VOLBEAT: 'Beyond Hell/Above Heaven' Certified Platinum In Germany

"Beyond Hell/Above Heaven", the latest album from Danish metal rock 'n' rollers VOLBEAT, was certified platinum by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI) (The Federal Association of Music Industry) for sales in excess of 200,000 copies in Germany.

Commented the band: "Together we made it happen. That was something we didn’t dare to dream of to begin with. It's tough to sell records nowadays, but your support and dedication proved that it's possible and you cared enough to bring our album into your collection. That's something we are very proud of, and we want to thank you so much for your VOLBEAT support. Can't wait to see you all again and bring you some new VOLBEAT songs. Together we make it stronger than ever."

In an interview with Soundspike, VOLBEAT guitarist/vocalist Michael Poulsen stated about "Beyond Hell/Above Heaven", "It's our new release and style-wise we're doing pretty much the same as we did on the three previous albums, flirting around with a lot of different styles. It's not easy to say what kind of style VOLBEAT actually is. You have so many different elements from punk and metal and rockabilly and country. For us, it's never been important to be 100 percent one genre or one style."

When asked about how VOLBEAT came up with its unique sound — which has been described as a cross between METALLICA and ELVIS PRESLEY — Poulsen said, "Mostly my parents would play all music from the '50s. We were listening to Elvis, Johnny Cash, Fats Domino and Chuck Berry and Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, all the legendary singers from the '50s. They were listening to them all the time. All those kind of melodies, they were always spinning in my head. Even though as a teenager I was really dedicated and hooked on heavy metal, it seems like later on all the melodies form the '50s continually showed up in my mind. So, it was very natural to mix it all up."

VOLBEAT has tapped Hank Shermann of MERCYFUL FATE to play guitar on its upcoming North American tour as part of "Gigantour".

Shermann most recently shared the stage with METALLICA at one of four intimate shows which took place at the Fillmore in San Francisco as part of the week-long celebration of METALLICA's 30th anniversary as a band for fan club members only.

VOLBEAT last year parted ways with guitarist Thomas Bredahl, who had been a member of the band since 2006.

VOLBEAT has released "Live From Beyond Hell/Above Heaven" via Vertigo/Universal on double DVD, Blu-ray, limited double DVD + audio CD, CD, digital download and VOD. The set includes footage from VOLBEAT's sold-out show in front of 10,000 fervent fans at the Forum in Copenhagen, to the House of Blues in Anaheim, California and the Rock Am Ring show in Germany. It's VOLBEAT conquering performance territory Stateside and across Europe, showing fans that the band is just as comfortable, charged and throttled in front of an audience as intimate as 1,100 or as vast as 80,000.