Bart's Blabbermouth News Thread

[slayrrr666]

Got some news for you, when you return:

German power metallers HELLOWEEN recently entered singer Andi Deris' Mi Sueno Studios in Tenerife, Spain to begin working on their as-yet-untitled 13th full-length album. The band has written more than 20 songs and is currently selecting the best ideas with longtime producer Charlie Bauerfeind.

Commented bass player Markus Grosskopf: "For all those out there who found our special best-of [CD] 'Unarmed' to be too smooth and calm, I have a great news: The new album will hit you right in the face! It's gonna be very heavy and contain all HELLOWEEN trademarks! Some songs are very powerful and hymnic, others contain the fastest bass-drum patterns our drummer Dani [Löble] ever played, and this means a lot!
"I am really excited about the material we brought together and can't wait to put my bass tracks on those kick-ass metal songs!"

The new HELLOWEEN album is scheduled for release on October 31, followed by a world tour starting in Europe the end of the year.

A short video clip from the studio can be viewed below.

Studio report video and full article available HERE.

[slayrrr666]

I haven't checked this for myself, but it seemed like something you might really get a kick from:

A demo version of "Souls Alive", a brand new song from UNISONIC — the new band featuring former HELLOWEEN vocalist Michael Kiske alongside Dennis Ward (bass) and Kosta Zafiriou (drums) of Germany's PINK CREAM 69 and Swiss guitarist Mandy Meyer (who has previously played with ASIA, GOTTHARD and KROKUS) — is available for streaming on the UNISONIC MySpace page.

UNISONIC has finished composing nine songs for its forthcoming debut album. A demo recording is currently being put together and will be used to procure label interest. Italy's Frontiers Records, with whom Kiske and Ward have both worked in the past on various projects, is reportedly very interested in releasing the CD, but the group is said to be keeping its options open.

UNISONIC marks the first time Kiske has been involved in a real band situation in almost 16 years. Having split with HELLOWEEN in late 1993, he participated in various projects and released several solo albums but had not been part of a real group effort until now.

While collaborating with Ward and Zafiriou on the PLACE VENDOME project four years ago, Kiske found two musical soulmates. They ended up recording two PLACE VENDOME albums before deciding to join forces in a new brand new band. Ward, who had previously produced a record for KROKUS, suggested Meyer as the perfect addition to the group in the vacant guitarist slot.

Kiske, one of the finest and most unique voices in contemporary rock music, explains his motivation of becoming a part of a band again: "Since the PLACE VENDOME productions I was impressed by Dennis Ward's skills as a songwriter and producer. We were occasionally fooling around since then via email that we should do more together in the future, so the idea came up to do a new band. I was generally getting a bit tired of doing everything on my own for so many years, so it just felt like the right thing to do now. We can all only benefit from working together. No matter how good you are solo, four people will always be better than one, I think, if they manage to function together. And a real band is also a very good reason to finally go on tour again. After 17 years, I can't wait to get back on stage and have some fun with the band and the fans!"

Live footage of the song available HERE.

[slayrrr666]

Here's something else I know you will like:

KISKE/SOMERVILLE, the new project featuring former HELLOWEEN vocalist Michael Kiske and American singer Amanda Somerville, will release its self-titled debut album in Europe on September 24 and in the U.S. on October 12 via Frontiers Records. A single, "Silence", will precede the full-length CD on August 20.

The collaboration between Kiske and Somerville was conceived as a suggestion by Frontiers Records president Serafino Perugino. "I did a duet with a female singer on 'Breathing Water' by INDIGO DYING," explains Kiske. "It was so nice that [Serafino] offered me a chance to make an album of all duet songs with a famous female singer."

"Kiske/Somerville" sees Mat Sinner (PRIMAL FEAR, SINNER) and Magnus Karlsson (STARBREAKER, PRIMAL FEAR) handling most of the songwriting (with additional contributions from Sander Gommans, formerly of AFTER FOREVER, and Somerville herself), and Sinner overseeing the production and mix at various recording studios in Europe.

Somerville is the American singer-songwriter and vocal coach who was tapped to replace EPICA vocalist Simone Simons on the band's North American tour with SYMPHONY X due to Simons' health issues.

Amanda was featured on KAMELOT's latest release, "Ghost Opera", and toured with AVANTASIA. She released her solo album, "Windows", in 2008.

