With “Maiden Of Shadows”ROSS THE BOSS is taking you to northern sounding realms with ancient guitar melodies and gang shouts, choirs and hooks in viking-style. In contrast the clip looks like it was recorded in the 80s with all that vintage effects and filters. A true metal hymn you would not expect – but we promise: you will love it, if you like true heavy metal!
Ross’ latest effort, Born of Fire, will be released March 6, 2020, and is the fourth album of Friedman and his band (with input from mixing engineer Seeb Levermann) – which arrives not even two years after their chart breaking 2018 effort, By Blood Sworn. While ROSS THE BOSS used this time for extensive touring, they still found time to build their latest epics – which will undoubtedly excite fans worldwide.
“Tour Of Fire” 2020:
01.04. DE Bochum*
02.04. DE Siegburg*
03.04. DE Leipzig*
04.04. DE Eisenhüttenstadt*
05.04. DE Hamburg*
06.04. SE Alvesta*
07.04. NO Oslo*
08.04. NO Haugesund*
10.04. DK Kolding*
11.04. DE Flensburg*
12.04. NL Nijverdal*
13.04. NL Tilburg*
15.04. NL Rotterdam*
16.04. DE Oldenburg Amadeus*
17.04. DE Cham*
18.04. DE Mannheim*
19.04. DE Würzburg*
20.04. IT Milan*
21.04. CH Pratteln*
23.04. ES Barcelona*
24.04. ES Valencia*
25.04. ES Pozal de Gallinas*
26.04. PT Lisbon*
03.07. RU Pereslavl
It’s time for a dose of pure, raw metal! ROSS THE BOSS, the legendary co-founder of Manowar, and his band are back with a merciless new single called “Denied By The Cross”. The track comes off the upcoming album “Born Of Fire”, which will be released on March 6th via AFM Records.
Watch below.
The brand new “Born Of Fire” is the fourth album of Friedman and his band which arrives not even two years after their chart breaking 2018 effort “By Blood Sworn”. While ROSS THE BOSS used this time for extensive touring they built their latest epos which will excite fans worldwide seemingly effortless out of nothing.
“Born Of Fire” is pounding yet fresher and heavier out of the speakers than before, but isn’t lacking any of the typical Ross The Boss trademarks.
Tracklist: 01 – Glory To The Slain | 02 – Fight The Fight | 03 – Denied By The Cross | 04 – Maiden Of Shadows | 05 – I Am The Sword | 06 – Shotgun Evolution | 07 – Born Of Fire | 08 – Godkiller | 09 – The Blackest Heart | 10 – Demon Holiday | 11 – Undying | 12 – Waking The Moon
Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voicespoke to the Ross The Boss Band, including, guitarist Ross Friedman, singer Marc Lopes (Let us Prey) and Bassist Mike Lepond (Symphony X) when they played Foufounes Electriques in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on January 27 2020.
Watch the interview below.
The band went into detail about the musical direction of the new album and lyrical themes, Ross the Boss spoke about the first 6 classic Manowar album that he played and wrote on, as well as the recording of the classic Manowar album ‘Hail to England‘ which the band is showcasing on this North American tour. Plus how Ross Friedman talks how he produced the demo that got Anthrax signed on Megaforce Records with Jon Zazula in the early 80’s.
