Frontiers Music Srl has announced the signing of Archon Angel to the label's rapidly expanding metal roster. The band's debut album, Fallen, will be released in early 2020, with a music video for the title track and pre-orders for the album launching on December 4. The band will make their exclusive live premiere on the 2020 edition of 70000 Tons Of Metal, in January. Full cruise details here.

A new band project born from a meeting between producer/guitar player Aldo Lonobile (Secret Sphere) and former Savatage and Circle II Circle vocalist Zak Stevens during the making of Timo Tolkki's Avalon's Return To Eden album, of which Aldo produced and played guitar and Zak did some guest lead vocals. The two soon started talking to Frontiers about the concept of working on new music together, which was met with great enthusiasm from the label. Aldo submitted to Zak some song ideas which were reminiscent of the classic Savatage sound of records such as Edge Of Thorns and Gutter Ballet. The two felt the magic was there, so no time was wasted in getting together to craft an absolutely striking metal album.

Zak Stevens tells the story of how everything came together: "Aldo Lonobile of Secret Sphere was producing the Return To Eden (Timo Tolkki's Avalon) album and that's how we originally met in 2018. He contacted me by email and together we chose the two songs I would be singing on. Right away, it was super easy working with Aldo and we thought very much alike as far as music and production are concerned. And now, here we are today as bandmates in Archon Angel and playing together on the debut album, Fallen!"

"For Archon Angel, we pretty much started all the songs from scratch,” continues Zak. "Aldo had quite a few songs demoed to get things started with and we just went from there. He's an amazing guitarist and I was more than impressed with everything he did. From there, everyone got involved. The band guys in Italy (Aldo - Guitars, Marco Lazzarini - Drums, and Antonio Agate - Keys) and in France (my old friend Yves Campion from the band Nightmare on bass) helped Aldo with the instrumentation. I worked on vocal melodies with Aldo, along with my wife Katherine Stevens, who is a is very creative writer in her own right. She helped Aldo and I with some amazing lyrical contributions and with the overall concept stuff for the album.”

"Zak had a huge impact on my musical background: he has a unique vocal tone and the milestone albums he recorded with Savatage are among my all time favourite albums,” adds Aldo Lonobile. "When Frontiers gave me the chance to work with him during the production of the latest Timo Tolkki’s Avalon Metal Opera Return To Eden I was very excited and everything has been super easy. I am very proud of the music we wrote together and we are a great team, stay tuned for more news!"

Aldo was also helped in the songwriting department by some of the most outstanding writers and musicians from the Italian rock scene including Simone Mularoni (of DGM and Sweet Oblivion) and Alessandro Del Vecchio (Aldo’s bandmate in Edge of Forever and of course Jorn, Hardline, etc.).

The album itself deals with a central character, the "Archon", who is a modern day angel figure. The idea goes back to the religious system of Gnosticism. The only difference is that we are immersing the Archon's story into modern-day times. The Archon is a medium who brings messages to God (Demiurge) from the people of Earth. The only real concept to the albums is that they simply follow the story and life and times of the modern day "Archon" and his life as he is called upon to protect the people of earth through frightening, turbulent times.

Archon Angel are currently working on booking some live shows to present the band in the live environment, but their exclusive live premiere will happen at the 2020 edition of the 70000 Tons Of Metal Cruise. After recent additions such as Devin Townsend and Sortilège to the lineup that already features names like Emperor, Epica and Wintersun, 70000 Tons Of Metal, The Original, The World's Biggest Heavy Metal Cruise, is excited to announce another world premiere event on board, namely the very first live show by Zak Stevens’ new project Archon Angel. Whoever has been following 70000 Tons Of Metal over the past nine years, does not only know that it is much more than just another festival at sea. They will also know that one of the things that make it such a unique once in a lifetime event is that even now, only two months before the Independence Of The Seas will take 3000 metalheads and 60 world class heavy metal bands from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Cozumel, Mexico, from January 7 to 11, for Round 10, the Skipper and his crew always manage to surprise fans with specials - including one time performances, album and band anniversaries, unexpected jam band constellations, and other premieres exclusively happening on board.

Lineup:

Vocals - Zak Stevens
Guitars - Aldo Lonobile
Bass - Yves Campion
Drums - Marco Lazzarini
Keyboards & Piano (Studio) - Antonio Agate