A Michigan native, Amanda has resided and worked mainly in Germany and the Netherlands since 1999. She has collaborated with several other bands in the metal scene along with producers Sascha Paeth and Miro, and co-wrote the rock opera "Aina". Her own music is of the pop-rock genre.

"When Mat Sinner asked me if I wanted to be the 'other half' of the face of the album, I was very honored and quite looking forward to working more closely with Michael Kiske," Amanda said.

"We'd both been involved in various projects over the years together, such as 'Aina' and AVANTASIA, but it was always through third parties and we didn't sing together like we do here.

"It's not for nothing that Michael's a legend in the scene. He's got a very unique voice, a special delivery of his performance and is a wonderful person on top of it all.

"This has been a great experience all across the board!"

Added Kiske: "To sing together with the gifted and beautiful Amanda was another genius idea of Serafino! And it was a most pleasant experience to meet her.

"Amanda has by far the best female voice I have heard for ages. And the album is a killer."

KISKE/SOMERVILLE filmed two videos — "Silence" and "If I Had A Wish" — on March 28 and March 29 in Nuremberg, Germany. Joining Kiske and Somerville for the shoot were Sinner, Gommans, drummer Rami Ali and keyboardist Jimmy Kresic (VOODOO CIRCLE). The clips were directed by Martin Mueller of RCN TV who previously helmed U.D.O.'s "Black and White" and "Mean Streets" and GOTTHARD's "The Call" videos.

Check out behind-the-scenes footage from the video shoot below.

"Kiske/Somerville" final track listing (composers for each song listed in parenthesis):

01. Nothing Left To Say (Mat Sinner, Magnus Karlsson)
02. Silence (Mat Sinner, Magnus Karlsson)
03. If I Had A Wish (Mat Sinner, Magnus Karlsson)
04. One Night Burning (Mat Sinner, Magnus Karlsson)
05. Arise (Sander Gommans, Amanda Somerville)
06. End Of The Road (Mat Sinner, Jimmy Kresic)
07. Don't Walk Away (Mat Sinner, Magnus Karlsson)
08. Devil In Her Heart (Mat Sinner, Jimmy Kresic)
09. Rain (Mat Sinner, Magnus Karlsson)
10. A Thousand Suns (Sander Gommans, Amanda Somerville)
11. Second Chance (Mat Sinner, Magnus Karlsson)
12. Set A Fire (bonus track) (Sander Gommans, Amanda Somerville)

The bonus DVD will include the "Silence" and "If I Had A Wish" videos plus a "making-of" documentary.

"Kiske/Somerville" recording lineup:

Michael Kiske - Vocals
Amanda Somerville - Vocals
Mat Sinner - Bass, Backing Vocals
Magnus Karlsson - Lead Guitar, Guitar, Keyboards
Sander Gommans - Additional Lead Guitar
Martin Schmidt - Drums
Ramy Ali - Drums
Jimmy Kresic - Keyboards

Cover art, plus access to the two videos mentioned in the text, available HERE.

[slayrrr666]

Here's some more good news for you:

German power metallers HELLOWEEN have set "7 Sinners" as the title of their new album, tentatively due in late October. The CD was recorded at singer Andi Deris' Mi Sueno Studios in Tenerife, Spain. The band wrote more than 20 songs and selected the best ideas with longtime producer Charlie Bauerfeind.

HELLOWEEN bass player Markus Grosskopf previously stated about the band's new material: "For all those out there who found our special best-of [CD] 'Unarmed' to be too smooth and calm, I have a great news: The new album will hit you right in the face! It's gonna be very heavy and contain all HELLOWEEN trademarks! Some songs are very powerful and hymnic, others contain the fastest bass-drum patterns our drummer Dani [Löble] ever played, and this means a lot!"

HELLOWEEN will team up with Finnish melodic metallers STRATOVARIUS for a European tour, dubbed "The 7 Sinners World Tour 2010/11 - European Part I", in November/December.

Commented Deris: "We had a great package with GAMMA RAY last time , and we are very proud to have STRATOVARIUS with us this time.

"We look forward to have another power metal party with our fans all over the planet — see you soon!"

www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=143392

Nothing else at this time, unfortunately, but as usual, when I know you know, and I'll keep the updates for this coming along as usual.

[slayrrr666]

Some Helloween news for you:

German power metal veterans HELLOWEEN will release their 13th studio album, "7 Sinners", in North America on November 9 via The End Records.

