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NEWS JANUARY PART II
SPIRITUAL BEGGARS To Release New Album “Earth Blues†In April; Announce European Tour & Summer Festival Appearances!
Sweden’s classic rock heavyweights SPIRITUAL BEGGARS are currently wrapping up work on their next, 8th studio album release, which will be entitled “Earth Blues†and released on April 15th, 2013 via InsideOutMusic. SPIRITUAL BEGGARS celebrate their 20th anniversary as band with this release and playing shows, including a European tour in April.
SPIRITUAL BEGGARS’ guitarist and songwriter Michael Amott comments the recordings of â€Earth Blues†as follows: â€We started the recording process of â€Earth Blues†with an eight day long session at â€Fat Guitar Studios†(Sweden) with knob twiddler Roberth Ekholm, a truly great dude who really knows how to capture a band jamming live, sadly a rare quality in recording engineers nowadays! We continued with some overdubs at various studios in Sweden, and it’s all come together super easy this time. We’re finishing up the mixes now with Staffan Karlsson (Spiritual Beggars, Shining etc.) at his studio in Halmstad, Sweden. Sonically, I think this might be our finest hour yet. It’s a raw, heavy and honest record.â€
In order to promote this upcoming release as well as the band’s anniversary, SPIRITUAL BEGGARS have confirmed a European tour for April with support by German rockers ZODIAC as well as some European summer festivals, here are the exact dates announced so far:
SPIRITUAL BEGGARS – "Earth Blues Tour" w. special guest ZODIAC + more 15.04. – Hamburg (Germany) - Logo 16.04. – Köln (Germany) - Underground 17.04. – Ludwigburg (Germany) - Rockfabrik 18.04. – München (Germany) - Backstage 19.04. – Pratteln (Switzerland) - Galery 20.04. – Nürnberg (Germany) - Rockfabrik 21.04. – Tilburg (The Netherlands) - 013 / Roadburn Festival 22.04. – Paris (France) - La Scene Bastille 25.04. – Madrid (Spain) - Caracol 26.04. – Barcelona (Spain) - Apollo 2 27.04. – Erandio / Bilbao (Spain) - Sonora SPIRITUAL BEGGARS will additionally appear at 2013’s edition of Hellfest in Clisson, France on June 23rd. More details can be found here. â€Earth Blues†is the follow-up to 2010’s highly acclaimed “Return To Zero†and promises to be another milestone in the band’s fertile and challenging musical evolution so far. Stay tuned for more details to be revealed soon. SPIRITUAL BEGGARS discography: Spiritual Beggars - CD 1994 Another Way To Shine - CD 1996 Violet Karma - 10" EP 1998 Mantra III - CD 1998 Ad Astra - CD/2LP 2000 It's Over - Split 7" EP with Grand Magus 2001 On Fire - CD 2002 Demons - CD 2005 Live Fire! - DVD 2006 Return To Zero - CD/LP 2010 Earth Blues - CD/LP 2013 SPIRITUAL BEGGARS line-up: Michael Amott (Guitars | ARCH ENEMY, ex CARCASS) Ludwig Witt (Drums | GRAND MAGUS, ex FIREBIRD) Per Wiberg (Keys | ex OPETH) Sharlee D’Angelo (Bass | ARCH ENEMY, WITCHERY) Apollo Papathanasio (Vocals | ex FIREWIND) SPIRITUAL BEGGARS online: www.facebook.com/spiritualbeggarsofficialwww.myspace.com/spiritualbeggarstwitter.com/Spiritual_B INSIDEOUTMUSIC online: www.insideoutmusic.comwww.youtube.com/InsideOutMusicTVwww.facebook.com/InsideOutMusicwww.insideoutshop.de
BLIND GUARDIAN: Update on the Orchestra CD
For many years, the members of BLIND GUARDIAN talk about it – finally lead singer Hansi Kürsch gives a certain update about it: the orchestral CD! Hansi published the following news on their homepage:
Hi there,
…first a late, but still fresh, Happy New Year to everyone. After getting rid of some bonus pounds gained over the last few months due to live abstinence we are now getting ready for a very busy and exciting year of creativity and efficiency. Wishful thinking, you think? Blasphemy, I would reply! As most of you may have recognized, we have been busy all during 2012 with some additional touring activity and some extra missions, such as the completion of A Traveler’s Guide to Space and Time, which is a great legacy. It features all of our material from the Virgin era in a new and accurate framework, beautifully designed by Felipe Machado. The whole box offers a great insight about that particular part of our career. Even though it took us more time than expected, we are really pleased with the final result. It’s something we are really proud of and something which you hopefully are going to enjoy as much as we do. I just got my sample yesterday, and am really blown away.
