Soul Seller – Back To Life (2011)
David and Mirko Zublena, two brothers from the Northern Italian town Santhià, 20 miles North East of Torino, started the band SOUL SELLER in 1999. The siblings had the idea of building up a good reputation as a recording and a live act, so they started writing original material. In these early days the guys wrote songs in the classic Hard Rock vein and soon they started to record their first self-produced and self-released CD.
In 2000 the album called "Underground Freedom" featuring ten hard rocking tracks was released with a run of 500 copies and it quickly sold out. In the years to come the band was undecided in which musical direction they should go, they gave a shot at Melodic Hard Rock, Glam Rock and 70s rock and they recorded two demo CDs in 2002 and 2005. Back then SOUL SELLER also struggled with continuous line-up changes and significantly slowed down live activities eventually led the outfit to disband.
Still feeling the passion to break with their music the band started over just two years later with a new line-up and new energy. 2010 was the year of transition to what would soon become the definitive version of SOUL SELLER, just like the Zublena brothers always had it in mind.
Following the recording sessions for some demo songs with Davide “Dave Rox” Barbieri of Wheels Of Fire on vocals, drummer Steve Bucci and new lead vocalist Michael Carrata joined the line-up. Both being experienced musicians having opened with their previous bands for the likes of Alice Cooper, L.A.Guns, Kee Marcello and Talisman.
Creating their own brand of powerful Melodic Rock, fusing heavier elements into their catchy, hook laden tunes and with Michael Carrata's charismatic and melodic vocal performance, combined with his amazing range making a perfect fit with the bands new compositions, the guys were ready to take the band to the next level. Things progressed when their latest demo drew the attention of producer Alessandro Del Vecchio (Ian Paice, Glenn Hughes, Edge Of Forever, Eden's Curse, Lionville, Shining Line) and in December 2010 the band entered the studio with him to record “Back To Life”.
As expected the experienced studio wizard delivers a bombastic sounding album with the trademark backing vocals he is known for. During the recording sessions the new lead guitarist Cris Audisio completed the SOUL SELLER line-up as the fifth band member and the local guest musicians Claudio Beneventi on guitars and Cristiano Conti on keyboards helped out in the studio to round off the album’s sound.
Special performances on the album come from White Skull's Danilo Bar, who plays the guitar solo on “Change Your Heart Tonight” and German solo artist Oliver Hartmann (Avantasia, ex-At Vance) whose signature lead vocals are featured on the duet “Keep On Moving”.
01. Wings Of Freedom
02. Change Your Heart Tonight
03. All I Can Promise
04. Keep On Moving
05. Hope On The Horizon
06. Old Hero’s Prayer
07. Back To Life
08. Hell Of Tears
09. A Message From Planet Venus
10. New Power Day
11. Rock Still Stands
12. Beautiful Heretic’s Dream
Michael Carrata – Lead Vocals
Dave Zublena – Rhythm Guitars, Lead Guitar & Acoustic Guitars
Cris Audisio – Lead Guitar & Rhythm Guitars
Mirko “Mike” Zublena – Bass
Steve Bucci – Drums
Alexandros – Keyboards
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