Frontiers Music Srl recently announced the upcoming release of reissues of Brazen Abbot’s studio albums, Eye Of The Storm and Bad Religion, out on December 6.
"The Road To Hell" featuring Joe Lynn Turner and taken from the Eye Of The Storm album is available below. Pre-order Eye Of The Storm here, and Bad Religion here.
Talking about Eye Of The Storm, Nikolo Kotzev says: “Here’s the second Brazen Abbot album. As always - a labour of love with many memorable tracks. The great Joe Lynn Turner and the Europe guys gave it a special flavour. With this re-release Brazen Abbot comes to life once again! Enjoy!”
“Here’s the re-release of the third Brazen Abbot album. It saw the light of day in 1997, and now, almost 30 years later, it still shines bright as a sunny morning! As usual - brilliant singers and top notch musicians in this musical gem. Rock on!”, he adds in regards to Bad Religion.
Brazen Abbot was originally conceived as a studio project by Bulgarian guitarist, producer, and songwriter Nikolo Kotzev. The band has since performed live on several occasions, particularly in the early 2000’s
A unique feature of Brazen Abbot is its use of multiple singers on each album. Göran Edman and Joe Lynn Turner have contributed with vocals on most of their records. Initially, Kotzev planned to work with a single vocalist, Göran Edman (ex-Malmsteen) but, due to contractual restrictions, he could only record two songs for the debut album. The “Voice of Rock” Glenn Hughes was then lined up to sing the remaining tracks, but similar issues limited him to three songs.
To complete the album, Thomas Vikström (Talk Of The Town and later on Therion) was brought in, and Kotzev was so satisfied with the outcome that he decided to continue the multi-singer approach for future albums. However, during live performances, Joe Lynn Turner (ex-Malmsteen, Rainbow, Deep Purple) usually handled all lead vocals.
Several Brazen Abbot members also participated in Kotzev’s rock opera Nostradamus (2001). During the rock opera’s development, Brazen Abbot was temporarily on hiatus. Former members of the band include Mic Michaeli, John Levén, and Ian Haugland, all of whom are also members of the legendary rock band Europe.
Eye Of The Storm is the second album from Brazen Abbot. Released originally in 1996 on the Japanese label Zero/JVC and shortly after by the German label USG Records, Eye Of The Storm sees the addition of the awesome singer Joe Lynn Turner to the line-up.
His influence is particularly evident on songs like “Twist Of Fate”, “Line Of Fire”, and “Road To Hell”, while the Europe influence can be found in “Wake Up Everybody”, with a great vocal performance from Thomas Vikström. Göran Edman also appears on lead vocals stamping his mark especially on the power-ballad “Everything's Gonna Be Allright”.
The album cemented the reputation that Brazen Abbot managed to achieve with their first album and offers a truly solid and brilliant melodic hard rock release for all the fans of the genre.
Bad Religion is Brazen Abbot’s third studio album, released in 1997 simultaneously by the Japanese label Zero/JVC and by the German label USG Records.
The record builds from where the previous album left off, offering a hard rock sound heavily influenced by Rainbow, Deep Purple, Yngwie Malmsteen, Whitesnake and of course Europe, with a slight symphonic edge which came from the mastermind’s Nikolo Kotzev classical training.
Bad Religion sees again three members of Europe in the lineup of musicians, while singers Joe Lynn Turner, Göran Edman and Thomas Vikström put their own stamp on some truly amazing hard rock belters.
Eye Of The Storm tracklisting:
"Eye Of The Storm" (Joe Lynn Turner, vocals)
"Twist Of Fate" (Joe Lynn Turner, vocals)
"Fool In Love" (Göran Edman, vocals)
"Line Of Fire" (Joe Lynn Turner, vocals)
"Wake Up Everybody" (Thomas Vikström, vocals)
"Everything's Gonna Be Allright" (Göran Edman, vocals)
"Common People" (Göran Edman, vocals)
"The Road To Hell" (Joe Lynn Turner, vocals)
"Restless In Seattle" (Göran Edman, vocals)
"Highway Cindy" (Thomas Vikström, vocals)
"Devil's Allegro" (instrumental)
"I'll Be There For You" (Göran Edman, vocals)
"Eye Of The Storm" feat. Joe Lynn Turner:
Bad Religion tracklisting:
"The Whole World's Crazyv (Joe Lynn Turner, vocals)
"Nightmares" (Thomas Vikström, vocals)
"Two Of A Kind" (Göran Edman, vocals)
"I Will Rise Again" (Joe Lynn Turner, vocals)
"Day Of The Eagle" (Göran Edman, vocals)
"We Don't Talk Anymore" (Thomas Vikström, vocals)
"Wings Of A Dream" (Joe Lynn Turner, vocals)
"Bad Religion" (Göran Edman, vocals)
"Father To Child" (Thomas Vikström, vocals)
"Love Is On Our Side" (Joe Lynn Turner, vocals)
"The Empire Of The Sun" (Göran Edman, vocals)
"The Whole World's Crazy" visualizer:
Lineup:
Nikolo Kotzev – Guitars, keyboards, violin
Ian Haugland - Drums
John Leven – Bass
Mic Michaeli – Hammond
Joe Lynn Turner – Vocals
Thomas Vikström – Vocals
Göran Edman - Vocals
(Photo - Robert Jansson)
