Warlord Free Spirit Soar

The US metal legend Warlord was founded in 1981 by Mark Zonder and William J. Tsamis. A year later, in 1982, the song "Lucifer's Hammer" (based on a novel by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle) appeared on the prestigious compilation "Metal Massacre II". As a result, Warlord signed with Metal Blade Records and recorded their first mini-LP. "Deliver Us" was born in 1983 and is now considered the blueprint of "Epic Metal" (along with Manilla Road, Cirith Ungol and Brocas Helm, Warlord is considered the inventor of that style). After a temporary breakup, the strong comeback album "Rising Out Of The Ashes" was released in 2002, followed eleven years later by "The Holy Empire". "The Holy Empire" should remain the last Warlord studio album with new song material, as band founder William J. Tsamis died on May 13, 2021 at the age of just 60. However, another Warlord album was released afterwards, namely "The Hunt For Damien" in 2015. The singer on it is Nicholas Leptos (who also works with Astronomikon, Prodigal Earth, Gangland and Diphteria, among others). The now released "Free Spirit Soar", which also contains two reworked numbers from Lordian Guard, is a tribute by singer Giles Lavery to the musical legacy of Bill Tsamis. He is supported by Mark Zonder (drums), Jimmy Waldo (keyboards/synthesizer), Phillip Bynoe (bass) and Eric Juris (guitar). All songs were recorded between March and September 2023.

Giles Lavery, who also served as producer, explains the album's genesis in detail: "Our stated goal as a band was to finish this music for Bill. And the material presented without question seemed strong enough to inspire us to do so. Bill can be heard on all guitar parts that we were able to isolate from the original demo recordings - just as the remaining Beatles were able to rescue John Lennon's voice from an old demo tape. The majority The guitar passages on "Free Spirit Soar" are played by Eric, but all of the music was written by Bill. And we really tried hard to implement his arrangements as faithfully as possible to the original."

Line-up: Giles Lavery - vocals Eric Juris - guitars Philip Bynoe - bass Jimmy Waldo - keys Mark Zonder - drums