It’s been almost 60 years and still we await a more unforgettable image than Arthur Brown, robed and face-painted, and dancing across our TV screens with his head on fire, announces Cleopatra Records. I’ll repeat that. With his head on fire.
The song… the hit… of course was called “Fire,” and from Alice Cooper on, decade after decade’s worth of the painted demons who followed in his footsteps have acknowledged the same immovable fact. Arthur Brown did it first.
And now he’s doing it again, stepping out in front of the star-studded union of Chris Poland (Megadeth), Alan Davey (Hawkwind) and Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath) to unleash the most unearthly vocals on earth across Lucifer’s Friend’s “Ride The Sky.”
Taken from the early 70s German iconoclasts’ debut album, “Ride The Sky” is the kind of song that, once heard, can never be forgotten, as Chris Poland – the legendary guitarist whose emotive phrasing and fusion-driven technique helped redefine modern metal – reveals.
“My first exposure to Lucifer’s Friend was when I first moved to LA in 1977. I was surprised when I heard we were covering one of their songs. ‘Ride The Sky’ is such a great song and Arthur’s dramatic vocal style takes it to a whole new place. Especially the last chorus where Arthur really goes for it. And the band follows suit, getting more and more intense right to the end.”
Alan Davey agrees. He and Arthur have worked together in the past, on the singer’s Monster’s Ball album (also available from Cleopatra Records), and he enthuses, “It’s always fun to work on songs with Arthur and those fiery vocals of his. Doing the bass and synths for this single was a blast!”
The accompanying video only adds to the inferno, as film-makers Fred Aching and Holly West explain. “This track had [us] from the first note, making the video a breeze to create. Chris Poland’s got a masterpiece, and we are proud to help bring it to the screen. With vibrant Arthur Brown moments throughout, it becomes a standout experience for fans—a colorful, psychedelic rush from beginning to end.”
Even more impressively, Chris admits, “With the solid rhythm section of Vinny and Alan, it is one of my favorite songs we recorded for the Nuclear Messiah project.” And that really is high praise.
Set for release in the new year, Nuclear Messiah offers up an unprecedented gathering of rock and metal royalty, across a thunderous, all-star concept album constructed around Chris Poland’s visionary guitar.
“Chris isn’t just a guitarist — he’s a spirit of sound,” says Brian Perera, Cleopatra’s founder and the album’s executive producer. “Nuclear Messiah was built around his brilliance and brought to life by an army of legends who share his passion and precision.”
Opening with a commanding spoken introduction by William Shatner, Nuclear Messiah is an apocalyptic, cinematic masterpiece — a sonic prophecy uniting a staggering line-up of 36 of the most iconic musicians in rock and metal history, representing every era of heavy music, and uniting icons from thrash, classic rock, hard rock, and progressive metal: Chris Poland, Marty Friedman, David Ellefson, Glen Drover, Shawn Drover, Chris Adler (Lamb of God, Megadeth), Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal (Guns N’ Roses, Sons of Apollo), Mick Box (Uriah Heep), Joel Hoekstra(Whitesnake, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Night Ranger), Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, Beck, Bogert & Appice, King Kobra), Vinny Appice (Dio, Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell), Simon Wright (AC/DC, Dio), Don Airey (Deep Purple, Rainbow, Ozzy Osbourne), Rick Wakeman (Yes), Jonathan Cain (Journey, The Babys), Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater, Sons of Apollo, Black Country Communion), Bob Daisley (Ozzy Osbourne, Rainbow, Gary Moore, Uriah Heep), Phil Soussan (Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Idol, Last in Line), Alan Davey (Hawkwind), Vinnie Moore (UFO, Alice Cooper), Joe Bouchard (Blue Öyster Cult), Tim “Ripper” Owens (Judas Priest, Iced Earth, Yngwie Malmsteen), Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow, Deep Purple, Yngwie Malmsteen), Sebastian Bach (Skid Row), Andrew Freeman (Last in Line, Lynch Mob), Marc Lopes (Ross the Boss, Metal Church, Let Us Prey), Pat Travers (Pat Travers Band), Ronnie Romero (Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Lords of Black), Arthur Brown (The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Kingdom Come), Lance Lopez (Supersonic Blues Machine, Billy Gibbons), Greg T. Walker (Blackfoot, Lynyrd Skynyrd family), Steve DiGiorgio (Testament, Death, Sadus), Thor (Thor), Fred Aching (Dead Groove, Kings of Thrash, BulletBoys, Powerflo, BillyBio), and Jürgen Engler (Die Krupps).
This extraordinary ensemble forms a living timeline of rock and metal — from the pioneers of the past to the trailblazers of today.
And “Ride The Sky” is your first taste of the treat to come. The full video will be released on December 5. But you know you want a sneak peak at it, so here you go….
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