SLAMER
SLAMER album "Nowhere Land" scheduled for release on September 20th on Frontiers Records is getting monster reports from the early specialized press. Here comes a list of early reviews that blessed the album as one of the Melodic Hard Rock highlights of the year (click on the links to read the reviews in the relevant languages)
Melodicrock.com (in English - 97/100)
Melodic.net (in English - 5/5)
Ytse Jam (in English - 4,5/5)
Hard Rock House (in English - 9.8/10)
Get Ready To Rock (in English - 4/5)
Music In Belgium (in French - 4/5)
Les Acteurs De L'Ombre (in French - 8.5/10)
Antithetik (in French - 10/10)
HardRock80 (in French - 9/10)
Rock Time (in French - "How Mike will be able to top this album next time?")
Cathouse (in Italian - "Masterpiece")
Passzio (in Hungarian - 9/10)
Plus a glowing 10/10 on the specialized MELODIC ROCK magazine ROCK IT in Germany.
Mike Slamer, former STREETS and STEELHOUSE LANE guitar player and mastermind behind this new album, declares himself "overwhelmed" with this great reaction adding: "I am glad to see the work I have done is enjoyed so much!".
ALLEN / LANDE
Recording sessions of the second chapter of the highly anticipated album from JORN LANDE and RUSSELL ALLEN have started during august. Once again Magnus Karlsson (LAST TRIBE, STARBREAKER) penned a set of songs which fit perfectly to the voices of the two characters. The album will be entitled "The Revenge" and some songs titles include: "Victory", "The Revenge", "Who Can You Trust", "Wake Up Call", "Gone Too Far", "Under The Waves". Once again cover art will be designed specifically for the project by Rodney Matthews (DIAMOND HEAD, MAGNUM, PRAYING MANTIS etc.). Release shall happen sometime during 2007.
HARTMANN
Oliver HARTMANN has completed the recording sessions of the new - still untitled - new studio album. Once again the production and mix were handled by the magic hands of Sascha Paeth (KAMELOT, ANGRA, LUNATICA etc.). The new cd is set to include eleven songs some of them have been exclusively previewed during the gigs that HARTMANN played in support of TOTO during the summertime. Some song titles include: "The Sun's Still Rising", "Coming home to you", "My everything is you" and "Crying".
GENIUS ROCK OPERA
DC Cooper (SILENT FORCE, ex ROYAL HUNT) accepted to join the cast of singers for the third and final chapter of the GENIUS Rock Opera entitled "The Final Surprise". DC will sing all the parts which were originally destined for the Mark Boals character. The former MALMSTEEN singer will not be part of the final instalment of the project because of personal reasons.
The cast is therefore complete and will feature Daniel Gildenlow (PAIN OF SALVATION), Jorn Lande (ex MASTERPLAN), Andrea Datwyler (LUNATICA), Eric Martin (ex MR BIG), Toby Hitchcock (PRIDE OF LIONS) and of course DC Cooper. The music was once again written, performed and produced in its entirety by the italian multi-instrumentist Daniele Liverani (KHYMERA) with the sole exception of the drums, played by Dario Ciccioni (HARTMANN).
Release of the record is pencilled for december 2006.
BLANC FACES
Brothers Brian and Robby LaBlanc are busy working at the songwriting sessions of the forthcoming BLANC FACES album. The band has recently inked a new deal with Frontiers for the production of the new album and the brothers are confident to be able to conclude the recording sessions within the end of 2006. More info to be released at a later stage.
PRIDE OF LIONS
PRIDE OF LIONS, the mighty melodic rock duo lead by ex SURVIVOR member Jim Peterik together with the amazing vocalists Toby Hitchock, are now busy writing and recording their third studio album entitled "The Roaring of Dreams". Jim promises to go back to the more melodic and straight ahead sound of the debut album and to keep all the melodic rock fans happy with the new songs he's writing. The release of the album is scheduled for February or March 2007.
LUNATICA
LUNATICA's brand new and third album "The Edge of Infinity" has debuted at # 78 in the home-country charts in Switzerland. Congratulations to the band ! In the meanwhile, singer Andrea Datwyler sent the following track x track comments to reveal the insights of the songs included on the new cd.
