Canada’s most exciting metal band, power metal powerhouse Unleash The Archers, recently announced the upcoming release of their game-changing sixth studio album, Phantoma, out 10th May (Napalm Records).

Following their highly-acclaimed latest singles 'Green & Glass', 'Ghosts In The Mist' and 'Seeking Vengeance', today the band ushers in release week with epic album closer anthem 'Blood Empress'. The track tells a bittersweet tale with spine-tingling, grooving choruses before closing with a grandiose blastbeat attack amid a sea of voices.

Watch the new video here: https://youtu.be/Xx5Le0L7rOs

Pre-order Phantoma here: https://lnk.to/UTA-Phantoma/napalmrecords

On the new concept album, listeners join protagonist Phantoma, a Phase 4 / Network Tier 0 unit -model A, on an inspiring yet harrowing journey as she discovers the brutal truths behind the manufactured sheen of social media posturing on a dystopian, near-future planet Earth. With the band’s one-of-a-kind blend of power metal, traditional heavy metal, modern prog and pop sensibilities, Phantoma spins a web of sharp musicality, high sci-fi concept and important social commentary.

Vocalist Brittney Slayes on 'Blood Empress': "This was the last song that we wrote for the album and we wrote it together in our Airbnb while we were recording. We always like to save one song to write together in the studio to give a kind of snapshot of the headspace we were in while recording, and this one was a ton of fun. We wanted to do a bit more of a radio rock track and have it be something simple that would be a blast to play live and potentially end the set with. The album story ends with Phantoma having destroyed both The Collective and the Human Council that once stood against her, but now she had all of robotkind and humankind looking to her for where to go next. We wanted the song to feel dark but also triumphant, and to hopefully be catchy enough to make the listener want to start the album all over again. The video was filmed once again by RuneGate Studio and they did an awesome job with finding a set that could parry between both the synthetic and the human sides of the story. We all love this track in UTA and hope that you all can bang your heads to it too!"

Phantoma follows the band's 2020 breakout album, Abyss, which won the JUNO Award for
Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year after debuting at #1 on the US Current Hard Music and Top New Artist charts, and was dubbed by Bandcamp as “a mandatory listen” upon release.

Intertwining reality with imagination, Unleash The Archers were inspired to utilise elements of AI during the creation of Phantoma, in keeping with its future-facing theme. Frontwoman and lyricist Brittney Slayes conjured the album's concept in 2021; before the swarm of pressing commentary surrounding AI began to reach an all-time high. With the band’s one-of-a-kind blend of power metal, traditional heavy metal, modern prog and pop sensibilities, Unleash The Archers spin a web of sharp musicality, high sci-fi concept and important social commentary about discovering the brutal truths behind the manufactured sheen of social media posturing.

The band weaved electronic and synthwave elements throughout the album’s 10 colossal anthems, which - in line with its theme - prove much darker and heavier in comparison to the bright positivity of Abyss. Album opener 'Human Era' sets the tone with imagery of a bleak, windswept futurescape that crescendoes headlong into the breakneck pace of power metal bastion 'Ph4/NT0mA' - a masterwork of duelling guitar solos and vocal acrobatics. Trad-metal influenced 'Buried In Code' lights the way with pummelling rhythms before the album’s path turns dark on heavy metal hardened 'The Collective', with Brittney Slayes’ warm tones inviting the listener to ‘join or stand aside’! Hair-raising first single 'Green & Glass' unveils the truth before the upbeat 80s-flavoured 'Gods In Decay' and the extraordinary balladic anthem 'Give It Up Or Give It All' showcase the varied songwriting prowess of Unleash The Archers’ modern era. A trifecta of concept closers begins with the moody 'Ghosts In The Mist', leading into the soaring yet menacing 'Seeking Vengeance' before closing with the bittersweet tale of 'Blood Empress'.

Mixed and mastered by Jacob Hansen, and with lead guitarist Andrew Kingsley at the helm as both principal songwriter and producer, Phantoma is an exciting advancement in Unleash The Archers’ songwriting and storytelling mastery, and a giant leap forward in their towering musical trajectory.

Unleash The Archers are:
Brittney Slayes - Vocals
Scott Buchanan - Drums
Grant Truesdell - Guitar, Vocals
Andrew Kingsley - Guitar, Vocals
Nick Miller - Bass

Unleash The Archers online:
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NAPALM RECORDS

Modern power metal icons Unleash The Archers unveil new single 'Blood Empress'

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