Swedish genre-blending power rockers Dampf will release their second album, No Angels Alive, on August 23 via Silver Lining Music.
Led by singer/songwriter A-TRON (Martin Erikson aka E-Type) and keyboardist/songwriter Beak, No Angels Alive is an all-in ten-song storytelling experience blending expansive yet tightly bound stylistic ingredients incorporating hard rock, thrash, melodic power metal, and electronic edges. Recorded at Yard Street Studios (Solna, Sweden) and produced by Jona Tee, be gloriously warned: Dampf’s second studio offering, No Angels Alive, is not - and never was - conceived to be for the faint of heart. Forged from deep personal fires within Erikson and Beak in 2021, Dampf is about sheer, bombastic, and brutal power fused with melodic journeys into spaces and places which most would fear to tread.
"In Dampf, we can dwell on all kind of stories: the dark, the weird, the eeriness... the rotten parts of the forest and nature or strange gods or weird people or small people living underneath the moss," explains Erikson. "We developed this band so that we can allow ourselves to go to all these places you’re not meant to. It’s so liberating to have a band where you can say, ‘yeah, let’s do this,’ and not be remotely concerned about whether it ‘fits’ or not."
Completed by vocalist Bhéara aka Olivia Thörn, drummer Haderajja aka David Wallin (HammerFall), bassist Bahari aka Pontus Egberg (King Diamond, The Poodles), guitarists Skaeggyxa aka Love Magnusson (Dynazty) and Sha-Zam’s aka Sam Söderlindh, and growler Arkoūda aka Björn Åkesson, Dampf engages in a theatrical journey through the timeless historical corridors of human darkness and their opus, No Angels Alive, plays like a grand collective performance piece, with an innate sense of beautiful, catchy melody finding ample room and context alongside the overall brutality of Dampf.
"Masquerade," the first single from the album, is released today. With its catchy melodic sensibilities, the track balances how in one specific historical story – and today’s society – illusion can be deadly.
Erikson elaborates, "The song explores the dark spirit and soul of Jacob Johan Anckarström, a disgruntled Swedish military officer whose anger and dissatisfaction with Swedish King Gustav III led him to attempt regicide at a Masquerade Ball before assassinating him at the Royal Stockholm Opera on March 16th, 1792. This happened 300 years ago, but the ‘evil eyes’ are still plotting in modern times: today’s ‘Masquerade’ is about keeping people in the dark, giving them bread, water, flour, and keeping them happy with what they see on the surface, which of course only allows darkness to flourish out of sight and in the shadows."
Dampf will gleefully stretch your sensibilities and boundaries, with Erikson, Beak, and the rest of the band reveling in the opportunity to do so. "We can go that dark, that black... We can go anywhere with this. I can just go in my own head and open up those doors that had been locked for so many years. There are no rules for Dampf, and that gives us all a whole lot to enjoy which is so very important. I don’t need people to say they love it; if they tell us they find it very different and very unique, that’s so much better."
Scary yet colorful, heavy yet catchy, listen to No Angels Alive with a genreless mind and an open heart; the rewards of this immense and unique album will be plentiful.
No Angels Alive will be released on CD digipak, 12” Gold And Black Splatter vinyl, digital formats, and special D2C products and bundles. Preorder here.
Tracklisting:
“No Angels Alive”
“Masquerade”
“Ghost”
“Might As Well Have Died”
“Heart Of Darkness”
“War With The World”
“Hellfire”
“Away”
“Mists Of Avalon (Don’t Wake Me Up)”
“Dark Side Of My Moon”
“Masquerade” video:
Dampf:
Martin Erikson [A-TRON] – vocals
Olivia Thörn [Bhéara] – vocals
Beak – keys
David Wallin [Haderajja] – drums
Pontus Egberg [Bahari] – bass
Sam Söderlindh [Sha-Zam’s] – guitar
Love Magnusson [Skaeggyxa] – guitar
Björn Åkesson [Arkoūda] – growls
(Photo – Ted Lindén)
