Tag: Michael Kiske
1 New Video – Unisonic – Unisonic
Ok….I knew Unisonic would be awesome when I talked toKosta Zarifiou about it well over a year ago. If this video is any indication what the new Unisonic album is going to sound like, it is going to be INCREDIBLE!! Their debut album will be released In March.
Unisonic is the long awaited reunion of Kai Hansen (ex Helloween / Gamma Ray) and Michael Kiske (ex Helloween), with Mandy Meyer (ex Asia, Krokus and Gotthard), Dennis Ward (Pink Cream 69) and Kosta Zafiriou (Pink Cream 69).
Vodpod videos no longer available.0 HELP! For JAPAN – EP will be released on Avenue Of Allies in early March 2012!
The first anniversary of the disastrous earthquake in Japan will be on March 11th, 2012. The aftermath of this catastrophe is still apparent, and to the present day the Japanese people are facing the impact of the events. The population of the affected area has not been able to completely return to their everyday live and the people are still grateful for our help.
Some of Europe’s leading Rock artists have united to join a campaign initiated by singer Tommy Heart (Soul Doctor, Fair Warning) and recorded a tremendous new version of the classic Beatles song “Help”. The EP “Help! For JAPAN” will be released in Europe on the German label Avenue Of Allies in early March 2012. All income from the sales of this project will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross.
This EP includes the following four songs:
1. HELP!
2. HELP! (Tommy Heart Version)
3. HELP! (Guitar Version)
4. HELP! (Extended Version)
The musicians: Don Airey (Keyboards & Piano, Deep Purple), Leo Leoni (Guitar, Gotthard), Neil Murray (Bass, ex Whitesnake), Hena Habegger (Drums, Gotthard)
The singers: Tobias Sammet (Edguy, Avantasia), Bob Catley (Magnum), Andi Deris (Helloween), Torstein Flakne (Stage Dolls), Marc Storace (Krokus), David Readman (Pink Cream 69), Claus Lessmann (Bonfire), Oliver Hartmann (Hartmann), Bernhard Weiss (Axxis), Michael Kiske (Unisonic), Tony Mills (TNT), Carsten Lizard Schulz (Evidence One) and Tommy Heart (Soul Doctor, Fair Warning),
The solo guitar players: Cede Dupont (Downspirit), Kyoji Yamamoto (BowWow), Helge Engelke (Fair Warning), Roland Grapow (Masterplan), Leo Leoni (Gotthard), Henny Wolter (Nitrogods), Robert R. Rodrigo (Airless)
All “HELP!” versions produced and mixed by Tommy Heart, Tommy Remm & Rene Schostak (Valicon).
Vocal Arrangement by Tommy Heart.
Solo Guitar Arrangement for “Help” (Guitar Version) by Helge Engelke.
Audio mastering by TMM/Tom Müller Berlin/Germany.
Cover artwork “Help! For JAPAN” designed by Kai Swillus.
For more information, please visit:
1 Kai Hansen Joins Unisonic
Many fans all over the world have been anticipating this for years, now it comes true – Michael Kiske and Kai Hansen teamed up again, Kai joined UNISONIC!
Michael Kiske: “After so many years of abstinence I had a lot of fun doing my first live shows with Unisonic in summer 2010, so I agreed to do the short world tour with Avantasia. It was a great experience to be on stage with all those great artist, but with Kai it was something different: We instantly felt the magic again and had a lot of fun together on and off stage. We both realized that we want to be together in band again. He was interested in the open musical concept of Unisonic and finally asked me if he can join the band. I talked to my bandmates and they all felt great about it. His talent as a guitarist and songwriter is an enrichment for the bandand we are looking forward to his contribution for the music of Unisonic.”
Kai Hansen will stay a member of his band Gamma Ray and play all scheduled shows. Currently he is writing songs with the Unisonic guys for the long anticipated debut album, which is planned to be released at the end of 2011.
Unisonic is:
Michael Kiske (vocals)
Mandy Meyer (guitars)
Kai Hansen (guitars)
Dennis Ward (bass)
Kosta Zafiriou (drums)
0 Kiske-Somerville Coming Soon From Frontiers Records, Audio Samples Available
Eighteen months in the making, some of the most beautiful voices in the scene, a massive production, one hell of an album, two videoclips and one documentary… The Kiske-Somerville collaboration album has all the trademarks of a real event for the Rock fans in 2010, and the release on September 24th in Europe and October 12th in the USA mark some dates that should be noted in every fan agendas.
The collaboration between vocalist Michael Kiske (Helloween, Place Vendome) and American singer Amanda Somerville was born as a concept put together thanks to the input of Frontiers Records President Serafino Perugino. “I did a duet with a female singer on ‘Breathing Water’ by Indigo Dying”, explains Michael Kiske. “It was so nice that he offered me a chance to make an album of all duet songs with a famous female singer.”
