SKY OF RAGE, the Swedish metal band featuring ASTRAL DOORS guitarist Joachim Nordlund, will release its self-titled debut album in Europe on July 27 and in North America on August 28 via Metalville. The group's current lineup also includes former ASTRAL DOORS member Mika Itäranta on bass, former THALAMUS member Jan J. Cederlund on the second guitar, Tomas Friberg on drums and Stiff on vocals.

SKY OF RAGE was the idea of ASTRAL DOORS guitar player Joachim Nordllund. Supported by former members of his main band, Joachim brings a new interpretation of classic hard rock.

In the autumn of 2009, the two old friends Tomas Friberg and Joachim Nordlund were listening to old school heavy metal. After that, they decided to write some songs together. A couple of hours (and beers) later the first song had seen its light.

After a couple of months, a few songs were written and the duo decided that they needed a singer for the project. Both wanted a singer that could both growl and sing with a more clean voice because they thought the songs needed that kind of approach. His name is Staffan Carlsson. Staffan worked with some of the already written songs and started to work with the vocals and lyrics right away. It took a while for Staffan to feel comfortable with this kind of heavy metal, but when he had nailed two or three songs they all knew that they had found a unique sound.

As the songwriting process continued, guitarist Janne Cederlund (ex-THALAMUS), an ambitious was the next to join the band. Finding a bass player seemed to be a bit harder for the band, until one night in the spring of 2011 when Joachim was out he met Mika Itäranta. Mika had left ASTRAL DOORS two years ago and now he had the drive to get back into rock and roll again. The band was now complete.

The debut album was recorded in Joachim's Big Turn Studio in the beginning of 2012. Martin Haglund, the former guitarist of ASTRAL DOORS, and a great friend, handled mixing duties on the album. He did an amazing job and the eleven songs that the guys had chosen for the CD created what was to be the band's self-titled debut.

"Sky Of Rage" track listing:

01. Stardust
02. Countdown
03. Sky of Rage
04. Reclaim Your Rights
05. Soldiers in a Line
06. Speed of Light
07. Sacrifice
08. Liar
09. Shape of a Giant
10. If There Was a God
11. Slave

SKY OF RAGE is:

Staffan Carlsson - Vocals
Joachim Nordlund - Lead Guitar
Janne Cederlung - Rhythm Guitar
Mika Itäranta - Bass
Tomas Friberg - Drums