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Power Metal band Crystal Tears is the latest addition to Pride & Joy Music’s roster! The Greek band’s new album ‘Decadence Deluxe‘ will be released on May 18th, 2018.

“The world’s a stage, we plug & play“! With a steady evolution from the band’s first demos to its latest installments, Crystal Tears have managed to leave their mark as one of the most qualitative heavy metal acts, proven to be a persistent, innovative & unstoppable force. Their previous testimony ‘Hellmade‘, with music videos involving Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal (ex-Guns N’ Roses, Sons Of Apollo) & actors Lew Temple (of The Walking Dead fame) & Lou Taylor Pucci (Evil Dead) – initiated their first European tour (with Mystic Prophecy), followed by their own headline Greek tour & a few more extended shows with Firewind/ ex-Ozzy Osbourne’s Gus G.

Having gained a formidable reputation for delivering the goods on stage & via their honest and sing-along anthems, Crystal Tears strike back with the massively anticipated new album ‘Decadence Deluxe‘. With producer R. D. Liapakis (Mystic Prophecy, Devil’s Train, Suicidal Angels etc.) on the front again, the quintet delivers high quality heavy metal dedicating heart & soul, managing to sound constantly inspired & fresh. Crystal Tears have always been original. And this unique blend of dynamics in aggressiveness & harmony has been introducing ’em continually to new audiences all over the world. And as good ol’ friend Ryan Roxie (Alice Cooper, ex-Slash’s Snakepit) says… “all is rock”! And the story continues…

The artwork for ‘Decadence Deluxe‘ was designed by Caio Caldas (Dragonforce) and guest musicians include Ryan Roxie (Alice Cooper, Slash’s Snakepit), Karis Charisma (Deadsquad), Julien Nutz Deyres (Gorod) and Fidel De Jesus (Xeno Devata Project).

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‘The Extended Sessions‘ EP is the follow-up release to the extremely successful ‘The Four Seasons‘ album release by Vivaldi Metal Project which hit the shelves in Summer 2016 on CD & double vinyl on Pride & Joy Music. The album up to today is one of the label’s best sellers and now being continued with this valuable EP which will shorten the waiting time for the fans until the next full album!

The digital version of the EP will be available at the usual outlets; the physical edition  digipack is limited to 300 copies and will only be available at the band’s shows, at the label’s online shop and at selected mailorder.

Created and produced by Mistheria, Vivaldi Metal Project are currently working on bringing the project onto stage with full band, orchestra and choir. During Summer/Autumn 2017, the band played a series of unplugged shows in Finland, in Bulgaria and in Italy in advance which resulted in the idea to put some of the extraordinary material onto this EP! ‘The Extended Sessions‘ includes four tracks which are centered around the group’s performance at “Kitee International Music And Art Festival” which took place in Kitee (Finland) on July 13th, 2017. Arranged by Mistheria, the performance at the “Sleeping Sun” event featured Mistheria himself on piano and Tsena Stefanova on vocals. An epic video for this track will also be available soon online.

‘The Extended Sessions‘ EP opens with a newly recorded unplugged studio version of ‘The Four Seasons‘ medley which again was arranged by Mistheria who performed on this track on piano and was joined by vocalists Tsena Stefanova, Angel Wolf-Black and Dimitar Belchev plus Abigail Stahlschmidt on violin. Additionally to this track, the song ‘Vita‘ – one of the album’s single – is featured twice on the EP: once as exclusive “original vocal session” as recorded by Dimitar Belchev on the first demo version of this song which impressed Mistheria at the first listening, and once as instrumental “karaoke”. Both versions are delivered with a brand new mix by Ivan Moni Bidin at Artesonika studios.

‘Vita‘ was originally released with different singers on last year’s album. The track was arranged by Zhivko Koev and the line-up here includes Dimitar Belchev on vocals, Srdjan Brankovic on guitars, Chris Caffery (TSO, Savatage) with a guitar solo, Jeffrey Revet on keyboards, Royal Hunt’s Andreas Passmark on bass and Martijn Peters on drums.

Like the Vivaldi Metal Project‘s full length album ‘The Four Seasons‘, ‘The Extended Sessions‘ EP was mixed and mastered by Ivan Moni Bidin at Artesonika Studios in Italy and produced by Mistheria. Vivaldi Metal Project is currently booking more unplugged shows over Europe and USA. Dates will be announced soon!

