KEVIN STORM

Session guitarist KEVIN STORM, known for his work with bands such as VULTURE INDUSTRIES, KALMAH, EQUILIBRIUM, SHINING to name but a few, has today revealed the details of his new project FLEETBURNER, and the upcoming self-titled debut album which will be released on Butler Records.

The idea of forming FLEETBURNER came about when both Storm and drummer Tomas Myklebust (MISTUR, GALAR, KABARET MAKABER, ROADKILL) were on tour with VULTURE INDUSTRIES as session musicians, and ended the tour agreeing that they should form a band together.

With Netherlands’ Storm on Guitars, Keys, Soundscapes, Production and Story, and Norway’s Myklebust on Drums and percussion and additional sounds, FLEETBURNER’S multi-national ranks were soon expanded with the arrival of US vocalist Ken Simerly, Finland’s Veli-Matti Kananen (KALMAH, VINTERGATA) on Keys, and Sweden’s Peter Iwers (ex-IN FLAMES) on bass.

According to Storm, “Fleetburner” is a concept album about “leaving everything behind, burning all ships in your wake, to sail towards…everything but this”. The main protagonist, and namesake of both the band and the album, is The Fleetburner, who has set sail towards no particular destination but with the goal of steering away from pain, and pursued by an ever-growing fleet of blood-spillers who want what he has, without truly knowing what that is.

The albums storyline encompasses the entire lifespan of the protagonist who starts out as an insecure, runaway child, and develops into the voyage of a man facing his both his inner, as well as his external, demons. The first track from the album, which the band has chosen to debut as a video is “Open Water”, which sees The Fleetburner reach open water “after having fled the land-based world, where fires rage, war is waged and man cannot escape the infinite cycle of pain and human error“. It is a deeply emotional and personal song that deals with carrying the burden of your fellow man and the taking of what was never given”.

With Artwork by Kevin Storm and Motion Graphics and lyric video by Martin “Captain Morgue” Vrigsjo Staflin of MVS Visual, the video for “Open Water” can be seen at

Whilst the track itself can be streamed or downloaded at https://fleetburner.lnk.to/openwater

Mixed & mastered by Hans Pieters at The Peoples Noise, with Vinyl Edit by Renzo van Riemsdijk at Masterenzo.nl, “Fleetburner” is Produced by Kevin Storm at the Stormstudio. Drum edits are by Daniel Medley at Ten South Sounds. With Artwork by stuz0r and Logo by Gustavo Sazes track listing for “Fleetburner” is as follows:

I: The Land
II: The Beach
III: The Breakwater
IV: Open Water
V: The Fleet
VI: The Passenger
VII: The Deck
VIII: The Course
IX: Below the Waves
X: The Deep
XI: The Endless

“Fleetburner” includes guest appearances from Agnete M Kirkevaag (MADDER MORTEM) – Additional Vocals, Voice of the Ocean, Caleb Bergen (SLEEPWALKERS) – Additional Vocals, Voice of the Ocean, Nils Courbaron (SIRENIA, THINK OF A NEW KIND) – Guitar solo on tracks II and IX, and Christopher Amott (DARK TRANQUILITY) – Guitar solo on track X. Along with Maria Scream Arkhipova (ARKONA), Joni Snoro (EPHEMERALD) and Nils Groth (HERETOIR) who make up the Voices of the Fleet on “The Endless”

Set for release in September (exact date to be announced), “Fleetburner” will be available in CD and Digipak formats, including a double-sided artwork poster, and as a Gatefold, double LP which will include a large double sided artwork poster, and an interior design exclusive to the vinyl release, by Stuz0r.

Moved by the devastating Australian wildfires, Heavy Metal musician KEVIN STORM, has recruited a plethora of fellow musicians, including VULTURE INDUSTRIES frontman Bjornar Erevik Nilsen and Dark Essence Records artist and video producer COSTIN CHIOREANU, to form AUSTRALLIANCE to take part in a single released to raise money for the Wires Wildlife Rescue (https://www.wires.org.au) which will receive any and all proceeds from the single.

You can buy, or donate as much as you want, for the single, titled “Can’t shut it off”, directly from Kevin on Bandcamp at http://www.kevinstorm.bandcamp.com.

As well as from all the usual streaming and downloading services via https://darkessencerecords.fanlink.to/Australliance

Romanian musician, artist and video producer COSTIN CHIOREANU, has also created a video for “Can’t shut it off” which can be seen below.

According to Kevin the song “starts as the loudest scream of despair yet ends with a sigh of hope,” and he explains how not just fellow musicians, but also major companies involved in the metal scene, including Norway’s Dark Essence Records, and the metal community in general, rallied to his call to produce produce “Can’t shut it off”:

My name is Kevin Storm, I am a professional heavy metal musician that tours the globe and last Sunday the news of Australia’s wildfires had me in tears. I couldn’t sleep and wrote the lyrics in 5 minutes, and the day after started recording a charity song during a 10-hour live stream. After this I started inviting fellow musicians to contribute.

The whole thing grew out of hand as the community started to gather around it and in one week we had 16 musicians, some VERY well known in the heavy metal community, who all contributed to a heartbreaking song that is mixed in one of the best recording studios, backed by major companies And so much more is happening in the campaign.

The song ends in a 24 piece-choir and musicians taking part include:

Kevin Storm – Lyrics and Songwriting, Guitars, Keys
Shawter (Dagoba) – vocals
Bjornar Erevik Nilsen (Vulture Industries) – vocals
Daniël de Jongh (Textures) – vocals
Cammie Gilbert (Oceans Of Slumber) – vocals
Louis Soenen (Fields of Troy) – additional vocals
Nils Courbaron (Sirenia) – guitar lead
Chris Gedge (Mocha Metal) – additional guitar
Eligio Tapia (Crepuscle) – additional guitar
Christina Earlymorn – Dermon (Finsterort) – additional guitar
Veli-Matti Kananen (Kalmah) – keyboards, bass
Frank Schilperoort (Dictated,..) – drums
Carmen Agtsteribbe – additional vocals
Harri Koskela (Lost in Grey) – choir
Anne Lill (Lost in Grey) – choir
Emily Leone (Lost in Grey) – choir

Drums for “Can’t shut it off” were edited by Daniel Medley at Ten South Sounds and was mixed by Bjornar Erevik Nilsen and Mastered by Herbrand Larsen at their Conclave and Earshot Studios in Bergen, Norway.