This exciting album sees Mat Sinner (Primal Fear, Sinner) and Magnus Karlsson (Starbreaker, Primal Fear) handling most of the songwriting (with more contributions from Sander Gommans formerly of After Forever and Amanda Sormeville herself), with Sinner overseeing the production & mix at various recording studios in Europe.
Amanda 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 also featured on Kamelot’s latest release, “Ghost Opera”, the Rock Opera “Aina” and recently toured with Avantasia.
“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” tells Amanda. “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!”. Kiske adds “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.”
Two videoclips were filmed for the songs “Silence” and “If I Had A Wish” in Nurnberg, Germany. Joining Kiske and Somerville for the shoot were bassist and main composer Mat Sinner, guitarist Sander Gommans (After Forever), drummer Rami Ali and keyboardist Jimmy Kresic (Voodoo Circle). The clips were directed by Martin Mueller of RCN TV, who previously helmed the videoclip production for Unheilig, Subway To Sally, Helloween, U.D.O. and Gotthard.
The digital only release of the single, “Silence” on August 20th, will precede the release of the full-length CD.
The “Kiske-Somerville” album final tracklisting includes:
Nothing Left To Say; Silence; If I Had A Wish; One Night Burning; Arise; End Of The Road; Don’t Walk Away; A Thousand Suns; Rain; Devil In Her Heart; Second Chance; Set A Fire (bonus track).
The Bonus DVD will include videoclips of “Silence” and “If I Had A Wish” plus a “Making of” documentary.
The songs “Silence” and “If I Had A Wish” can exclusively be listened to in full by streaming on the Frontiers Web Radio from July 20th.
Tune in at: www.frontiers.it/webradio
Check out the trailer below!
2 House of Lords, Come To My Kingdom Gets A U.S. Release Date
Did the high import prices keep you from buying the new House of Lords CD, Come To My Kingdom?
You will soon be able to buy this through most U.S. Retailers.
Come To My Kingdom will be released in the United States on October 7th, 2008 by new label, Blistering Records.
Blistering will release its first titles in the U.S. through Ryko Distribution / Warner on October 7th. Among those titles will be new releases from Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple), Michael Kiske (Helloween), House Of Lords and Revolution Renaissance which features former Stratovarius guitarist Timo Tolkki.
0 The Revolution is Near!
Frontiers Records is pleased to announce all details about the sensational new band REVOLUTION RENAISSANCE, brainchild of ex STRATOVARIUS main man Timo Tolkki.
“Everything that was to be said with that band, with those members, had already been said and to continue would have simply been repeating the same formula over and over again”, says Tolkki about this much talked split. Furthermore, tensions between the members brought Tolkki’s decision to form a brand new band REVOLUTION RENAISSANCE, which is the logical progression of the Stratovarius legacy.
The first record from the new band, aptly entitled “New Era“, includes the vocal talents of Michael Kiske (ex HELLOWEEN), Tobias Sammet (EDGUY, AVANTASIA) and Pasi Rantanen (THUNDERSTONE) plus Mirka Rantanen on drums (THUNDERSTONE), Pasi Heikkilä on bass (45 DEGREE WOMAN) and Joonas Puolakka on keyboards.
Tolkki originally composed all the songs included in this album for
Stratovarius, but after the group broke up, he thought he needed to get these songs out and did not spend time looking for a permanent band line-up. He is currently still auditioning singers and musicians and, as soon as a stable line-up is set in stone, Revolution Renaissance will start its life as a live unit.
“New Era” pays tribute musically to the trademark Stratovarius albums “Visions” and “Episode”, with its Melodic Power Metal style that Tolkki was instrumental in creating, along with such bands as Helloween and Gamma Ray. His trademark guitar playing that earned him a position in “The 80 best guitar players of the World” category in the American “Guitar World” magazine readers poll, shines throughout the album.
Tracklisting of “New Era” includes:
Heroes (lead vocals: Tobias Sammet); I Did It My Way (lead vocals: Michael Kiske); We Are Magic (lead vocals: Pasi Rantanen); Angel (lead vocals: Michael Kiske); Eden Is Burning (lead vocals: Pasi Rantanen); Glorious And Divine (lead vocals: Tobias Sammet); Born Upon The Cross (lead vocals: Pasi Rantanen); Keep The Flame Alive (lead vocals: Michael Kiske); Last Night On Earth (lead vocals: Michael Kiske); Revolution Renaissance (lead vocals: Michael Kiske).
Witness the rebirth of Timo Tolkki and his music the way the fans want to hear him on June 6th !
3 Preview New Tracks by Michael Kiske
Frontiers Records is pleased to announce all the details for the release of MICHAEL KISKE new album entitled “Past In Different Ways” on May 9th 2008.