When asked about the first six Manowar albums
“I was just glad to do those first six Manowar records it was an amazing time and an amazing collaboration with me and Manowar’s Bassist Joey DeMaio where we wrote 6 album in those 6 years together. I don’t think this magic will ever happen again. The songs just kept coming out of us and that is what it is all about in music, writing great songs.” -Ross The Boss
When asked about the making of Manowar’s Calssic Hail to England Album
“What I remember was we were in Canada in Toronto at Phase One studios with Canada’s greatest producer Jack Richardson. We had something like 8 days and we recorded two records in that time, Hail to England and most of Sign of the Hammer, we always recorded as much as we could. I did most of my guitar recording in one or two takes and we saved most of the time for Manowar’s singer Eric Adams one of the greatest singers.” -Ross The Boss
When asked how he helped Anthrax get signed to Megaforce Records
“As Jonny Zazula re-tells the story in his latest book ‘Heavy Tales’, Anthrax was bothering him and chasing him everywhere non stop to get him to sign the band on Megaforce but Jonny did not hear anything he liked at the time. Then someone mentioned that I should produce Anthrax’s demo. Anthrax already knew Manowar as they opened up for us on some shows. So I said ok and I produced the demo which had the song Soldiers of Metal with Neil Turbin on vocals. Jonny Z heard it and said I’m signing them.” -Ross The Boss
When asked about the new Ross The Boss Band album’s Born of Fire musical direction and lyric themes
“It’s a little bit of a change, it’s more upbeat, more energetic, it’s more high energy. I would say there is a more of a thrash element cause of our singer Marc Lopes influence. Two songs are thrash but the rest are just typical Ross the Boss. Bassist Mike Lepond also did an amazing job with the demos, with the songs and the arrangements. I never repeat myself stylistically on any of my records nor in my years with Manowar ” -Ross The Boss
“The new album Born of Fire is 10 times more heavier, I figured on this album let’s really get away from the old stuff. Ross has already written 6 of the greatest Manowar albums so for him to duplicate that did not seem like the right thing. It’s like Iron Maiden trying to make another The Number of the Beast. It has a very modern and European metal production” -Marc Lopes
Glory to the Slain– It’s like a Motorhead Style song with a slick Riff and I thought it would be cool to have a song in that vain. -Mike Lepond
Demon Holiday-“I think I was influenced by 80’s Judas Priest on that song, very Riff Heavy with a great hook.”- Ross The Boss
“That song is part 2 to Devils Day. the Devil got to have his holiday now the demons get to play.”-Marc Lopes
Maiden of Shadows– Ross was looking for some orchestration in the vain of Conan the Barbarian on that song and it has a Celtic Iron Maiden feel. Stu Marshall from Death Dealer wrote that song and Ross Modified the riffs. Michael Romeo of Symphony X also arranged the orchestration.” -Mike Lepond
“The title of that song actually comes from the Sabrina the good witch series (laughs), they called her the Maiden of Shadows, I thought that was a great title, then I went looking into Celtic legends and there is a legend called Morgana the Goddess of battlefield and that’s the song theme.”-Marc Lopes
Fight the Fight- “Me and Mike Lepond wrote that, Mike came up to me and he said I got this tune it sounds like Manowar’s Fighting the World meets Anthrax. As soon as he said Fighting the world, the word FIGHT was stuck in my head and I will fully admit this I stole the melody from the band Hatebreed and they know that.” Marc Lopes
I am the Sword– “That is a classic Ross the Boss riff. The meaning ended up being kind of like the old Testament story of the Exodus”-Marc Lopes
Waking the moon-“That is a Warwolf theme.”-Marc Lopes
Denied by the Cross– “This is my favorite song, it’s brutal, it’s about the first ten minutes of Brahn Stoker’s Dracula, when he denies the cross and his wife gets killed and the blood comes out I like that kind of stuff.”- Marc Lopes
Born of Fire-Me and my guitarist Jonathan from our band ‘Let Us Prey’ wrote that song. I love the verse super old school thrash and the chorus super melodic.”-Marc Lopes
Due on March 6 via AFM Records, “Born Of Fire” is the fourth album of Friedman and his band, their last album was “By Blood Sworn”.in 2018
One can’t talk about genre defining acts in the metal scene without mentioning one man: Ross “The Boss” Friedman has written music history as a founding member of Manowar and The Dictators. His influence in heavy metal and also punk is noticeable to this day.
Manowar’s first six masterpieces which saw him significantly involved in between 1982 and 1988 are immortal classics today, and that the band wasn’t able to deliver the same quality again after his departure speaks for the New York based guitarist and songwriter.
Since 2006 Ross again is releasing traditional and raw epic metal which calls up memories of the Manowar masterpieces from the 80’s with its very own style.
The brand new “Born Of Fire” is the fourth album of Friedman and his band which arrives not even two years after their chart breaking 2018 effort “By Blood Sworn”. While ROSS THE BOSS used this time for extensive touring they built their latest epos which will excite fans worldwide seemingly effortless out of nothing.
“Born Of Fire” is pounding yet fresher and heavier out of the speakers than before, but isn’t lacking any of the typical Ross The Boss trademarks.
Tracklist: 01 – Glory To The Slain | 02 – Fight The Fight | 03 – Denied By The Cross | 04 – Maiden Of Shadows | 05 – I Am The Sword | 06 – Shotgun Evolution | 07 – Born Of Fire | 08 – Godkiller | 09 – The Blackest Heart | 10 – Demon Holiday | 11 – Undying | 12 – Waking The Moon