If there is a golden thread throughout the more than 25 years of HELLOWEEN's history, 13 studio albums, countless headliner tours around the globe and more than 5 million records sold, then it is their special kind of attitude: don't take yourself too seriously and simply live statements like "just have fun with the shit you're doing." Maybe it is exactly this easiness that allows HELLOWEEN to be one of the most constant bands of the genre while simultaneously being the one band who dares to experiment more than their musical peers.

While some copycats would rather stick with the same old patterns, Andi Deris, Michael Weikath, Sascha Gerstner, Markus Großkopf and Dani Löble aren't afraid of taking risks — and are rightfully rewarded with success.

"7 Sinners" is definitively one of the fastest and hardest albums in the HELLOWEEN's history and it bursts with vitality. That might partly be due to the versatility of the various songwriters within the band, who over time have become so homogenous, that the 13 songs formed a unity on their own in the studio , but it may also be due to the fact that the album was recorded completely without a click track, which, considering the extreme speed of the songs is an impressive feat. Especially drummer Löble, who proves that his technique is at a world-class-level. Following his excellent inner clock, bass and drums drive tracks like "Are You Metal?", "Long Live The King" and "Who Is Mr. Madman?" to dizzying tempos. "7 Sinners", with its typically strong melodies and the tangible joy of playing, is a true metal album whose range reaches astonishing dimensions.

It has become a cliche for metal band's to tout their newest opus as their "fastest" or "heaviest" album ever made, but in HELLOWEEN's case, "7 Sinners" is truly a return to form and is indeed their fastest and heaviest release in years. HELLOWEEN bass player Markus Grosskopf stated about the band's new material: "For all those out there who found our special best-of [CD] 'Unarmed' to be too smooth and calm, I have great news: The new album will hit you right in the face! It's gonna be very heavy and contain all [the classic] HELLOWEEN trademarks! Some songs are very powerful and hymnic, others contain the fastest bass-drum patterns our drummer Dani ever played, and this means a lot!"

"7 Sinners" track listing:

01. Where The Sinners Go
02. Are You Metal?
03. Who is Mr. Madman?
04. Raise The Noise
05. World Of Fantasy
06. Long Live The King
07. The Smile Of The Sun
08. You Stupid Mankind
09. If A Mountain Could Talk
10. The Sage, The Fool, The Sinner
11. My Sacrifice
12. Not Yet Today
13. Far In The Future

Artwork mentioned within available HERE.

[slayrrr666]

Don't really know what's going to happen with this, just thought you might like to know:

German power metallers PRIMAL FEAR have commented on the departure of the band's guitarist, Henny Wolter. The band states, "Online mags reporting the 'news' after a blog posting from Henny today that he's not a member of PRIMAL FEAR anymore. All we have to add — yes, it's true, and the split happened seven weeks ago.

"There was no reason for us to make a sensational headline or badmouth eachother. We feel sorry about this, but we have no more comments on the situation.

"At the moment we're rehearsing for the forthcoming European tour that kicks off on Saturday in Warsaw, Poland and takes us through nine European countries. Be sure, we are well prepared and definitely ready to hit the road with five very common faces on stage. . . The band is thrilled to play a different new setlist, including some nice surprises and we will start working on a new studio album right after the tour ..... and as a friend on Facebook commented - yes it is the two headed guitar monster :-)

"We wish Henny, his wife and kids all the best for the future and good luck on his forthcoming musical projects."

Wolter stated that he quit PRIMAL FEAR because — in his words — "it just didn't feel like a band anymore." Henny, who is also no longer a member of SINNER (led by PRIMAL FEAR bassist Mat Sinner), is focusing on his new band NITROGODS, also featuring ex-PRIMAL FEAR drummer Klaus Sperling and vocalist Oimel Larcher. The group's self-titled debut album is expected in early 2011.

Read the story HERE.

[Bartwald]

Ah, yes, lots of news here... Thanks for updating the thread, slayrrr!

I already listened to Helloween's EP "Are You Metal?" and I like it a lot. Typical Helloween stuff, yeah, but I just love "happy metal" melodies like these!

"Kiske/Somerville" is an alright album - a bit too sweet for my taste, but I like coming back to it from time to time. Looking forward forward to this second, perhaps a bit heavier, Kiske project.

[slayrrr666]

No problem, man. I felt it important to keep up appearances around here in case we showed up again, and then conversation could continue on from what was posted in their absence.

