There is no stopping the mighty
SORCERER and in the autumn of 2023 the band will release their highly anticipated fourth album entitled '
Reign Of The Reaper'. Again not content with repeating themselves the album features some of the darkest, heaviest and most aggressive material the band has ever recorded, and at the same time some of the most lyrical and beautiful.
The band holed up in their home studios and wrote music all through 2022 and then once again headed to SolnaSound Recording in Stockholm, the studio owned, run and operated by Simon Johansson (Wolf, Soilwork) with Mike Wead (King Diamond) assisting, to record the drums. SORCERER likes to work with a small, tried and trusted team so therefore they once again employed the services of Ronnie Björnström (engineering/mixing/ mastering) and Jani Stefanovic (cover art for the singles & artwork booklet/packaging design); these guys have been working with the band since the first album and as per usual they delivered superbly. The striking album cover artwork was created by Swedish artist Joakim Ericsson and Conny Welén as usual handled co-production duties. Anders says: "He has been working with us since 2015 and the reunion album In The Shadow Of The Inverted Cross. Connys contribution to our sound is heard in every song; he is involved in the arrangements and plays all keyboards". He also co-writes the vocal melodies and the foundations of some of the lyrics and on top of this he also recorded Anders' vocals in his studio. Photographer Marieke Verschuren provided the awesome band photos as she also did on the previous album.
For the opening track and first single 'Morning Star', based on the fall of Lucifer, the band showcases their proficiency in fusing classic metal with other heavy elements with quite a few twists and turns along the way. With a bombastic rhythm section spear-headed by Evensand and Biggs, to the melodic and brilliantly executed guitar work of Niemann and Hallgren, culminating with the ferocious Engberg, whose voice soars, 'Morning Star' takes the listener on a relentless journey through the kingdom of Pandemonium and hell itself. Kristian says: "I came up with the majestic opening guitar line while I was in the gym, I remember that distinctly. I grabbed my phone and sang the line into the voice recorder, as I always do when I get ideas. I didn't think much of it and promptly forgot all about it until it was time to write songs for the album. I had about 150 riffs and ideas that I went through and this one immediately grabbed my attention. I'm super-happy with this track and it sounds exactly how I envisioned it when I first started working on it. The guys in the band KILLED it, everybody played and sang their asses off".
SORCERER are also known for their long title tracks with catchy and highly memorable choruses, and the second single 'Reign Of The Reaper' is no exception. Taking the listener through the realms of death and dread, this doom-laden epic with it's many twists and turns will crush souls, leaving metal fans begging for more darkness and despair. Anders says: "This song came about when we were looking for a title to go with the artwork. Somehow we wanted to build around the majestic appearance that Death presents on the cover. It's a heavy hitter and a typical Sorcerer song, heavy, melodic with many different parts and the solos are extraordinary. The song is simply epic, just as we like it". In the end we all will sing the song of the Reaper.
Justin says: "The concept for the third single Curse Of Medusa came about from the vibe and feel in the guitar riffs and the song structure that was being built to highlight that. It has this almost Mediterranean/Arabic sound to it, and was quite tragic but also majestic in the chorus parts. So, with Anders jokingly singing "…the Curse of Medusa…" in the vocal demos, we decided to elaborate on that with the classic tragic tale of Medusa. We didn't want to just stick to vikings, swords and shields but rather branch out into other ways of telling an awesome story through music. Reign Of The Reaper, as an album, embodies quite a fair bit of folklore and tales wrapped up in an "epic doom" package. It was a lot of fun to write lyrics to these songs".
'Reign Of The Reaper' will be released on the 27th of October by Metal Blade Records and features eight brand new tracks guaranteed to appease the appetites of metal heads from all sides of the Heavy Metal spectrum...."
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