1. Introduction:
A real introduction to the title track "The Edge Of Infinity". Spoken by Dieter Meier from Yello. It's made in the style of a movie trailer with dramatic sound and a deep voice of the narrator to raise tension.
2. The Edge Of Infinity:
The title track. An uptempo song with big choirs in the chorus and double bass. A real opener in typical Lunatica style.
The Lyrics:
What is the edge of infinity? It depends what you consider to be infinity. It's too big to have an idea about it. But in our dreams everything is possible. Keep your mind open and you will perhaps get to the edge of infinity, to where infinity starts.
3. Sons Of The Wind:
A song that starts with an atmospheric piano intro, gets into a midtempo metal song and finally develops into a double bass uptempo song in the second half. It has the typical Lunatica trademarks.
The Lyrics:
I was inspired a little bit by the movie "Top Gun" when I was writing this one. Imagine somebody's dream to fly to the sky with these strong air jets. To control the power and velocity of such a strong machine. The pilots call themselves sons of the wind. Nevertheless there is some ironic undertone in it. Because, hey, they are flying with bombers and the real aim of such training is war and war is bad, isn't it?
4. Who You Are:
The Song from the Location Studios. A fantastic pop rock song played in the style of Lunatica with heavy guitars and big choirs with a melody that goes straight into the ear.
The Lyrics:
I did not write the lyrics. Here's how I interpret them: I think it is a bit similar to my lyrics for "Words Unleashed". A person that lives in a cage, trapped by vanity or social adaptation perhaps. They write something in the text about living in a world of glass, ‘til the bubble bursts… This is an interesting description, very figurative.
5. Out!:
A song that Sascha Paeth wrote for us. It's a midtempo song with heavy guitars and modern synthesizer sounds. It fits perfectly for Lunatica.
The Lyrics:
This one was again not written by me but I interpret it like that: There's a person who feels depressed. This person needs someone other's help to get out of this situation. Maybe he/she is in love and the other person doesn't know or recognize that. I don't know exactly.
6. Song For You:
The beautiful duet with John Payne. A rather poppy song with a great melody. John's voice is a real enrichment.
The Lyrics:
It's about friendship. Real friends support each other in every situation. A friend understands your way of acting also when it seems wrong. This can also be seen as a big thank you to our fans.
7. Together:
This one is a real neckbreaker with epic symphonic orchestration, heavy guitars and massive battlechoirs. To make a contrast it's interrupted by a slow atmospheric chorus and produced to the maximum.
The Lyrics:
I love historical stories, especially the ones about old Scotland. I was thinking about a sort of "Braveheart" scenario. There's an army of old with armour, horses and all that stuff. These men are strong when they are riding together. Nobody can stop them. They own will and pride and an aim: to be free! But at night, when everything is calm and when they have the time to reflect a bit on the sense of what they are doing, they feel alone and they get nervous. Perhaps they will not return to their families again after the next battle.
8. The Power Of Love:
A power ballad with symphonic orchestration that starts soft and increases into big choirs and heavy guitars.
The Lyrics:
This is very obvious. It's a love song. Someone is trying to find the person that she/he loves. Nothing more to say.
9. Words Unleashed:
This is again a typical Lunatica song, with heavy guitar riffs and a driving beat.
The Lyrics:
I think this one does not need many words to be explained. It's about being yourself and saying what has to be said instead of always swallowing all the anger just because it's more comfortable.
10. EmOcean:
A real epic. It's the longest song of the album and contains many different parts. It took almost two years to make it sound like it does now. It was mentioned to be a duet with Oliver Hartmann right from the start. All these different parts are a piece of Lunatica combined in one song.
The Lyrics:
It's based on an old Celtic story. It says that seals can change into human when they leave the sea at a certain time. They put away their fur and walk on the sea shore as young men. One day a young girl is lucky and discovers such a seal in human form when she is walking at the shore. She steals his fur and hides it. Without his fur the seal has to stay human and can't get back to the water. They fall in love with each other, have children and live together for many years. The human seal has forgotten about his past. But one night when the moon is full he finds his fur by accident and he goes back into the sea again as a seal. He leaves his wife and his children. At the moment he gets into the water he forgets about all the years he spent as a human being. He can't resist, it's in his nature. Sad story but beautiful.