[Bartwald]

Good thinking, slayrrr!

And by the way - gotta love Helloween's new CD cover. I guess it comes out tomorrow in Poland, so I'll be picking this up as soon as it hits the shelves!

[slayrrr666]

We have it early November, unfortunately. I think I posted earlier it was late October, but I think it got changed to early November here.

[slayrrr666]

Got something new for you:

AVANTASIA — the project led by EDGUY frontman Tobias Sammet — has issued the following update:

"Rumors keep circulating about a forthcoming AVANTASIA live DVD and now we can confirm they are true! [In February 2011] a double DVD and two-CD set [along with a box set featuring both the double DVD and two-CD set] will be out on Nuclear Blast Records (in Japan and East Asia on Avalon Marquee). The DVD is a documentary of the legendary 2008 world tour of AVANTASIA, when the band hit the road for the first time to write a new chapter in metal history; traveling around the world with a giant all-star ensemble to bring the metal opera on stage and play on three continents within a few days, crossing the dateline and eventually playing to a total of 400,000 people within only a few weeks. The first DVD contains a live concert with a running time of almost two hours featuring footage filmed at the headlining shows of Wacken Open Air (Germany) and Masters Of Rock (Czech Republic). On the second DVD there will be a movie, 'Around The World In 20 Days', that gives fans the opportunity to join AVANTASIA backstage and take a look at the surroundings and the thrill behind the scenes that go along with an extensive undertaking such as this. The DVD set will portray AVANTASIA 2008 when it all started."

Commented Tobias: "I am so proud of this DVD package and the featured footage, even though it took a little longer to finally complete it. It gives people an idea of what an impact the first appearance of AVANTASIA on stage had, and you will get an idea of how everything went beyond our expectations and what the roots and the seeds for the current AVANTASIA tour are. It portrays one year in AVANTASIA's history, maybe the most important year in the project's history because that is when a studio project became a traveling institution.

"There are many metal operas, but we made it something real, something to take hold of. Something alive..."

www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=150842

[Bartwald]

Nice! I'm afraid the DVD will be prohibitively expensive here in Poland but it's good to know that there's still something going on in the Avantasia team!

[slayrrr666]

I saw some YouTube fan-shot clips of one of the shows, seems pretty good so I'll probably take a look at it myself. Not really big on the whole concert DVD experience, but I take a look at them every now and then so I'm sure I'll get into this one sometime.

[slayrrr666]

An update on one of our recent conversations:

AVANTASIA — the project led by EDGUY frontman Tobias Sammet — is putting the finishing touches on its two-disc DVD, "The Flying Opera - Around The World In 20 Days", for an early March release via Nuclear Blast Records in Europe and Avalon Marquee in Asia.

According to a press release, "The DVD is a documentary of the legendary 2008 world tour of AVANTASIA, when the band hit the road for the first time to write a new chapter in metal history; traveling around the world with a giant all-star ensemble to bring the metal opera on stage and play on three continents within a few days, crossing the dateline and eventually playing to a total of 400,000 people within only a few weeks. The first DVD contains a live concert with a running time of almost two hours featuring footage filmed at the headlining shows of Wacken Open Air (Germany) and Masters Of Rock (Czech Republic). On the second DVD there will be a movie, 'Around The World In 20 Days', that gives fans the opportunity to join AVANTASIA backstage and take a look at the surroundings and the thrill behind the scenes that go along with an extensive undertaking such as this. The DVD set will portray AVANTASIA 2008 when it all started."

"The Flying Circus - Around The World In 20 Days" will be available as a two-disc DVD set featuring the documentary movie, a live concert film, and additional bonus material. It will be also available as a double live album on CD and as a limited-edition two-CD/two-DVD box set.

Commented Tobias: "I am so proud of this DVD package and the featured footage, even though it took a little longer to finally complete it. It gives people an idea of what an impact the first appearance of AVANTASIA on stage had, and you will get an idea of how everything went beyond our expectations and what the roots and the seeds for the current AVANTASIA tour are. It portrays one year in AVANTASIA's history, maybe the most important year in the project's history because that is when a studio project became a traveling institution.

"There are many metal operas, but we made it something real, something to take hold of. Something alive..."

Cover artwork avaliable HERE.

[Bartwald]

The cover isn't up to Avantasia's usual standards, but what the hell - if this isn't too damn expensive, I'm going to get it!