Behold! A new supergroup is upon us! Guitarist Richie Faulkner (Judas Priest), bassist Rex Brown (Pantera), drummer Scott Travis (Judas Priest) and singer Ronnie Romero (Rainbow) are Elegant Weapons! The band's debut album, Horns For A Halo, was produced by Andy Sneap (Megadeth, Amon Amarth) and will be released this spring 2023 on Nuclear Blast Records.
About the new music, Faulkner said "It's exciting to be part of a label like Nuclear Blast that has such a rich history and level of respect among fans and the music industry. Monte Conner [Nuclear Blast VP A&R] knows Andy Sneap well, and Andy has always held Monte and label in very high regard. Monte has loved the record from the very early demo stages. It's very valuable and important to me that the label I sign with understand and connect with the music. This record represents for me more of my DNA as a guitar player and a songwriter. Heavy, but moving slightly outside the realms of 'heavy metal.' Those roots are obvious, but I wanted to reach in a bit and see what else came out that wasn't necessarily 'expected'."
Elegant Weapons is the culmination of Faulkner's "dream line-up" and a desire to record something with a lot of edge to it. "I've always wanted to make a record with Scott outside of Priest," Faulkner said. "Add to that Rex Brown's unmistakable tone and attitude is something special. Having those guys as the rhythm section is a guitar player's dream. The icing on the cake was Ronnie Romero. One of the new breed of instantly classic vocalists, Ronnie brought a character and a swagger to the songs that is instantly iconic, making these songs his own."
As for the vive, Faulkner says it's "a mix of Jimi Hendrix, Priest, Sabbath, solo Ozzy, and Black Label Society — heavy, catchy, and with melody. Sort of old school and modern at once if that makes any sense, and actually down-tuned a whole step. The Marshall Plexi basically does one thing, but you've got to crank it to 11 for it to have that distorted sound. It hasn't got a lot of bells and whistles on it or different channels and effects. It basically does one thing and does it very well. But again down-tuning creates more of a modern sound, and by using the classic sound of the Marshall Plexi, you get that juxtaposition, that contrast. All told, there are a lot of guitar solos and the songs are on the heavier side. And even though there's a lot of melody, it's still going to shake your bones."
Keep your eyes and ears open for this one, folks—it sounds like it's gonna be a scorcher!