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Pride & Joy Music is proud to announce of Swedish Melodic Heavy metal sensation The Soul Exchange. The first release will be the 5-track EP ‘Vow Of Seth‘ which will be released on December 8th, 2017 as download through the usual platforms and as limited edition jewel case CD which only will be available through the label’s online shop and the band’s upcoming live shows. A new studio album will follow in mid 2018!

The Soul Exchange is a band that mixes Classic Hard Rock with a contemporary Metal sound. They have taken influences from the 70’s Hard Rock scene and created their own unique style of Metal infused, guitar driven hard rock, with great attention to the melodies and grand vocal arrangements. The lyrics deals mostly with subjects from the darker side of life such as insanity and evil in various forms.

The seed that eventually became The Soul Exchange was sown when guitarist and songwriter Hans von Bell began writing songs for a solo album back in 2013. After the albums’ release in January 2015, Hans immediately started to work on new material for a follow up and realized he wanted to put together a proper band as the new material required a different sound and thus, The Soul Exchange was born.  The band name came from a song off the 2015 solo album.

In 2016 the band found their formula and sound with the current line up consisting of Daniel John vocals & keyboards, Hans & Thomas von Bell guitars, Patrik “Patte” Ekelöf on bass, and Benny White drums. Although mostly unknown to the wide public, all band members have long careers in music behind them. The band released the critically and likewise publicly acclaimed album ‘Bloodbound‘ in March 2017 on the Mervilton Records label.

In the fall of 2017 The Soul Exchange have been working on an, in between albums, five track EP titled ‘Vow Of Seth‘ that is set for release on the Pride & Joy Music label on December 8th. The EP will be preceded by a digital single and video release of the EP’s title track on November 17th. The Soul Exchange once again working with the renowned Swedish producer Magnus “Tank” Ljungqvist who also produced the “Bloodbound” album. The new EP has taken the band to an even darker place lyrically and with a tad harder sound. Stating that “this EP will show the way for the next full length album penned for release in 2018“. Hard Rock with a great portion of modern Metal influences, and importantly, the vocal arrangements and melodies will always have a major focus in The Soul Exchanges’ otherwise riff oriented music”.

Line-up:

Daniel John (vocals, keyboards)

Hans von Bell (guitars)

Thomas von Bell (guitars)

Patrik Ekelöf (bass)

Benny White (drums)

Discography:

Bloodbound (CD, 2017)

The Vow Of Seth (EP, 2017)

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German 80’s Hard Rock band VICE will return to the scene on November 17th, 2017 with the release of their new album ‘Veni Vidi Vice‘ via Pride & Joy Music.

This release is the band’s first record since 1990. To celebrate this new output, the group has set-up a release show at Roberto Beach near Munich for October 21st, 2017

VICE was founded in Munich Germany in the late 80’s and signed by major label BMG Ariola back in 1988. The former line-up consisted of Jörg Hargesheimer (guit), Peter Juhre (bass), Roland Schmidt (drums), Chris Limburg (guit), Jan Ghiantinie (vocals 1st album), Alan Keen (vocals 2nd album). These two records brought the band charts positions and several tours all over Europe. With more than 100.000 sold copies, VICE had a huge presence on TV and radio. They became quite famous and attracted their fans with their rather simple & rocking songs and positive attitude on stage.

Now after almost 30 years, VICE is back for more…The new album ‘Veni Vidi Vice‘ was produced, recorded and mixed by Chris Limburg at Lictoc Studios in Munich, will be released on November, 17th and continues the old style of VICE in a modern way. The first single & video for the song ‘Where Do I Belong‘ was released in advance in Summer 2017.

