have joined forces with internationally bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson for a groundbreaking crossover novel and progressive rock project, “Terra Incognita”. Anderson has created an incredible fantasy universe with sailing ships, sea monsters and the crusades. The first novel, “The Edge Of The World”, hits the stores on June 2, 2009 from Orbit Books.
Anderson says: “My work work has always been heavily influenced by music, especially progressive rock, but Terra Incognita truly takes this into new territory”. Anderson developed and expanded one of the novel’s storylines to form the basis of an epic rock CD, under the band name Roswell Six. He and his wife, bestselling author Rebecca Moesta, wrote all the lyrics to the songs.
Accomplished keyboardist and composer Erik Norlander (Rocket Scientists) came aboard at the beginning of the project to write the music and produce the recordings and to helm the production. His wife Lana Lane, the ‘Queen of Symphonic Rock’, provides the female lead vocals. Bassist Kurt Barabas (Under The Sun) and executive producer Shawn Gordon from ProgRock Records round out the members of Roswell Six.
“This project checked off about half the items on my bucket list”, said Gordon. “Imagine what kind of fantasy world I feel like I'm in when I get to work with one of my favourite authors, favourite vocalists and favorite musicians. Hearing the story come to life is really an amazing experience and I think there are going to be a lot of new crossover fans from this project.”
The CD's male vocals are performed by James LaBrie (Dream Theater), Michael Sadler (ex-Saga) and John Payne (Asia featuring John Payne). Additional artists on the CD include David Ragsdale (Kansas), Gary Wehrkamp (Shadow Gallery), Chris Quirarte (Prymary) and Chris Brown (Ghost Circus). Together, the creative team has sold over 40 million copies worldwide.
Terra Incognita is a synergistic project unlike anything ever seen in the publishing and music business, an original novel and original CD from the same author. Kevin J. Anderson is currently writing the second novel in the epic trilogy, Terra Incognita: The Map Of All Things. He is best known for his successful Dune novels with Brian Herbert, his many Star Wars and X-Files novels and his original epic "The Saga of Seven Suns."
Book and CD will be released on June 2.
Radio Silence - Whose Skin Are You Under Now
The talent behind Radio Silence is an extraordinary man, called Alistair Gordon. Alistair was born in Manchester, England and his writing and production talents have not just been confined to his own “artist” recording projects, he has worked with many successful bands, songwriters and film producers in his career to date. Alistair can be heard singing backing vocals on many contemporary rock and pop albums, such as Eric Clapton, The Who (Symphonic), Labi Siffre, The Choir Boys and Kevin Kennedy.
After recording his debut album with “Scott & Batische” for Polydor, he decided to join forces with Richard Darbyshire (Living In A Box) and Gary Tibbs (ex-Adam & The Ants and Roxy Music) in the band Zu Zu Sharks. They recorded an album for EMI and toured Britain and Europe and attained the number one single spot in Spain.
Alistair has also released a two further solo singles for EMI UK and has previously signed a solo deal with Atlantic Records in New York. Whilst recording in the States he worked with Mick Jones of Foreigner and co-wrote and recorded three songs with Alan Gorrie of the Average White Band. He also co-wrote the title track of Sad Cafe’s album “Whatever It Takes” and has written songs with the late Paul Young (Mike & The Mechanics). Earlier in the 90s Alistair was invited by Genesis keyboard superstar Tony Banks to be frontman of his new band Bank Statement recording and releasing an album on Virgin Records. The album had huge success in Germany.
That brings us to the debut album, “Radio Silence” (1997), which has been a huge success and exemplifies Alistair’s talents in a major way, both playing and composing. Radio Silence blends pop and rock in a seamless manner, a hybrid of Mike & the Mechanics and Foreigner is a great way to describe the material found on the debut album. In short, a benchmark in pop rock, an album to set the standard for others to follow. It would be difficult to better this unblemished performance, but Alistair has did just that with “Sirens” (2001), the second album from Radio Silence, and it is a huge leap forward in pop- based rock. The tunes are so catchy that it is so hard to pick a favourite; the album is just chock full of memorable hooks, beats and choruses.
