DOUBLE DRAGON is all set to release their sophomore album “SONS OF ASENA” worldwide, for FREE download, on Sunday 4/12/2011. The Australian quintet will be giving away their brand new album completely for free from www.sonsofasena.com, from 4:20PM (Australian EST) on Sunday December 12th 2011.
After the release of debut album “DEVASTATOR” (2008 Truth Inc Records/MGM Distribution), DOUBLE DRAGON toured Australia, both as a headline act, and as main support to SLAYER and MEGADETH, CHIMAIRA, THE HAUNTED and SOILWORK on their Australian tours. Additionally the band has supported THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, ARCH ENEMY, DARK TRANQUILLITY, OBITUARY, KATAKLYSM and CARCASS, to name but a few. They’ve also earned coveted spots on Australian festivals THE BIG DAY OUT (2007) and SOUNDWAVE (2009). Double Dragon’s live performance, heralded for its twin guitar attack, thundering drums and commanding frontman, have proven time and time again that without a doubt they can hold their own, no matter who they share the stage with.
In late 2010 the band entered Adelaide’s AGAINST THE GRAIN Studio’s with engineer ANDY KITE, armed with 11 new songs. What they produced over the next 10 months is “SONS OF ASENA”; a concept album boiling over with personal intensity, but also loosely based on an ancient Turkish myth. With two exceptionally talented new members (LIAM WEEDALL – DRUMS, JOSH LAMONT – BASS), and a yearning to try something different musically, Double Dragon abandoned the “melodic death metal” sound they had developed over previous releases, with the intent to make everything nastier, heavier, faster, and more brutal than before.
Vocalist Lee Gardiner comments “With SONS OF ASENA, we really wanted to make this thing sound nasty, dirty, and obviously, heavy. Our guitarists were always big fans of the Swedish metal bands, and I think that is obvious in our earlier works. This time round, we were writing around a lyrical concept and the themes and ideas we had, which really brought out this bluesy, thrashier side of Double Dragon that we had never really touched on before. I think touring with THE HAUNTED around the country – a band that we all adore, opened our eyes a bit in terms of letting our riffs breathe a bit more and putting more emphasis on emotion; almost letting the songs write themselves instead of forcing riffs together. Whatever the song needed, we did it. Even if that meant bringing in guest vocalists: if it worked for the song, it worked for us. For example, we got Tim Giddings from Adelaide band ARCADIA to do some backing harmonies on the track CUT THE CORD, because he had exactly the right tone to his voice and it sounded right. The track TRANSFUSION with Jason North from TRUTH CORRODED: when we wrote the riff he sings on, I could just hear his voice every time I heard it back, so we got him in. And in the title track ASENA, we could hear KATE MILLER HEIDKE – an insanely talented Australian singer-songwriter, doing opera over the riff. And somehow we were lucky enough to make that happen, as well as getting her husband and co-songwriter KEIR NUTTALL to add a guest guitar solo to the track as well. We left no stone unturned artistically, and yeah, to say we’re excited to put this out is an understatement!”
DOUBLE DRAGON has made the decision to give this album away free for fans worldwide through www.sonsofasena.com. There will be no physical copies of the album. Lee comments, “Long story short: it came to money. We have put so much money into this album. We are confident with the songs, we funded our own video clip for “SLAUGHTER OF VIRTUE, and we have a pretty big network online already, so we thought, fuck it, let’s just give it away. We all download music, so it’s only fair. If you want to support the band, then take it, and pass it on to your friends if you think it’s worthy. And if you dig it, buy a t-shirt. We know it’s a risk, but no more of a risk than putting our music into the hands of an industry that is virtually on its knees. I’d just tweet up pirate bay links once it came out anyway, so it’s best we direct the traffic to our own page. We want “SONS OF ASENA” in YOUR collection, so when it’s out, please give it a go. We are confident that if you like metal, you will like this.”
“SONS OF ASENA” is currently receiving its final mixing and mastering at SING SING Studio Melbourne (KARNIVOOL /THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT), with engineer DAN MURTAGH.
The album’s artwork was done by TRUTH CORRODED vocalist Jason North.
SONS OF ASENA TRACK LISTING:
1. Malediction
2. Slaughter Of Virtue
3. Treachery And Manipulation
4. An Introduction Of Sorts
5. Transfusion (featuring Jason North)
6. All Hail the Executioner
7. Cut The Cord (with Tim Giddings)
8. Blood
9. Soulcrusher
10. The Lone Wolf
11. Asena (featuring Kate Miller Hiedke* and Keir Nuttall)
*Kate Miller Heidke appears of courtesy of SONY RECORDS AUSTRALIA
Double Dragon is:
Liam Weedall (Drums)
Davin Buttery (Lead Guitar)
Joshua Lamonte (Bass)
Matt ‘Roady’ Johnston (Guitar)
Lee ‘Liggy’ Gardiner (Vocals)
