After two years of aggressive touring that saw the group perform alongside Amon Amarth, Blind Guardian, Exodus, Toxic Holocaust, 3 Inches of Blood and more, the Los Angeles quintet HOLY GRAIL will soon enter the studio to record the follow-up to their debut, “Crisis In Utopia,” which Revolver named one of the Top 20 metal releases of 2010.
In the meantime, the band will release a holiday-themed 7-inch, “Seasons Bleedings,” which is available now for pre-order. Limited to 500 copies (250 red, 250 green), the release — which will be available digitally on Dec. 6 and ship to customers shortly thereafter — includes covers of King Diamond’s “No Presents For Christmas” and the Rainbow classic “Kill The King,” and features artwork by Sam Turner (3 Inches of Blood). This marks the first time that guitarist Alex Lee (ex-Bonded By Blood), who joined HOLY GRAIL in the spring, has recorded with the group. Pre-order “Seasons Bleedings” NOW.
The digital version of “Seasons Bleedings” will also include covers of Judas Priest’s “Exciter” and Accept’s “Fast As A Shark,” both of which originally appeared on the group’s out-of-print debut EP “Improper Burial.” (A limited number of “Improper Burial” 7-inches, which do not include the covers, are still available here.)
Vocalist James Paul Luna commented: “Back when EJ and I first talked about doing a X-mas 7″ the first song that came to mind was “No Presents for Christmas” so I’m pretty happy to see that came to fruition. Eli was listening to lots of Rainbow at the time so naturally “Kill The King” was our immediate second choice. Even though these versions can’t out-do the legendary originals by King and Dio I feel pretty happy and excited to see this released on vinyl.”
Guitarist Eli Santana added: “It was pretty rad because after all the touring we’ve done the past year we got to get back into recording mode and test the waters plus have fun with it before settling down to work on the album.”
Seasons Bleedings 7-inch track listing:
A. No Presents For Christmas
B. Kill The King
Seasons Bleedings digital track listing:
1. No Presents For Christmas
2. Kill The King
3. Exciter
4. Fast As A Shark
The artwork for “Seasons Bleedings” appears above.
More information about HOLY GRAIL’s sophomore album will be revealed in the near future. The band was just confirmed to participate in Australia’s Soundwave Festival in early 2012 and will playing a hometown show on December 1st as part of the “New Years World Rock Festival.”
12/1 Hollywood, CA- King King
2/25 Brisbane, Australia- RNA Showgrounds
2/26 Sydney, Australia- Showground
3/2 Melbourne, Australia- Showgrounds
3/3 Adelaide, Australia- Bonython Park
3/5 Perth, Australia- Claremont Showgrounds