Further singles will be available soon, as well as a “hot summer night” release party on October 21st in a Caribbean atmosphere, near Munich at “Roberto Beach” (www.robertobeach.de)

Line-up:

Mario “Mitch” Michel (Vocals)

Chris “Yps” Limburg (Guitars)

Martin “El Bajo” Dreher (Bass)

Pete “Pepsi” Lautenschlager (Drums)

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Pride & Joy Music is proud to announce the signing of Italian Symphonic Metal band Secret Rule. The first collaboration will be the release of the band’s third full-length album ‘The Key To The World‘ on November 10th, 2017. The band will go on tour soon after the release and support the record live at the following dates among others:

16.11.17, I-Rome, Traffic Live Club*;

17.11.17 I-Rozzano, Circolo Svolta*

18.11.17 CH-Wetzikon, Hall Of Fame*

31.03.18 UK-Hartford (Hertfordshire), The Rock Den

*= as support for Kobra And The Lotus

Secret Rule was formed in the beginning of 2014 with the intention to create a special sound with powerful rhythms and catchy melodies. The band is fronted by the powerful voice of Angela Di Vincenzo (Kyla Moyl), masterminded by lead guitarist Andy Menario (Martiria) who has worked with big names such as Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath, Dio), Jeff Pilson (Dokken, Foreigner), and Carlos Cavazo (Quiet Riot). The line-up is completed by bassist Michele Raspanti (Graal) and drummer Nicola Corrente (Enemynside, Stick it out, Starkiller Sound).

In February 2015, the group released their debut ‘Transposed Emotions‘ (Rocksector Records) – a concept, a mixture of facts and tales which analyse our society with a look at a post apocalyptic era. The album was recorded in 2014; produced, mixed and mastered at Antfam Studios in Denmark by Tue Madsen (Halford The Haunted, Mnemic, Hatesphere, Ektomorf), while the artwork was created by Simona Speedy Saccoccia. After some gigs in Italy, the band went on tour in Switzerland, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland and the UK, taking part in some festivals such as the SOS Fest in the UK and the WIZZ FEST in Belgium.

In October 2015, Secret Rule started recording their second album ‘Machination‘. The line-up for the new long player also included Sander Zoer (ex Delain, Leah) on drums, Henrik Klingenberg (Sonata Arctica) on keyboards and other special guests such as Stefan Helleblad (Within Temptation), Timo Somers (Delain), Fabio D’Amore (Serenity) and Janneke De Rooy (Paper Doll Decay). This release again was produced, mixed and mastered by Tue Madsen (Antfarm Studio) and the artwork created by Simona Speedy Saccoccia.

The CD got a release on June 24th, 2016 on Scarlet Records with two tours to follow in July and August covering Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia, Hungary, Czech Republic, the UK, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. On 7 October in Wetzicon at the Hall of Fame venue, the Italians supported Serenity and on 29 January, they opened for Delain.

Early in 2017 Secret Rule supported Blaze Bayley for some gigs and then started to work on new material. The new album ‘The Key to the World‘ will be released by Pride & Joy Music on November 10th,  2017. Henrik Klingenberg (Sonata Arctica) and two new guests on this new CD, Henning Basse (Firewind and MaYan) and Ailyn Giménez (ex Sirenia), also appear on this third release of the band. It again was mixed and mastered by Tue Madsen (Antfarm Studio- Denmark); Fabio D’amore (Serenity) handled the pre-production and Simona Speedy Saccoccia took  care of the artwork again. In addition, music videos for the tracks ‘Twin Flames‘, ‘The Song Of The Universe‘ & ‘Imaginary World‘ feat. all three guests will be released in advance to the album release.  The band has already scheduled some gigs for next months. In November, they will be direct support for Kobra and the Lotus.

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German Dark Rock band Voodoma will release their new album ‘Gotland‘ on September 22nd, 2017 on Pride & Joy Music. In advance, the band releases a video clip and instant grat for the track ‘Ghostlight‘ today.

Voodoma are a Dark Rock band with Gothic and Metal influences from Düsseldorf, Germany. To date, the band has released two regular albums and some self-produced records. In addition, the group also has played numerous gigs, including major festivals such as ‘Wacken Open Air’, ‘Ragnaröck Festival’ and ‘Castle Rock’.

Three years after the release of the ‘Secret Circle’ CD, the new album ‘Gotland’ will now hit the stores on September 22nd, 2017 via Pride & Joy Music. The band’s sound still can be described as melodic, catchy Dark Rock which offers a wide range of elements and songs which will appeal to Gothic and Metal fans alike.

Once again, Voodoma have invited a couple of guest musicians including  Maike Flüshöh (Mayze), Ollie Bölke (Seelensturm), and Bernemann from German Thrash Metal legend Sodom. The release stands up with a powerful sound – also due the amazing mastering by multi-platinum award-winning  mastering studio Monoposto.

