While waiting for August 5th and the release of Tarja's new album, The Shadow Self, the queen of heavy rock has yet another surprise for her fans: Tarja and earMusic proudly announce the release of the new album's prequel, entitled The Brightest Void. With over 50 minutes of new music, the extra album will sweeten the wait until August.
 
Tarja explains: "Surprise, surprise! I genuinely hope that The Brightest Void is a pleasant surprise to each and every one of you. During the long process of recording the songs for my new studio album The Shadow Self, I realised that there were so many tracks, too many too dear to me, for just one album. So this time I decided to keep nothing for myself and to share all my favourite new songs with you, the fans, who have shown such passionate and constant support."

She continued, "The Brightest Void gives more than a first taste of The Shadow Self; it is a full album filled with nine songs! I am sure that everyone will immediately discover how much The Brightest Void and The Shadow Self are entwined with each other. But at the same time, they are two independent records which stand on their own. I hope the release of the prequel sweetens the wait until August and that you will like the songs as much as I do. I will present songs from both albums already in summer festivals and in my headliner tour later this year."
 
"As always, keep your eyes open. There might be further surprises down the road."
 
The Brightest Void will be released in June via earMusic. The exact date (and a new music video) will be revealed soon!
 
The Brightest Void features not one but three incredible guest artists: fellow Finnish star Michael Monroe, icon of the glam rock scene and former front man of inspiring band Hanoi Rocks; Chad Smith (who doesn't need any further introduction); and a new mix of Within Temptation's collaboration "Paradise (What About Us)" carried out with Tarja and world renowned sound engineer and producer Tim Palmer.

The prequel presents Tarja's new single "No Bitter End" as the album opener and furthermore shakes you with an incredible cover of Sir Paul McCartney's overlooked gem "House of Wax" and adds a new twist to Dame Shirley Bassey's James Bond main theme hit "Goldfinger".


 
The tracklist for The Brightest Void is as follows:

"No Bitter End" 
"Your Heaven And Your Hell" (with Michael Monroe)
"Eagle Eye (with Chad Smith)
"An Empty Dream" 
"Witch Hunt"
"Shameless"
"House of Wax"
"Goldfinger"
"Paradise (What About Us)" (new mix of the Within Temptation and Tarja collaboration)

The Shadow Self is due for release on August 5th via earMusic. A snippet of the new track “No Bitter End” can be found below.

Says Tarja: “I am happy to share a snippet of my new song "No Bitter End". This is not even the first single from The Shadow Self, but consider it as a small offering before a big surprise I've prepared for you all.”

"I am very excited to finally be able to share the first details of my new heavy rock album with all of you," Tarja previously stated. "The Shadow Self is full of songs that are very dear to me. I cannot wait for you to hear the record that I believe is one of my heaviest albums to date. Keep your eyes open as there will be many surprises along the way to the album release on August 5th. I really mean it. Surprises will follow very soon."

With the release of her fourth rock album, the versatile singer is following up on the success of the multi-platinum and gold-awarded previous records: My Winter Storm (2007), What Lies Beneath (2010), and her most recent album, Colours In The Dark (2013), which charted all over the globe, including four Top 10 entries.

The Shadow Self is now available for pre-order in various formats, including CD Standard, Special Edition CD+DVD. Head to this location.

Tarja will perform songs from her upcoming album for the first time on festival dates this summer. All dates can be found on Tarja's official website.