
Heavy Metal Till I'm Dead
The basics for the song Heavy Metal Till I'm Dead were written the day after I attended a Rammstein concert. It took a while before I had worked out the basis in such a way that I could send it to Keith, so he could do his thing with it. I remember that day in December '21 when Keith sent the first draft. I was blown away by the catchy vocal line and metal-loving-lyrics!
We kept on finetuning for a while and we both felt we had gold here.
Next up was Joey Concepcion who colored the song with a couple of intense guitar solo's. Again, we were flabbergasted by Joey! What a talent!
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What hit me like a hammer in the lyrics of Heavy Metal Till I'm Dead was the opening sentence 'It's my sole religion'. There's a some history behind this simple sentence. As a kid I struggled with my catholic upbringing; I was never into religion, as religions never bring anything good. Except for Heavy Metal, that's the only religion that I will be faithful to until I die. That is what I get out of the the song Heavy Metal Till I'm Dead.
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My religious interpretation of the lyrics was translated into the beautiful cover design. This was done by the great Brazilian graphic designer Gustavo Sazes, who has worked with many artists, like Gus G., Arch Enemy, Kamelot, Joey Concepcion and many many more. You can see Gustavo's portfolio here
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Heavy Metal Till I'm Dead is the first single of the new album, and sets the standard for the sound of the album.
The mix is done by Hans Pieters, who did the production of Rise as well, and with whom I have a very good common understanding and approach of the music.
Hans delivered a great mix which was then mastered by Svante Forsbäck, who you may know from his work for bands like Rammstein, Volbeat, Lindemann and many more adding up to 4.000+ albums!
Both engineers did a great job and I'm so happy they helped to achieve the goal that the second album has a better sound than the debut album!
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Heavy Metal Till I'm Dead
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Intro Guitar Solo: Joey Concepcion
Yeah
Here we go
It’s my sole religion
The sabbath’s in my ear
Makin all the lame chains disappear
Ooh yeah
There’s a battle raging
I feel the heavens pound
Hellfire’s blazing
Through the sound
Yeah
Eternal destination
Free from all damnation
The birth of my salvation is calling me
I’m living high on
Heavy metal
Thunder’s ripping through my brain
I want heavy metal
Metal pumping through my veins
I’m talking heavy metal
The gods are gonna bang their head
Saved by
Heavy metal
Heavy metal till I’m dead
There’s a screaming revolution in me
Yeah
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Guitar Solo: Joey Concepcion
Till I’m dead
Rock the metal thunder
Feed my metal soul
Now my body wants to lose control
Circus crowd’s electric
Sabbath’s in my eyes
I’m waiting for the darkness to hypnotize
I’m living high on
Heavy metal
Thunder’s ripping through my brain
I want heavy metal
Metal pumping through my veins
I’m talking heavy metal
The gods are gonna bang their head
Saved by heavy metal
Heavy metal till I’m dead
Till I’m dead
Heavy metal
Till I’m dead so dead so dead so dead
Heavy metal till I’m dead
Ooh my God!
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Music: Ron Coolen
Lyrics: Keith St John
Vocals: Keith St John
Guitar solos: Joey Concepcion
Rhythm Guitar, Bass, Drums, Keyboards: Ron Coolen
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