AATR PREMIERE – ARTILLERY “The Challenge” lyric video

15th December 2023 0 By Jon Deaux

To celebrate ARTILLERY’s upcoming live album “Raw Live (At Copenhell)”, the band releases, in digital single and lyric video formats, the track “The Challenge”, from the record. “The Challenge” is one of the oldest tracks in Artillery’s live set, having been originally recorded in 1986, in the “Terror Squad” demo. It’s a call to arms to all Artillery fans in the audience, an old-school 80s thrash metal war cry that leaves no Artillery concertgoer indifferent.

Artillery is not a band of many live albums, In fact, in over four decades, they have put out just one. Until now. So, when it’s bound to happen, it should be special. Enter “Raw Live (At Copenhell)”. Recorded in 2022, just coming out of pandemic lockout, in one of the biggest metal festivals in their home country (and among the biggest metal festivals in Europe!), the live set by the Danes was impeccable. Sadly, it was also one of the last live appearances by drummer Josua Madsen, who was killed the next year in a car accident. It also marks a turning point for the veteran thrashers, who recently said goodbye to vocalist Michael Bastholm Dahl and guitar player Kraen Meier and are looking forward to an exciting new era ahead. But, for now, let’s bow before Josua’s monster performance at Copenhell in 2022 and hear it from Artillery’s guitar player and founder Michael Stützer about the release.

“The year was 2022, we got the offer to play at one of the world’s coolest metal festivals: Copenhell. Everything had been destroyed by COVID-19 in the years before. So, 2022 was the year we got busy.

Big festivals contacted us, German TV, and so on. Rockhard, Sweden Rock, Brutal Assault, and Copenhell.

Copenhell was big for us. To share the stage with bands like KISS, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Mercyful Fate, Judas Priest, it hardly gets bigger. We sat down and decided to get the concert recorded, it had to be as raw as possible, authentic as hell and the hope was to be able to use the tracks as bonuses for future releases. Maybe as a live release. When we received the recording, we thought that the recording should be released as a concert, not as bonus tracks. Søren Andersen, our permanent producer, was put on the case. Sound levels had to be fixed a bit, but that was it. Søren said at one point, “Damn, Josh is ON FIRE!”. And he was!

Denmark’s biggest music magazine Gaffa gave the concert 5/6 stars and the headline was “The man is busy”. Josh played better than ever. Josua was killed in a car accident in 2023. Now the album is released, a little late, yes, but it’s a recording, which is as it should be when talking about Artillery. Raw, unpolished, straight in your face. Hence the name of the live record: “Raw Live (At Copenhell)”.

Artillery has been around for more than 40 years. The final chapter has not been written yet; just wait, there is more to Artillery. For example, a Metalized tour with friends from Manticora and new singer Martin Steene, known from Iron Fire and Force of Evil, as well as a larger USA tour. The album is a tribute to Josh, as well as a clenched fist in the air to our fans. Thanks Satan. Thanks to Mighty Music.”

“Live Raw (At Copenhell)” will be released on CD, LP (black vinyl) and digital formats via Mighty Music on February 2nd, 2024.