This much talked about album includes the reworking in a new fully acoustic and stripped back mood of some of Helloween’s classics that Kiske wrote and recorded in his early days with the legendary German Heavy Metal band. “When Serafino Perugino brought up the idea to do this record” says Michael, “my first reaction was: “No way! I don’t want to be dealing with my past all the time anymore!”. But after a few days my thinking changed and I thought:
maybe it’s not such a bad idea at all? Because on one hand it shows that I don’t reject my past just because I’m a different person today and on the other hand it can maybe give people who were part of that past a different view at those songs. It’s my music, I can still identify myself with its spirit, so why should I not do this?”.
Working in a creatively free environment helped Michael to look at his past with different eyes and brought the idea of working again on the songs that Michael wrote for Helloween during his years with the band. The result is “Past In a Different Ways“, a record which includes brand new recordings of Kiske’s songs taken off the two “Keeper” albums, “Chameleon” and “Pink Bubbles Go Ape“, plus the brand new song “Different Ways“.
The unconventional arrangements of many of the tracks will surprise and delight many of his fans and more surprising is to see how well these songs sound with a basic acoustic arrangement, without the “useless weight” and with new keys. “Songs like ‘In The Night‘ or ‘When The Sinner‘ which where never favourites of mine are much cooler and much more convincing now for my ears”, says Michael.
The album was recorded and mixed in Hamburg under Michael Kiske’s direction and features long time collaborators such as Sandro Giampietro on guitar, Fontaine Burnett on bass and Karsten Nagel on drums.
Kiske concludes: “It was not always easy for me emotionally to deal with this material. Music somehow seems to preserve emotional memories and I connect big human disappointments with the last years of that time. There’s
also something very unsatisfying about re-recording old songs; it’s always MUCH better to write new stuff, but I wanted to make those songs mine again. And in spite of the fact that I strongly felt for the last couple of years that I rather have to build myself a new base of friends, it’s always good to make peace with your past”.
Final tracklisting of “Past In Different Ways” include the following tracks:
You Always Walk Alone
We Got The Right
I Believe
Longing; Your Turn; Kids Of The Century; In The Night; Going Home;
A Little Time
When The Sinner; Different Ways (brand new song).
“Past In Different Ways” will see the light in Europe on May 9th 2008 on Frontiers Records.
2 New Video – Avantasia – Lost In Space
Tobias Sammet is back on track with AVANTASIA! After five years of Silence, the EDGUY mastermind decided to reanimate his very own project AVANTASIA and record a follow up to the highly appraised Metal Opera, that Tobi released in 2001 (Part 1) and 2002 (Part 2). For many people, this Metal Opera was the inofficial but worthy successor to Helloweens “Keeper Of The Seven Keys” Pt. 1 and Pt. 2.
His new project, the album “The Scarecrow” is maybe the most ambitious that Tobi ever touched. Just read the list of participants and your knees will tremble: Eric Singer from KISS on drums and vocals, Guest Vocals by Amanda Somverville, Jorn Lande, Alice Cooper, Michael Kiske, Bob Catley and Guest Guitar parts by Rudolf Schenker. A legendary combination!
As an appetizer, two EPs are on their way, before the album will crush the metal world in early 2008. “Lost In Space” is the title track of both EPs, but otherwise the content is completely different and exclusive. Except for one song and title track, none of them will appear on the “The Scarecrow”! Value for money – for sure!
“Lost In Space” is without doubt among the catchiest tunes, that you will get to hear in 2007! A good time rock´n´roll song with a chorus as huge as two continets. Impressive – after the first spin, you will never ever get this song out of your head. And thats good!
With this new era of AVANTASIA, Tobi offers everything from Hard Rock, Stadium Rock, Rock´n´Roll, New Rock to Melodic metal and even Speed Metal – stuff to dream too, stuff to bang your head too.
AVANTASIA will prevail! No doubt about it.
0 Sample new tunes by Indigo Dying
INDIGO DYING is a new monicker born to present the outstanding abilities of female singer Gisa Vatcky (who has worked with the likes of Meat Loaf, Enrique Iglesias, Perry Farrell and more).
Musicians include Mordechai “Mordy” Hauser (guitar), Fabrizio Grossi (bass, orchestrations, programming, acoustic guitar), John Macaluso (drums) ex TNT, Malmsteen and Riot, Jamie Teramo (keyboards, piano) with Tommy Denander on additional guitars.
Former HELLOWEEN singer Michael Kiske appears singing a duet in the song “Breathe in Water”, while former MALMSTEEN and RING OF FIRE shouter
Mark Boals guests on vocals on “Superman” and “Fair Enough”.
The resulting album is a release that encompasses the taste for a contemporary Melodic Rock direction. A truly rewarding listening experience!
Sound samples in mp3 (Click on the song title to listen to a 90 sec. mp3 sample):
All I Never Wanted
Hear Me
Breathe In Water (feat. Michael Kiske)
Superman (feat. Mark Boals)
Hard Rock Hideout 