This, of course, has not been the only thing we were doing during the last year. For the sake of fun and leisure we were working on new stuff and progressed far quicker than we would have expected. Not that this means a lot in the generous production time frame of Blind Guardian. But it might secure a late 2014 release for at least one BG album. As you may have read in interviews we are intending to bring a long story to a well deserved and hopefully happy end. As already announced with A Twist in the Myth and also withAt the Edge of Time, apart from a regular album there finally will also be the release of the orchestral album. Why am I so sure about not being wrong again this time? I have no idea. Nothing new here, one could say.
The difference might be that throughout the last 18 months we have recorded 7 songs in Prague. There probably is a handful of additional songs to record during this year, but they are also already finalized with regard to composition. In theory we do not need any further songs for this album but ideas simply seem to flow endlessly… The reason why this album is still far from being released is partly based on the regular album, which we definitely would like to release first. At this point in time I am in a very tricky situation. How to continue from here? I think it is probably easiest to simply continue by telling you something about the regular album since this would be next anyway. Keep in mind that “next†is relative!
Well, we have started working on four songs and already were able to finish two songs musically. The working titles are “Encrypted Time†(I think this title is inspired by André’s passion for World of Warcraft or so – I can only guess…) and “The Ocean†(here, André has been inspired by my undefined mumbling in the song). “Encrypted Time†is a modern speed metal song with some tribal aspects and some 70′s inspirations, while “The Ocean†is a very progressive (this time I talk about ELP meets Savatage art rock when I say progressive) orchestra dominated song which will give you a further glimpse of what to expect from the orchestral album. I am clueless about the right story board for “Encrypted Time†but “The Ocean†could be used as a theme opener for the orchestral project. We will see… The other four songs seem to turn out very special and obviously very different. Working titles: “The Irish Hillâ€, “Propheciesâ€, “Soundtrack 2″ and “Midtempo Songâ€. I cannot tell you exactly about how many times we have had a song over the years which was first called “Midtempo Songâ€. I am pretty sure we are not the only band abusing this spectacular title over and over again. Thank God, the title is not copyright protected, yet. We would be in trouble then. Maybe it is and that’s the reason why it barely ever ended up as a title on the album.
Out of those tracks “Prophecies†is the one which is developed the most. It is almost straight forward, has a very strong pre and main chorus and offers some “Queensrÿchish†prog (this time I do mean Queensrÿche when I say prog) elements in combination with some Blind Guardian fantasy metal. A nice one. I’ll keep it short from here: “Irish Hills†might be a surprise with some Irish melodies, which none would expect in a song with such a name… “Midtempo Song†is a great song of misunderstandings and technical failures, the result so far is a little surprising to everyone involved and has nothing to do at all with a song entitled “Midtempo Songâ€. I enjoy this one a lot, because I cannot remember us doing something like this. The song is still in a very early phase and André has kept it hidden from me for a while now. “Soundtrack 2″ has been the first song fragment for the new album. We had put that aside for a while, but it contains some very heavy elements, almost thrash metal like. Let’s see how this is going to end up. You see, there is a lot in the pipeline already. But there certainly will be more new stuff during the year. Even though we have already started to record some drums for the album at the end of the last year, the whole thing is going to keep us busy until the spring/summer of 2014 for sure.
Going to Prague to see how the orchestra songs come alive is a very special and intense moment for us. Thanks to “Sacred Worlds†and “Wheel of Time†I can say that we have learnt a lot about scoring, recording and mixing when it comes to such music. You will notice a great improvement when you listen to the final result of this adventurous trip we have started so long ago. Last week some of us went there again to record “The Ocean†, a pure orchestral song called “Misty Mountain†and some more stuff. We once again had to realize how ambitious this whole project is and how time demanding! Luckily, everyone who is involved has understood, that there will be no compromises. We would never accept “second best†or “we fix it in the mix†here. This means that even though we can see the end of the road here, it still is a long and winding one and will demand our full concentration for the next 12 to 18 months. Charlie (Bauerfiend) and I already did some demo recordings for four of the earlier recorded orchestra songs sometime last year. We all consider this session and its result a very promising experience. Now I am ready to start proper album recordings for this one. I will do my best to finish most of the vocals during the year. This seems a very ambitious goal but is not impossible. I say that in the first days of January… Apart from the music and the concept we will also work on some additional surprises. Keep yourself prepared. One thing is for sure there will be nothing comparable to this on the market. It’s not a typical soundtrack, a typical musical, nor it is a rock opera. It is typical Blind Guardian – more or less without band. At that point, I would say this is going to stay unique until we will release part 2. The good thing: we already have some material for it and another 15-17 years before it has to be released.Chinese Democracy was yesterday.
