Motivator (album)
| Motivator | ||||
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| Studio album from High Spirits | ||||
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Publication |
16th September 2016 |
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| Label (s) | High Roller Records | |||
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Title (number) |
9 |
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running time |
29 min 27 s |
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| occupation | ||||
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Motivator is the third studio album by the US heavy metal band High Spirits . The album was released on September 16, 2016 via High Roller Records.
Emergence
Singer Chris Black began work on High Spirits' third album in May 2014. He had just finished the previous album You Are Here as well as the album Paranoia of his side band Aktor . Black wrote the album again single-handedly, but played the recorded demos to the musicians of his live band regularly and also accepted suggestions for improvement. While most of the songs landed more or less unchanged on the album, the song Reach for the Glory was rearranged several times until Black had found the right version.
Chris Black eventually recorded the album himself because he wanted to keep the sound of his band, which was unusual in his opinion. Of the eleven songs written for the album, nine ended up on the album. According to Chris Black, the two unused songs did not match the atmosphere of the rest of the album and thus gave the reason for the short playing time of almost half an hour. The unused song Just Like a Dream was used as the B-side 7 "single Take Me Home , which was released simultaneously with the album . The single is limited to 500 copies. The album was mixed by Matt Crookes.
background
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According to Chris Black, the album title should sound positive. He told the German magazine Rock Hard that there is "a lot of warmth of the heart, great ingenuity and even greater potential to achieve more" in the world. These things are easily forgotten when people are "constantly reminded of human cruelty". According to Black, the motivator would be “a gentle voice against the chorus of horror and horror”. The album cover designed by Alexander von Wieding shows a plane taking off .
“It's the perfect picture to remind us of our accomplishments and accomplishments. We were born in the sand, but we learned to fly. Where will this journey take us from this point? "
The lyrics on the album are autobiographical and deal with what Chris Black has achieved and still wants to achieve with High Spirits. Do You Wanna Be Famous is about whether and how much a band is willing to sacrifice in order to be successful. Haunted by Love is the only more serious song on the album. With Thank You , Chris Black wants to thank everyone who has supported him.
reception
In the German magazine Deaf Forever , Motivator was named the best album of the issue. Manuel Trummer certified that the album was “breathtakingly light-hearted” and “world-class songwriting”. Every song would be "a hit that bursts with a positive atmosphere, motivating lyrics and pure joie de vivre". Trummer awarded 9.5 out of ten points. For Jonathan Walzer from the online magazine Powermetal.de , motivator is “a major achievement in recent hard'n'heavy history”. The album would be “first-class written, recorded and produced” and could “become a classic”. Walzer also awarded 9.5 out of ten points. Thomas Patsch from the Austrian magazine Stormbringer.at was more critical . The new songs would "sound too familiar and predictable" and "could not build on the debut album". The motivator would be “stagnation at the highest level with a habituation effect”, for which Patsch awarded 3.5 out of five points.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Wolfgang Liu Kuhn: Life is beautiful . In: Rock Hard , October 2016, page 58
- ↑ a b Manuel Trummer: Do you want to be famous? . In: Deaf Forever , No. 13, page 16
- ↑ Manuel Trummer: High Spirits - Motivator . In: Deaf Forever, No. 13, p. 92
- ↑ Jonathan Walzer: HIGH SPIRITS - motivator. Powermetal.de , accessed on September 30, 2016 .
- ↑ Thomas Patsch: HIGH SPIRITS - motivator. Stormbringer.at, accessed on September 30, 2016 .