Borås, Sweden-based metallers Crystal Eyes will release their new album, Killer, this summer via Massacre Records.

Maximummetal.com writer Eric Compton talked with vocalist/guitarist Mikael Dahl about Killer. When asked about the upcoming release and the label change Dahl elaborated, "We've nothing bad to say about our last label Metal Heaven. It's a very small company focusing mostly on AOR and melodic stuff and we just felt it was time to get to another level. We sent out some demo recordings and the best offer came from Massacre. This is an old classic label and I actually have a lot of their releases in my record collection."

Many fans will know the name Fredrik Nordstrom. The famed producer has album credits with the likes of In Flames, Dream Evil and Hammerfall. The band has collaborated with him in the past and Dahl explains the decision to continue that tradition this year, "Our last two records were mixed by Fredrik and we think he's the best out there. He's a great guy and he really likes Crystal Eyes. I mixed two records by myself before deciding it was impossible to get the sound I wanted. The sound on the last three records really feels like Crystal Eyes and I'm sure we'll work with Fredrik in the future. We're lucky to have our own studio where we can record and rehearse. Fredrik came to us for a day to set the sound and then we recorded everything ourselves."

The band's album cover is fitting to the title Killer. The band brought in the talented artist Jan Yrlund (Manowar, Tyr) to develop the artwork. Dahl explains the album cover concept and design: "After finishing the lyrics to the song "Killer" I just knew that we had the title for the new record. We had millions of ideas for the cover but Stefan mentioned something he'd seen on a poster for an old horror movie and that became the main idea. It was Massacre who suggested Jan and we thought he'd done some nice things in the past so we decided to give him a try. I have to say that I'm more than satisfied and the cover is exactly what we wanted."

To read the full interview, click here.

Killer tracklisting:

"Killer"
"Warrior"
"Hail The Fallen"
"Solar Mariner"
"Forgotten Realms"
"Spotlight Rebel"
"The Lord Of Chaos"
"Dreamers On Trial"
"Dogs On Holy Ground"

For more details visit CrystalEyes.net.