Rockshots Records announces the signing of Brazilian fantasy power metallers DRAGONHEART for the release of their fifth studio album “The Dragon Heart’s Tale” due out this coming August 2023.
Dragonheart members are long-time friends that play songs with medieval and fantasy atmospheres. Some members are fans of RPGs, movies, and video games. As well as medieval music, renascence music, sailors songs, Celtic songs, 80s heavy metal, and German power metal. Their new album “The Dragonheart’s Tale” is 52 minutes of power metal music of their own fantasy stories divided into 3 acts. The first talks about sea and pirates, the second about blood battles, and the third about magic and fire.
The album features 10 tracks covering many styles of power metal, with acoustic tavern music and an orchestrated track, voiceovers, and, sound effects stitching together the narrative of the fantasy world created by the band. The work is rich in instrumentals and vocal arrangements worthy of a band with 26 years on the road. It also features guest vocals from Henning Basse (Metalium, Fire Wind) on “Ghost of The Storm” and was mixed and mastered by Fredrik Nordström (Dream Evil, Hammerfall) along with the album cover artwork by Andreas Marschall (Kreator, King Diamond, Blind Guardian).
The album also marks the return of the band’s original vocalist, Eduardo Marques, the band explains:
“On our last album (Battle Sanctuary) we went towards a darker path, and now with “The Dragonheart´s Tale” we wanted to return to our original roots. This is an epic power metal record with medieval influences capable to put our fans to enjoy the fantasy stories. They are songs that old bards used to play telling legends in taverns of the olden days.”
Vocalist Eduardo Marques also adds:
“This new album is my Ph.D. in heavy metal. It was 19 years of waiting to return to Dragonheart and put all these musical stories together. It’s the highlight of our 26-year career and we hope we’ve made another power metal classic. We cover all varieties and influences in style. I believe that Dragonheart’s Tale has the capacity to make the fan dream again and live our sagas once more.”
Today, the band unveils their first story and the opening song “Dragonheart’s Tale”, which announces the coming of the general and which is a metaphor for the return of the initial lineup of the band. As an introduction to the tales to come and the name of the album.
“This song was composed as soon as Eduardo Marques returned to the band 19 years later. It’s like an anthem and its lyrics are a metaphor. Only when the group is united does the band have strength with their fans. Dragonheart is a hero of album stories and it’s like he’s been reborn and become strong again to tell of his deeds. That’s why it’s the title track of the album. It would be like bards gathered around a campfire reminiscing about the past and planning future battles. This song has perfect bridges and choruses for fans to sing along. In the instrumental parts, there is a lot of influence from classical music. It is the most melodic song on the album.” adds the band.
Listen to “Dragonheart’s Tale” at the following links: https://spoti.fi/43Vrifg
Recommended for fans of Iron Maiden, Blind Guardian, and Helloween, “The Dragonheart’s Tale” is due out on August 25, 2023, and is available for pre-order at https://bit.ly/DragonheartCD
Track Listing:
1 – The Hangman Willy´s Tavern – 1:04
2 – DRAGONHEART’S TALE – 5:35
3 – Act 1: Sea, Waves and Gunpowder – 0:10
4 – UNDER THE BLACK FLAG – 5:11
5 – GHOST OF THE STORM – 6:42 ft. Henning Basse
6 – BARBARIAN ARMADA – 4:24
7 – Act 2: Battle, Honor and Blood 0:09
8 – ERIC, THE RED – 5:22
9 – WESTGATE BATTLEFIELD – 4:58
10 – Act 3: Magic, Anvil and Fire – 0:12
11 – THE DEVIL IS BY MY SIDE – 5:57
12 – PLAGUE MAKER – 4:51
13 – Finale: The Bard 0:27
14 – THE BALLAD OF JOHN CURSED – 3:38
15 – EARLY DAYS – 3:53
Album Length: 52:39
Album Credits (music, cover/art, production):
– Composition: Eduardo Marques/Marco Caporasso/Thiago Mussi
– Produced by DRAGONHEART and Maiko Thomé
– Mixed and Mastered by Frederick Nordstrom
– Cover art concept by Marco Caporasso and Eduardo Marques
– Cover art made by Andreas Marshall
– Drums, Bass, Guitars, Flutes, Percussion, FX and Voices recorded by Maiko Thomé in Sonata Prima Studio, Curitiba, Brazil.
– Eduardo Marques: Voices, Backing Vocals, Electric Guitar, Guitar, Voice Over.
– Marco Caporasso: Voices, Backing Vocals, Electric Guitar, Voice Over.
– Thiago Mussi: ExtraDrum, Backing Vocals.
– Maiko Thomé: Backing Vocals, Voice Overs, Flutes, Percussion.
– Vanessa Rafaelly: Backing and Main Vocals in Plague Maker and Eric, the Red
– Henning Basse: Lead Vocals in Ghost of the Storm.
– Bass: Filipe Mata
– Orchestra: Reinaldo Sniker Jr.
About: The band Dragonheart started its activities on July 10, 1997, in Curitiba, in the south of Brazil. The original line-up had the brothers Marco Caporasso (guitar and vocals), Marcelo Caporasso (drums), Eduardo Marques (guitar and vocals), and Mauricio Taborda (bass and vocals). Soon the band was signed by a label and released their first album, Underdark. The album had excellent acceptance by the public and press.
With a good reception, they released their second album, “Throne of the Alliance”, the first part of a trilogy, and started to appear in 2002 as one of the main Brazilian power metal bands. The album has been mixed and mastered in Finnvox Studio in Finland and the cover art was by Andreas Marschall. And it was elected as one of the best live bands, album, and song of the year by the public and specialized vehicles in Brazil alongside Sepultura and Angra. In April, Eduardo Marques (guitar and vocals) left the band for personal reasons. At the beginning of September 2002, the entry of André Mendes (guitar and vocals) was announced.
In February 2005, the album Vengeance in Black was released, the second chapter of the trilogy, produced by the band and mixed and mastered by renowned producer Tommy Hansen (Helloween, Pretty Maids). The art was again in charge of the German artist Andreas Marschall. The album also left its mark on all the major media of the style and features the participation of German vocalist Olaf Senkbeil. And it yielded a tour in Brazil with the German band Grave Digger and 2 shows with the band Hammerfall and played with Nightwish, U.D.O, Epica, and many other great names of Worldwide Metal.
In 2010, drummer Marcelo Caporasso leaves the band. Then Thiago Mussi is cast on drums.
In 2015, the band ends the trilogy with its fifth album called: The Sanctuary Battle, produced by guitarist André Mendes, mixed and mastered at the Avant-Garde studio by the great Maiko Thome de Araujo. The cover was designed by Dusan Markovic. Pitch Black Records made a worldwide release with great repercussions in Brazil and abroad.
In 2019, the band invited one of the founders of Dragonheart, vocalist, and guitarist Eduardo Marques, to return to the lineup. After almost 20 years, he accepted the invitation and the challenge of composing an album that resumed the identity of the first two works.
Marco Caporasso (Vocals and Guitars), Eduardo Marques (Vocals and Guitars / Lead Guitars) e Thiago Mussi (Drums).
Finally, in 2022, the result of this journey comes true and the album “The Dragonheart’s Tale” is recorded and planned to be released on Rockshots Records in August 2023.
More info: Rockshots.eu | Facebook.com/dragonheartofficial | Instagram.com/dragonheart_metal
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