Stockholm, Sweden-based hard rockers BACKDRAFT have just released their third album, “This Heaven Goes To Eleven”, via GMR Music. The CD was recorded — just like its predecessor, 2007’s “The Second Coming” — by the band itself in its own A.R.T. Studios in Stockholm, over the course of 2010 and then mixed by Jo E who also worked on “The Second Coming”. The idea was initially to capture the live feel by doing a quick and dirty record. That idea quickly went out the window, and the result instead became BACKDRAFT‘s most layered and experimental album from a recording point of view.

According to a press release, “This Heaven Goes To Eleven” consists of nine quite diverse songs, from obvious four-on-the-floor rockers like opening track and first single, “Idiot”, and the slide-driven “The King Of Diesel”, to swinging tracks like “No Love”, “Stand” and “Out Of Here”. The latter is, in essence, a country song dressed in a hard rock arrangement, featuring drummer Niklas Matsson as co-lead vocalist alongside BACKDRAFT frontman and lead singer, Jonas Åhlén a.k.a. Revered Sorethroat.

“This Heaven Goes To Eleven” was made available on CD as well as a limited-edition gatefold 180-gram vinyl with a free CD included (with an exclusive bonus track: a cover of “Blue Sky” by THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND).

“Although ‘Idiot’ is perhaps our most radio-friendly song to date, the album as a whole is our most varied and eclectic so far,” says bass player Mats Rydström. “While some of our earlier material certainly had its tongue firmly planted in cheek, new songs like ‘Yesterdays & Tomorrows’, ‘E.C.G.T. Blues’ and ‘Wheel Of No Fortune’ also deal with the rougher realities
of life, which we have only touched on in the past. I’d say that ‘This Heaven Goes To Eleven’ is definitely our most honest record.”

“We were initially labeled as a pure southern rock band, which I think is a bit misleading,” says lead guitarist and founding member Robert Johansson. “I view BACKDRAFT, especially where we are now, as searching for the essence of something more universal and timeless. What did Gene Simmons mean by ‘Get up, and get your grandma out of here?’ While working in a primarily American tradition of hard rock that began in the ’70s with bands like AEROSMITH, KISS, ZZ TOP and LYNYRD SKYNYRD, we naturally come up with a hybrid of a wider range of musical input also including a lot of the music that influenced that music. Especially the lyrics draw from the country tradition with storytelling, mixing serious and hilarious elements.”

BACKDRAFT is:

Jonas Åhlén – Lead Vocals, Harmonica, Acoustic Guitar
Robert Johansson – Lead, Rhythm Guitar
Jon Sundberg – Lead, Rhythm, Slide Guitars, Backing Vocals
Mats Rydström – Bass, Backing Vocals
Niklas Matsson – Drums, Percussion, Lead, Backing Vocals

For more information, visit www.backdraft.se.

“Night City”, the new video from Austin, Texas metal luminaries THE SWORD, can be viewed below. The clip is the third and final part of a video trilogy helmed by former THE SWORD collaborators Artificial Army. The first and second chapters of the saga were for “Tres Brujas” and “Lawless Lands”.

“Night City” comes off THE SWORD‘s third full-length album, “Warp Riders”, which sold around 8,900 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 47 on The Billboard 200 chart.

“Warp Riders” marked the first release where the group has worked with an outside producer. Helmed by Matt Bayles (PEARL JAM, MASTODON, ISIS), the album is anchored by an epic science-fiction narrative. The storyline is a psychedelic space opera that explores temporal themes of death and rebirth. “Warp Riders” also finds THE SWORD expanding its range from pure metal to include bone-crunching hard rock at large. Rather than dampening its sound, the band actually sounds more amplified than ever, spewing out some of its most scalding riffs to date and channeling an unearthly bellow from its low end.

In a 2010 interview with Decibel magazine, THE SWORD guitarist/vocalist John “J. D.” Cronise stated about the latest effort, “This is what you’d technically call a ‘concept album,’ though I’d describe it as more of a soundtrack to a story I came up with. All the songs are about aspects of the story, but they don’t cover every detail from beginning to end. It’s a science fiction story, and it deals heavily with themes of light and dark and perceptions of time. One of the main settings is a planet, which has experienced tidal locking, creating a side of perpetual day and a side of perpetual night.
The reason for creating a narrative to base the songs around was essentially to provide interesting and varied lyrical subject matter with a core theme to tie it all together.”

After an amicable split with drummer Trivett Wingo forced THE SWORD to cancel a number of U.S. tour dates, the band last year found someone to fill in for behind-the-kit duties. Joining them on the road is Kevin Fender, best known for his work with the Texas hardcore outfit EMPLOYER, EMPLOYEE.

“Age Of Winters”, the first-ever guitar tab book from Austin, Texas luminaries THE SWORD, is now available at Music Dispatch. Published by Cherry Lane, the songbook contains note-for-note, artist-approved transcriptions of all nine songs on the band’s critically acclaimed debut.