CRYSTAL EYES

CURRENT EVENTS
After twelve years and three studio albums as lead vocalist CRYSTAL EYES main-man Mikael Dahl felt it was time for a change. Up to the microphone steps former LOST HORIZON vocalist Daniel Heiman. At first Daniel was supposed to sing only two songs on the new album, as a follow-up to his performance on the song THE WIZARD'S APPRENTICE from the last CRYSTAL EYES album VENGEANCE DESCENDING. A couple of months before the recordings were about to begin Mikael learned that Daniel had left LOST HORIZON, and directly discussed the matter with the band who decided to approach Daniel about taking over the lead vocals in CRYSTAL EYES. Daniel and Mikael have known each other since the early '90s when they played together in a band which mainly covered ACCEPT songs, and with a common ground like that it was an easy decision to ask one of the best singers in the world if he wanted to jump on the train. Daniel was very positive about singing in CRYSTAL EYES, but also made clear that when he quit LOST HORIZON he'd set his mind on spending more time on other things, and that singing would be his only engagement in CRYSTAL EYES. Practically this means that Daniel is singing on CONFESSIONS OF THE MAKER and upcoming live performances, but is not a full member of CRYSTAL EYES.

THE MUSIC
The basic recipe of CRYSTAL EYES is straight Heavy Metal. Songwriter Mikael Dahl look upon CRYSTAL EYES as a child of his record collection, and it's no question that Heavy Metal from the '80s has the overwhelmingly biggest representation in that living room. IRON MAIDEN'S THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST was the album that started everything for Mikael, but eventually JUDAS PRIEST crystallised (What a fantastic word!) as the songwriters ultimate heroes. Another British giant that has played a huge part when it comes to the dark and heavy side of CRYSTAL EYES is of course BLACK SABBATH, especially the Ronnie James Dio and Tony Martin years. Beside the British giants one can't talk about CRYSTAL EYES without mentioning the German Heavy Metal scene with the very influential ACCEPT, HELLOWEEN, RUNNING WILD and RAGE. These are maybe quite obvious influences, but to CRYSTAL EYES Heavy Metal is diversity, and bands like WHITESNAKE, WHITE LION, TNT and SCORPIONS are all equally important when it comes to melodies and song writing. In a time when most emphasise brutality and aggressiveness CRYSTAL EYES like to emphasise diversity. Mikael doesn't write albums. He writes songs. And when it's time to record an album the band pick what they feel are the best songs at the moment to get the best and most diverse album possible. So far there have probably never been less than thirty finished songs to choose from prior to every album. The songs that don't end up being recorded now maybe ends up being recorded later on, or not. Who knows? What we do know is that a good song is a good song. No matter what.

THE PRODUCTION
As on the last album Mikael and Claes handled the production, recording and mixing in CRYSTAL EYES own studio CRYSTAL SOUNDS. Except the drums which were recorded at LOS ANGERED RECORDINGS with Andy La Rocque (KING DIAMOND). The band was happy with the overall production on the last album, but has now pushed it a bit towards the heavier side. Still CRYSTAL EYES Heavy Metal is very guitar driven, and if Claes during the process got a penny every time Mikael uttered the phrase "Damn, it doesn't sound enough JUDAS PRIEST." he would be a very rich man. That should guarantee a very metallic and sharp sounding production. Dragan Tanaskovic mastered the album at BOHUS MASTERING.

THE LYRICS
Most of the times the lyrics are written to fit the mood of the finished song, and hence end up being almost as diverse. Though a mix of everyday life reflections, fantasy, science-fiction and some not very serious lyrics seam to be quite common themes. This time some darker views on life than usual like CONFESSIONS OF THE MAKER, THE FOOLS' BALLET, SILENT ANGEL, PANIC and partly THE BURNING VISION inspired to the title of the album and its quite dark accompanying cover artwork from Mattias Norén. The external lyricist Andreas Götesson contributed with the fantasy stuff on THE TERROR and WHITE WOLVES, as usual from his pen inspired by the Warhammer fantasy world, but also the pondering TERMINAL VOYAGE. REVOLUTION IN THE SHADOWLAND being Mikael's fantasy effort. Then of course you got your indispensable happy hack-slash-blood-gore Viking song in NORTHERN RAGE. A must have for any Swedish Heavy Metal band. The second "Viking" song THE CHARIOTEER being about Thor's last days before Ragnarök, inspired by the old Edda.

THE MUSICIANS
Daniel Heiman - Vocals and backing vocals
Mikael Dahl - Guitars, backing vocals, lead vocals on SILENT ANGEL and keyboards
Jonathan Nyberg - Guitars
Claes Wikander - Bass guitars
Stefan Svantesson - Drums

DISCOGRAPHY
WORLD OF BLACK AND SILVER (1999)
IN SILENCE THEY MARCH (2000)
VENGEANCE DESCENDING (2003)
CONFESSIONS OF THE MAKER (2005)

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