Discography:

2017-Gotland

2014-Secret Circle

2012-Bridges to Disturbia

Line-up:

Michael Thionville – Vocals

Mikk Hollenberg – Guitars, Keys

Pierre Liffers – Bass

Wolle Haitz – Drums

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In advance of the re-issue of Empire‘s ‘The Raven Ride‘, they have posted an Official video for the title track.

Empire is the Hard Rock band of German guitarist Rolf Munkes (ex Majesty, ex Razorback, Crematory) which has released four exceptional albums in between the years of 2001 and 2007. On these releases, Munkes was accompanied by numerous high-class musicians.

The history of Empire began in the year 2001 with the release of the album ‘Hypnotica‘ (Lion Music) which featured both the American singers Mark Boals (ex-Yngwie Malmsteen) and Lance King (ex Nightmare) on vocals. The line-up at the time was completed by Neil Murray (bass, ex Whitesnake, Brian May Band, Black Sabbath etc.), Gerald Klos (drums), Anders Johansson (drums, ex Stratovarius) and Don Airey (keyboards, ex Rainbow, Deep Purple). Rolf Munkes produced ‘Hypnotica‘ himself; the mix was handled by Stefan Kaufmann (ex Accept, ex U.D.O.).

Only one year later, ‘Trading Souls‘, the band’s second album came out on Lion Music. The CD once again was produced by Munkes with the mix being handled by Kaufmann. On this release, singer extraordinare Tony Martin (ex Black Sabbath) replaced King and Martin on the vocal spot.

Tony Martin also sang on the – up until now – most successful CD from Empire, ‘The Raven Ride‘, which was released in 2006 on German label Metal Heaven. Besides of Munkes, who, for the first also produced and mixed this release himself at his own Empire Studios in Bensheim, Germany, Neil Murray took again care of the bass work whilst the drums this time were handled by ex-Rage/ex-Axxis drummer André Hilgers.

In 2007, the so far last album of Empire saw the light of day. ‘Chasing Shadows‘ was once again released on Metal Heaven and the first record feat. former Rainbow singer Doogie White in the line-up. Mike Terrana (ex Rage, ex Axel Rudi Pell, Tarja Turunen) joined the group on drums.

In 2017, German label Pride & Joy Music will re-issue all four releases in a revised version. ‘The Raven Ride‘ will be released on August 18th, 2017 and include one bonus track.

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Pride & Joy Music is delighted to announce the signing of Italian Progressive Metal band Soul Secret for the release of their fourth album ‘Babel‘ which will be released on July 28th, 2017. Songs from this record will premiere live in Germany at the band’s opening performance for this year’s Night Of The Prog Festival at the Loreley on July 14th, opening for none other than Mike Portnoy.

Soul Secret are an Italian progressive metal band based in Naples. After a long time playing together, they hit the market in 2008 with their debut album ‘Flowing Portraits‘, published by ProgRock Records and with Mark Basile (DGM) as guest singer on the whole album. This album was highly praised by the critics and let them play on stage together with bands like Pendragon, Vanden Plas and Subsignal. After three years the band published ‘Closer To Daylight‘ under Galileo Records, a heavier album featuring Marco Sfogli (James LaBrie Band) on “River’s Edge” and Arno Menses on the acclaimed 16+ minutes suite “Aftermath”. After playing together again with Subsignal and Vanden Plas, the band decided to change the singer and to start working on a new album. While writing it, they played together with Haken and Neal Morse Band. Their third release, called “4”, was their first concept album and released on April 10th 2015 (October 4th in USA) by GoldenCore Records and distributed by Zyx Music.

Their new album, titled  ‘Babel‘, will be released by Pride & Joy Music on July 28th 2017 and will be previewed at Night Of The Prog, opening Mike Portnoy’s show.  ‘Babel‘ is a concept album, covering topics like religion and love and ranging from classic progressive rock to more modern progressive metal, with influences from djent, electronic and latin music. The artwork was completely designed by Thomas Ewerhard and the mix handled by Alex Argento (Virgil Donati, Marco Sfogli).

