SHRAPNEL Signs With CANDLELIGHT RECORDS

Candlelight Records has announced the signing of U.K. thrashers SHRAPNEL. The band's new album will be released in early 2014.

SHRAPNEL had this to say about the signing: "We are honored and excited about Becoming part of the Candlelight family. We are extremely proud of the album we have out together and can't wait for everyone to hear it. It's going to be an exciting new year for us!"

Formed in April 2009, SHRAPNEL began its campaign of destruction disgusted with the lack of a vibrant local metal scene. Driven to provide what few others seemed to be doing, SHRAPNEL pooled their myriad influences and came up with a sound that revolves around formidable core of pure-to-the-bone thrash and speed metal, but that never fails to keep one eye on the future of the genre too. Proudly citing the likes of MEGADETH, SLAYER, TESTAMENT and EXODUS as influences, the band have also assimilated elements of everything from traditional heavy metal to modern death metal. The result is a thrilling lesson in neck-wrecking sonic violence.

"The energy in thrash is just so much more satisfying than anything else," says guitarist Chris Martin. "It's technically challenging and exhausting to play live and it gives you that buzz, that rush of adrenaline that few other genres do for me personally. Individually we are pretty different in our tastes but when you throw it all together it works. It's got to have balls and it's got to have attitude. When you find a band that has that bite to them, that testosterone driven aggression, then it's killer. And that's what we do!"

With a lineup completed by lead guitarist Nathan Sadd, bassist Shaun Mcelhinney, drummer Simon Jackson and frontman Jae Hadley, SHRAPNEL recorded and released its first EP, "No Saviours", in 2009 and received widespread acclaim and support from metalheads and metal media alike, proving that this young band are already hitting the nail squarely on the head. A second EP, "The Devastation To Come", was recorded with revered studio wizard Russ Russell (EVILE, NAPALM DEATH) at the controls, and emerged in 2010 to great acclaim. Songs like skull-smashing opener "Eternal War" and the scything, heads-down "Toxic Slaughter" proved beyond doubt that SHRAPNEL were operating on a higher level of skill and creativity than most of their peers, while Russell's skyscraper-levelling production job cranks added a final layer of aural aggravation to the whole brutal enterprise. The band were so thrilled with their first collaboration with Russ that they committed to spending a whole month at Parlour Studios in the autumn of 2012 to piece together their debut full-length album.

"We went into the studio wanting to find out what makes bands great, what makes them great on record and what makes them stand out," explains Chris Martin. "Russ has the knowledge and experience and the opportunity came up. Did you hear EVILE's 'Infected Nations' album or NAPALM's 'Time Waits For No Slave'? Woah! We knew we could get what we were after with Russ and the end results have been beyond our expectations."