Cheers,
Hansi
More infos under:
www.blind-guardian.com I www.nuclearblast.de/blindguardian
PRIMAL FEAR CONTINUES CONTRACT WITH FRONTIERS
Frontiers Records and Primal Fear are pleased to announce to have renewed their partnership for another multi album deal which will include two more studio albums and one further Live cd and dvd. The band is already in advanced stages for the songwriting of the next studio album, which will be recorded during the summer of 2013 and released in early 2014.
Primal Fear bass player, songwriter and producer Mat Sinner said: "We're very excited about the final news that we will renew our contract with Frontiers Records for some more albums. My personal thanks go out to Serafino & Mario for their patience to deal with me. The band is very happy to continue with Frontiers Records after the release of our worldwide most successful album "Unbreakable" and their great work. We plan to enter the recording studio during the summer to record a new, ass kicking, pure metal album!"
Frontiers Records President Serafino Perugino stated "Working with Mat, Ralf and the other guys from Primal Fear is truly a professional delight. Not only they are among some of the true living talents of Heavy Metal music, but also outstanding professionals who live up to their word and to the expectations that all the fans have from them. Long Live Primal Fear!"
DGM NEW ALBUM ‘Momentum’
Widely regarded as one of the best European Progressive Metal bands, DGM are about to release their eight studio album, following the critically acclaimed ‘Synthesis’ (2010) and hundreds of shows that brought their music to audiences all around the world, including a successful tour with American progressive giants Symphony X in 2011. ‘Momentum’ represents the full stylistic maturity of a band now on top of its game, collecting 11 new songs made of beautiful melodies, classy arrangements and top notch musicianship. To add an extra value to an already astonishing album, DGM have tapped legendary singer Russell Allen (Symphony X, Adrenaline Mob) to guest on the opening track ‘Reason’, and Norwegian guitar virtuoso Jorn Viggo Lofstad (Pagan’s Mind) to contribute with a solo on the track ‘Chaos’. ‘Momentum’ was recorded, mixed and mastered by the band’s own guitarist and celebrated producer Simone Mularoni at Domination Studios in San Marino, Italy. The beautiful album artwork has been handled by Simone Bertozzi (Mnemic). 'Momentum' will be released March 26th, 2013 on Scarlet Records. Follow www.scarletrecords.it and www.dgmsite.com for all the updates.
RHAPSODY: LONG-TERM COLLABORATION WITH SYMPHONIC ORCHESTRA AND CHOIR
On their way to sound more cinematic than ever before, Rhapsody are proud to announce a special long-term collaboration with the amazing Czech conductor PETR POLOLANIK and his CAPELLEN ORCHESTRA & CHOIR. Nominated for Hollywood Music in Media Award in 2011, Petr and his orchestra worked for acclaimed music composers (Thomas Bergersen, Trevor Morris, Jo Blankenburg, Henry Lai), leading trailer music companies (Two Steps From Hell, Position Music, Audiomachine) and revolutionary sample libraries (Garritan, Sonokinetic, 8Dio). His recordings were featured in award winning movies and videogames (Sim City 4, Transformers and many others).
“I had the chance to know my friend Petr some years ago, while I and my old band mates were recording some orchestral parts for the Rhapsody album ‘Symphony Of Enchanted Lands – Part 2’â€, says Luca Turilli. And adds: “In the meantime he and his orchestra became a ‘must’ for many Hollywood composers and in the last couple of years, also thanks to his new recording studio featuring cutting-edge technology, he established himself as one of the ‘main men’ of the whole soundtrack-related music scene. Therefore it is a true honor for me, Alessandro, Patrice, Alex and Dominique, to have joined our forces with such an inspiring and wonderful personâ€
Alessandro Conti, the singer, continues: “This magic collaboration will lead to many artistic surprises and special live and studio events that will be revealed in the months to come. Moreover our fans will have the possibility to enjoy the majestic sound of the full orchestra and choir, featuring all in all more than 100 people, on our next full length release! Yes, I am speaking about the new RHAPSODY album, planned to be released by NUCLEAR BLAST in the late spring of 2014. Be ready and STAY CINEMATIC!â€
Geplaatst door Vera op maandag 28 januari 2013 - 00:50:57
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