It is some 8 years since “Sirens” was released and Alistair has been busy writing songs for this third CD, “Whose Skin Are You Under Now?” His songs are driven along by infectious rhythms and precision drumming, topped with effortless vocals. The vocal range of Alistair Gordon is so inspiring; the way that he can alter his range to suit the needs of the song is a strongpoint of his talent. Alistair flew to Sweden this time around to record the CD with multi talented producer Martin Kronlund (Gypsy Rose)and the quality of the sound has gone up another level. The sound is so crisp and is a pleasure to listen to. Songs like “Hand To Mouth”, “Somethin Going On” and “Shotgun Love” are great rock numbers, whilst “When The Lights Go Down” and “One Day At A Time” are the best ballads you are likely to hear in a long while. Alistair has a knack of penning songs with great choruses that will have you singing along at the first opportunity, the infectious “Mosquito” being a great example.
“Whose Skin Are …?” is a wonderful recording and Alistair has matured into a fine singer/songwriter that will appeal to all types of musical audiences.
Release date: July 19, 2009
Howard Leese – Secret Weapon
Frontiers Records are excited to announce the European release of the brand-new Howard Leese album, “Secret Weapon”, on July 3.
Best known as guitar player for Heart which he joined in 1975 and with whom he stayed for 22 years, Leese co-produced some of their 13 albums. Heart had 20 top 40-singles, 3 international number 1-singles, a number 1-album (“Heart”) in 85', has received 4 Grammy nominations and has sold 40 million records worldwide. Following his decision to leave the band, he put together a group in Seattle, called The Brigade, a band playing some old Free classics and where he could express at best the various influences that shaped up his guitar playing: from Dick Dale (the first live experience that he had) and Mike Bloomfield to Keith Richards, Peter Green from Fleetwood Mac, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and of course Paul Kossoff of Free.
In 1997 the legendary Paul Rodgers (Free, Bad Co., The Firm with Jimmy Page, Queen) had moved from England to Vancouver and was looking for a US back-up band. Intrigued by how well Leese could play Kossoff's particular style and licks, he asked him to join his band. In 1998 Howard Leese joined The Paul Rodgers Band and more recently became touring member in the reformed Bad Company line-up. “For the last 10 years, every summer I play shows with Paul Rodgers”, says Howard. “But 3 years ago, Paul was doing a Queen tour and I had the summer off. So I decided to record a solo CD. I had just put a studio in my home and knew it was a perfect time to express myself as an artist”.
Howard Leese has often been called Heart's secret weapon. His debut solo record, aptly titled “Secret Weapon” is an effort that’s sure to thrust him into the spotlight he so patiently has watched dance around in front of him for decades. “Secret Weapon” has a wide range of styles. It can go from heavy power trio rock to full symphony orchestra to tender acoustic passages, and that's just in one song”, says Howard, who offered up such rock giants like Joe Lynn Turner (former Rainbow and Deep Purple singer), Paul Rodgers, Keith Emerson or Jimi Jamison (ex-Survivor), to have their spotlight turn on his record.
Howard Leese takes great pride in having his work heard from the dark depths that linger behind the spotlight. The only difference now is that the secret is out, so he might simply be a weapon – one hell of a weapon! “My fans mean so much to me, they have changed my life”, concludes Leese, “’Secret Weapon’ was a labour of love for all of you, and I hope that you all will love it”.
The track listing of “Secret Weapon” includes: Alive Again (vocals Joe Lynn Turner); Heal The Broken Hearted (vocals Paul Rodgers); Hot To Cold (vocals: Deanna Johnston & Joe Lynn Turner), French Quarter (instrumental feat. Keith Emerson); 33 West Street (instrumental feat. Paul Reed Smith), The South Summit (vocals Duke Fame), Rada’s Theme (instrumental), The Vine (vocals Jimi Jamison), In These Eyes (vocals Keith St. John), Vermilion Border (instrumental), I’ve Been Leavin’ You (vocals Andrew Black), Somewhere (Theme From West Side Story, instrumental).
URL: http://www.myspace.com/howardleese
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