Line-up:

Claudio Casaburi (Bass)

Luca Di Gennaro (Keyboards)

Lino Di Pietrantonio (Vocals)

Antonio Mocerino (Drums)

Antonio Vittozzi (Guitars)

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Pride & Joy Music is delighted to announce the signing of Swedish Hard Blues Rock band Badge for the release of their third album ‘If It Hurts It Must Be Good‘. The release was set to July 28th, 2017

Badge was put together by guitarist/singer Matti Norlin and drummer Fredrik Haake in 2002. Matti´s love for Pre War Blues and both their ambition to create new and exciting music is the drive.

Since then Badge has released two albums ‘Kill Another Fuzz‘ in 2010 and ‘If I Could Love I’d Love This‘ in 2013.  Their new album ‘If It Hurts It Must Be Good‘ will be available via Pride & Joy Music from July 28th, 2017.

With focus on energy, new paths and groove, but always to serve the song, Badge has been breaking new ground ever since. Even though they started out with the old Blues in mind, they never thought about themselves as a Blues band. Rather a band that makes it’s own mark with many influences.

In 2013 Badge was picked to represent Sweden in the European Blues Challenge. In 2014 Matti Norlin and Fredrik Haake got a composer-scholarship from SKAP (Swedish Society of song-writers) for the music of BADGE, and the video for the track ‘If I Could Love This‘ reached over 135.000 views on YouTube.

With the new album ‘If It Hurts It Must Be Good‘, they have really come a long way as far as songwriting and getting a unique sound on print! The first advance single from the album, ‘Break Down‘, was picked by Swedish national radio as one of the top 30 songs of Rock in 2015!

*Matti Norlin has released four solo albums: Pre War Blues (1995), Kitchen Sink Blues (1998), Sliding Out (2002) and  LIVE – Blues Three Floors Up (2010). Matti has established himself as a great blues artist and is one of the most perceptive interpreters of early Scandinavian “Pre War Blues”. He has also appeared on records with Sam Mitchell (ex-Rod Stewart’s band), Nicolai Dunger and Tony & The Bitters (interpretations of the Swedish death metal band Dismember).

*Fredrik Haake has previously played with New York band God is my co-pilot as he made several tours with, both in Europe and the U.S. Fredrik was involved in two of the band’s CDs. He also starred in his New York period in Jim Sclavunos (from Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds) new band The Vanity Set and recorded an album with Roger Manning. Fredrik has also been featured in Sideburn, Moa and Swedish-American heavy metal band Meldrum who toured with: Motorhead, Zakk Wylde Black Label Society, Sepultura, Danzig, and Nashville Pussy. 

*Lennart “Z” Zethzon is featured in Swedish Classic rock band “Lugnet” who released their debut last year. He also appears on two albums with Clifftones. In -98 Lennart put down the bass for Leda Battisti’s self title release, featuring Grammy Award winner Ottmar Liebert.

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Today, Starsick System have released a lyric video for the first instant grat/ single ‘Bulletproof‘.

Bassist Valeria Battain comments on the track: “‘Bulletproof‘ is song of “rebellion” but with an ironic tone. It will take on a personal meaning to everyone who hears it, but the message is the same: stand up for what you believe in, no matter what other people say, face your enemies, be proud of you and take back yourself respect against bullies, self-centered and arrogant ones. We chose this song as first single cause the mood and the melodies are the perfect evolution of our original sound. It’s a perfect match of heavy riffing and catchy refrains that is what distinguishes us mostly!”

The album ‘Lies, Hope & Other Stories‘ will hit the shelves on June 23rd, 2017 via Pride & Joy Music. Next to 10 original songs, the record also features an outstanding cover of the Chris Cornell song ‘You Know My Name‘ (James Bond 007 – Casino Royale soundtrack).

Track list:

1. Nebolus

2. I Am The Hurricane

3. Bulletproof

4. Sinner

5. The Promise

6. Scars

7. Everything And More

8. Come One, Come All

9. Perfect Lie

10. Hope

11. You Know My Name (Chris Cornell 007 soundtrack cover)

Pre-order the album here: http://hyperurl.co/StarsickHopesLies

Line-up:

Marco Sandron – vocals, guitars

David Donati – guitars

Ivan Moni Bidin – drums

Valeria Battain – bass

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