Reunited ’80s metallers WARLORD, featuring guitarist William J. Tsamis and drummer Mark S. Zonder (FATES WARNING), will perform at the Keep It True XVI festival, set to take place April 19-20 at Tauberfrankenhalle in Lauda-Koenigshofen, Germany. This will mark the group’s first appearance in eleven years — having last performed in 2002 in Itzehoe, Germany and at the Wacken Open Air festival.
WARLORD‘s lineup for Keep It True XVI will be as follows:
Giles Lavery (vocals)
William J Tsamis (guitar)
Mark S. Zonder (drums)
Philip Bynoe (bass)
Paolo Viani (guitar)
Angelo Vefeiadis (keyboards)
Commented Tsamis: “When Mark, Rick [Anderson], and I embarked on this new venture of doing a new WARLORD album, I had no intention of doing any live shows, mostly because of my health situation (as many of you know). However, when we were invited by Oliver Weinsheimer of Keep It True to headline that German festival, and when I received clearance from my doctor that I could physically endure such a trip to Europe, suddenly we were approached by Greek promoters as well. Now, Thessaloniki and Athens were on the table.
“I realized (along with Mark) that the WARLORD fans would primarily want to hear ‘classic WARLORD.’ And as you know, there is a distinction between the ‘classic WARLORD‘ sound and the ‘new WARLORD‘ sound (which will one day become ‘classic’ as well). Although Rick is the perfect (ideal) singer for the ‘new’ WARLORD, I knew we had to find someone who could approximate the ‘higher-range’ style of the early WARLORD vocalists. I had heard our friend Giles Lavery sing ‘Lucifer’s Hammer’ already and I asked him to send me an audition tape of five songs . . . [Below] you will find excerpts from that audition tape (no 20-minute trailer here), and you will understand ‘why’ I (we) decided to go with someone like Giles, who is not only a great vocalist in the higher range (as well as the AOR style), but he is someone who has been a WARLORD fan since his youth, and is a person who understands the mindset of ‘the WARLORD fan.’ In sum, Rick is better suited to sing the new WARLORD material while Giles is better suited to sing the classic WARLORD material.”
WARLORD released its new album, “The Holy Empire”, earlier this month. The effort was made available on CD and digitally via Sons Of A Dream Music/Battle Hymns Music.
“The Holy Empire” was engineered and mastered by the multi-Grammy Award winner Phil Magnotti (FATES WARNING, OVERKILL, ARCH/MATHEOS, OSI).
Says WARLORD: “WARLORD is returning to Phil after his excellent work on the ‘Rising Out Of The Ashes’ album, as well as several FATES WARNING projects. Rest assured that the new WARLORD album will be of the highest-quality production.”
WARLORD‘s last album, “Rising Out Of The Ashes”, was released in July 2002 via Atrheia/Drakkar. The CD featured Tsamis and Zonder alongside HAMMERFALL vocalist Joacim Cans.
Source: www.blabbermouth.net