His name belongs to the most influential and illustrious ones in Swedish metal. Mats Levén's distinctive and colorful voice has graced albums by CANDLEMASS, THERION, KRUX, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN and AT VANCE. Now, after lending his voice to others for decades, fans can finally witness the charismatic singer's solo album. Under the new flag of SKYBLOOD, it will see the light of day on November 22 via Napalm Records. Dark and hypnotic anthems meet exotic trips into emotional soundspheres on tracks such as "The Voice", which triumphs in musical finesse and timeless elegance. This debut is an unchained and exciting affair feeding off of epic and classic metal influences, doom and melodic hard rock — an unpredictable mixture soaring to glorious height. Mats has been working on his solo project for several years. Most instruments were recorded by Mats himself at his own studio, the Uzi G Studio in Stockholm. According to Mats, SKYBLOOD is "who I am. This is SKYBLOOD. SKYBLOOD equals pride, empathy and rage. 'The Voice' carries that flag. A fight for the cause of truth." Among the guest musicians who are expected to appear on SKYBLOOD's debut album are Martin "Axe" Axenrot (BLOODBATH, OPETH, WITCHERY), Nalley Påhlsson (TREAT, THERION), Snowy Shaw (ex-KING DIAMOND) and Petter Karlsson (ex-THERION, DIABLO SWING ORCHESTRA). The official lyric video for "The Voice" can be seen below. Track listing: 01. Skyblood Manifesto 02. The Voice 03. The Not Forgotten 04. Wake Up To The Truth 05. Once Invisible 06. One Eye For An Eye 07. Out Of The Hollow 08. For Or Against 09. Le Venimeux "Skyblood" will be coming on vinyl, CD and in digital formats. Mats, who was in CANDLEMASS for six years, began his professional musical life with SWEDISH EROTICA from Gothenburg, Sweden in 1989. In 1990, Mats got an offer from TREAT and moved to Stockholm where he still lives with his wife and two kids. After recording albums with ABSTRAKT ALGEBRA and AB/CD, Mats as approached by Yngwie Malmsteen to join the guitarist's band in 1997-98 and to lay down his vocal tracks on the "Facing The Animal" LP. Over the past couple of decades, Levén has been involved with a number of different bands and projects, including SOUTHPAW, DOGFACE, ESSENCE OF SORROW, AT VANCE and KRUX. In 2004, Mats supplied lead vocals for THERION's two albums "Sirius B" and "Lemuria". This led to some 150 shows with the band over the course of the next four years. THERION's 2007 album "Gothic Kabbalah" saw Mats co-writing six of the tracks, including the epic "Son Of The Staves Of Time". In 2010-2011, Mats toured with ADAGIO and FIREWIND before joining CANDLEMASS as the replacement for Robert Lowe. Since 2016, Mats has been touring with rock theater sensation TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA, whose 20th-anniversary trek visited 65 cities across North America, for 100-plus performances, before concluding on December 30.
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