On April 12th, German extreme metallers Ketzer will release their fourth full-length, Cloud Collider, via Metal Blade Records. 

Looking on Ketzer's musical history, change is what has always defined their sound. From thrashing riffs to atmospheric blackened tunes, Ketzer is a band that has always aimed to defy genres. So what can we expect on Cloud Collider? Nothing more than a ride on a storm cloud, followed by a soft breeze in your face and, finally, a cleansing rainfall. Ketzer's fourth effort will surprise many as a shift into yet another direction, combining many of the band's essential trademarks and carrying them one step further: Raging drum beats, harsh and powerfully thrashing riffs, as well as epic melodies that will haunt you long after the last tone has faded away. After years of intense work, Ketzer have created an album that can only be described as a milestone in their career and a clean break from all expectations: this album is a storm. 

For three years now, Ketzer has been working on something new, and the result is something new indeed: somehow linking all trademarks essential to the sound of Ketzer, now and then, but taking it all one big step further. These new tunes might well be the strongest Ketzer songs to date. Recorded at Markus Stock's infamous Klangschmiede Studio E as well as Laurent Teubls Sculpt Sound Studios in autumn 2018, the suitable visual expression for this new effort has been found by cover artist Adam Burke and illustrator Johannes Stahl. 

Ketzer checked in with the following comment about Cloud Collider: "Lately, we have been possessed by storms. First there is a breeze, then the sky darkens: A sense of electric energy starts to fill the air. A sense of sheer power, building up, waiting to erupt. Cloud Collider will strike you like a force of nature. When recording an album after months of hard work, blood and sweat, it is always our greatest wish, accompanied by the most terrifying fears, that the recordings will be able to 'catch' the songs and their certain, special spark. When we hear the final result for the first time, we have to think: 'THIS is how the next chapter must sound'. Only then, we can be satisfied. With all the more pride and joy we can now say about 'Cloud Collider', that both is the case, and it is without a single doubt! THIS is how Ketzer has to sound in 2019! It is new and it is old and it is everything. It is fast and it is slow and we just can't wait to bring these songs to the stage. This album is a piece of work that we feel embodies all aspects that stand and stood for the sound of Ketzer now and then. An album that manages to still go one step further to form something new!" 

The album's first single, "No Stories Left", comes with a special guest appearance by the legendary Proscriptor McGovern of Absu fame, who not only lent his striking voice to the track, but also added the following comment: "It is with inordinate honor to announce my co-vocalist appearance on 'No Stories Left': the first single to be issued on Ketzer's upcoming album 'Cloud Collider'. What I contemplate = I uproariously touch with voice. What I enter into imagination = I make myself one with; however, a tower can fall twice."

Album formats – preorders available at MetalBlade.com:

-ltd. digipak-CD 
-180g black vinyl (EU exclusive) 
-Red-brown marbled vinyl (EU exclusive - limited to 200 copies) 
-Black/white split colour vinyl (EU exclusive - limited to 200 copies) 
-Blue w/white / red /black splattered vinyl (EU exclusive - limited to 100 copies) 
-Smber marbled vinyl (EU exclusive - limited to 100 copies)

Tracklisting:

“The Machine”
“Keine Angst”
“Walls”
“Cloud Collider”
“Forever Death”
“The Wind Brings Them Horses”
“No Stories Left”
“This Knife Won’t Stay Clean Today”
“(The Taste Of) Rust And Bone”
“Light Dies Last”

“No Stories Left” lyric video: