Metal
Archon Angel release “Beyond The Grave” on 11 December through Frontiers Music. There are eleven tracks and the title track is already out, with a lyric video. It is the band’s third album.
The project is made up of singer Zak Stevens, of Savatage, and guitarist and producer Aldo Lonobile, who plays guitars and bass on the record. Marco Lazzarini completes the recording lineup on drums and Antonio Agate on synths, piano and orchestral arrangements. The titles include “Bloodline”, “Without Eyes”, “Chasing Demons”, “Darkest Hour”, “Asylum” and “As One”.
“I thoroughly enjoyed working on this record. I think it’s our strongest effort to date,” Stevens says. “As far as the music goes, we’ve ventured into areas and inspirations that we haven’t previously explored. That’s a goal with every Archon Angel record, but we were able to explore a lot more angles during the writing of this one.”
Stevens joined Savatage in 1992 as Jon Oliva’s replacement and sang on four albums: “Edge Of Thorns” (1993), “Handful Of Rain” (1994), “Dead Winter Dead” (1995) and “The Wake Of Magellan” (1997). He left in 2000, when Oliva returned, and both sang at Wacken Open Air in 2015, the band’s first show after the 2002 hiatus.
Savatage’s 2025 and 2026 comeback shows have featured Chris Caffery and Al Pitrelli on guitars, Johnny Lee Middleton on bass, Jeff Plate on drums and Stevens on vocals.
Text by Roger Estivill