Meliah Rage have released a video for "Dark As Your Thoughts", from their upcoming new album Idol Hands. Watch the clip below.

The ninth studio album of the US power/thrash veterans from Boston will be out on April 27th (at the Keep It True festival). It was a long time in the making as this time the band's leader, composer and guitarist Anthony Nichols wanted to leave no stone unturned to ensure it sounds just like he had envisioned it. And the delay was really worth it - it sounds huge!

This album marks the return of Paul Souza (the vocal powerhouse that can be heard on the band's three older studio albums) whose more melodic voice complements the music perfectly, and it features some of the most inspired songwriting and best guitar work in the band's history. It's still most comparable to Metallica, but fans of Metal Church, Wargasm, Xentrix, Flotsam And Jetsam, Heretic and Testament should be pleased with it too.

Says the band: "At the Keep It True festival we'll have a small table space for selling our releases, so if you're there and would like to buy the new Meliah Rage CD (or any other of our releases), just come up to our stand!

"Until next Thursday night, May 3rd midnight Standard Central European Time (UTC+1), you can pre-order this CD from our Shop. page with German shipping rates, which are especially convenient for orders from Germany and from outside of Europe. We made it available also in convenient bundles with the previous studio album Warrior and/or the rereleased at the same time Dead To The World 2018 Edition CD.

"And, as always, those who don't collect CDs, can pre-order the album as digital download (in lossless formats) from our Bandcamp page. Later on the album will be distributed digitally by CD Baby and made available also from iTunes, Amazon MP3, eMusic and other retailers."

Idol Hands tracklisting:

“The Kill-All Rule”
“Dark As Your Thoughts”
“Idol Hands”
“Crushed Beneath My Heel”
“Sentenced To Life”
“Absolute Power”
“Infernal Bleeding”
“Where Darkness Lies”

“Dark As Your Thoughts” video:

“Infernal Bleeding”:

Production credits:
Produced, mixed and mastered by: Peter Rutcho
Rhythym guitars: recorded by John Bean Cats Liar Studios
Drums: recorded by Joel Hopkins at Red Devil Studios
Lead guitar and bass: recorded by Peter Rutcho
Vocals: recorded and produced by Rich Spillberg at Solstice Studios

BraveWords flew to Boston recently to witness the filming of two videos from the album; “Dark As Your Thoughts” and “Idol Hands”, produced by Brad Pichi and Brandon Maxham from Omnidawn Productions. Photos by Sephora Hosein from the journey can be viewed in the gallery here.

The event marked the worldwide debut of the entire opus, easily the band’s finest hour to date. Make no mistake, Idol Hands is a veritable feast for power metal fans, complete with Nichols' unmatched rhythmic mastery and Souza’s versatile voice. Still killing to survive... 30 years strong!

And yes, the album title is quite significant, given the fact that Nichols broke his wrist in late 2013 and  was uncertain if he’d play guitar again after three serious surgeries. Meliah Rage is rounded off by original guitarist Jim Koury, drummer Stuart Dowie and bassist Darren Lourie.

About reuniting with singer Paul Souza, Nichols says: “We’ve always been in touch. Paul and I will be friends until death. Of course we will bicker about this and that, but that’s what singers and guitar players do. Joe Perry and Steven Tyler will die in the same coffin, but they will spat with each other. That’s what you do.”

“We are always texting about the Celtics, the Patriots or how are the kids doing,” Souza adds. “We are big time sports junkies. We go back and forth about all kinds of different things. We are going to be friends forever.”

On a side note, you'll notice the surprise appearance during the video shoot by original singer Mike Munro!

Watch for a major BraveWords feature on Meliah Rage in the coming weeks.