EIGHTEEN VISIONS, the seminal metal band that earlier this year announced they had reformed and signed with Rise Records, have confirmed they will be playing their first UK dates in eleven years in November. Their long-awaited new album, XVIII, is out now.
NOVEMBER
Thu 09 LONDON Underworld
Fri 10 GLASGOW Cathouse
Sat 11 MANCHESTER Sound Control
On the announcement, singer James Hart says: “We’ve had some of our most memorable shows ever in the UK. When we knew we were going to start playing again, getting back to the UK was an absolute must. Playing new songs in intimate rooms for our wild UK fans is something we’ve been looking forward to most upon returning”.
XVIII, the reunited and re-energised band’s first new album in over a decade, came out on Rise Records in June this year, and is both mission statement and battle cry. It’s a blistering, dense and diverse album. Recharged and newly partnered with Rise records, EIGHTEEN VISIONS sound liberated from the expectations of the outside world, and driven only by their own personal and artistic directive. This is the album promised by the raw alchemy of every other EIGHTEEN VISIONS record. The unrelenting force and unashamed ambition that fuelled every stylistic incarnation of this always evolving band is finally unleashed in XVIII.
The album was made at home in Orange County with UK producer Mick Kenney at the helm. His close relationship with the band [James Hart – vocals; Keith Barney – guitar; and Trevor Friedrich – drums] lent itself to the most fully realised recording in their discography, emphasising every strength in their unique arsenal. Among the album’s many highlights is LIVE AGAIN, a moving tribute to bassist Mick Morris, who passed away in 2013; PICTURE PERFECT, a super heavy, dirge assault on fakery and wolves in sheep’s clothing, dripping with menace; and FAKE LEATHER JACKET, a Molotov cocktail thrown at the music industry, both threatening and staunchly confident.
