Rockshots Records has announced their signing of Manigance for the English release of their latest album The Shadows Ball (Les Bal Des Ombres) due out on February 24th, 2023. The original francophone version was released on March 18, 2022.

What started out as a cover band to doing full fledge originals and being garnered "Best French Group of 2003" by Hard Rock Magazine and triumphing on the stage at Hellfest (Live video), The Shadows Ball is the band's eighth studio album and first to be sung in English by new vocalist Carine Pinto who replaced Didier Delsaux in 2018. The band made the decision to do English songs as they wanted to make their music more accessible to foreign audiences in preparation for their 2023 European tour with Rhapsody Of Fire in March.

"This album contains different songs from the Manigance standards. We have shortened the songs and worked on the arrangements. We think we can play a lot of these songs in our shows. It's a sign that the fans should enjoy these songs. They are adapted to be played live. We have evolved in our writing process. The songs are still very rich, but the structure is simpler. We also listen to the latest productions to offer a modern album with a current sound," adds guitarist François Merle.

Sharing powerful music with melodies that hook with you and that are instantly memorable, fans of the band will hear lots of surprises in each song that will make you want to listen to them again and again to catch all the details. From the big riffs that make you want to move your head, to modern guitar solos, and big bass drums that roar like a V6 twin-turbo.

"I decided to do some new guitar parts that were heavier than on the previous albums. I bought new amps to be able to produce a new guitar sound for the new album. I wrote the majority of the new songs. With Carine's new voice I proposed new structures. I preferred to shorten the instrumental parts of the solo to focus on the composition. Lionel worked a lot on guitar arrangements to bring a new and more modern atmosphere. We took advantage of the break with the covid to find new inspirations. The time allowed us to work on the melodies. We also decided to replace some keyboard parts with guitar parts to have a heavier sound than on the previous albums. As soon as the demos of the songs were finished, we started the recording process." says band composer and guitarist François Merle.

With Carine Pinto's voice, Manigance was able to work on new atmospheres. She has a very warm voice in the low register and can also reach high notes. This allows the band to cover a lot of melodies and to try out new structures for the new full-length. The band chose the songs that they thought were the most successful and had different moods. For example "End Of Lock Up", which is a duet between Carine and Zaher Zorgati of Myrath (whom the band toured with across Europe in 2018), is a song with a strong focus on the chorus. They created this song mainly as a crowd-chanter during their live performances.

"As soon as the melody was built, the sound of the guitars came to reinforce the atmosphere of the song. We did a lot of guitar recordings with different amps. This created a very rich guitar sound to accompany Carine's voice." adds Merle.

The new album features twelve tracks that are inspired by Pinto's lyrics from personal and intimate emotions, but also can relate to most listeners, from the betrayal of a friend, the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral (Paris – France), climate change, violence against the LBGT community, confinement during COVID, and domestic violence.

The Shadows Ball is recommended for fans of heavy metal and bands like Battle Beast and Accept.

Preorder the CD at the Rockshots Records webshop.

Tracklisting:

“Odyssey”
“Cold Blood”
“All Your Excesses”
“End Of Lock Up”
“The Shadows Ball”
“Death Warrant”
“High Treason”
“Eternity”
“At Gates Of Memory”
“In Spite Of Everything”
“Dawn Of The New Fight”
“Forgotten Survivor” 

“High Treason” (French version):