Re-release of the live album by Silver Mountain

Metal Mind Productions presents Silver Mountain, a legendary Scandinavian heavy metal group hailing from Malmo in Sweden. They appeared on the scene in late 70’s, only to dominate the 80’s with their original and inspirational music. Over the years they released four LPs and one live album, forever carving their name in heavy metal history.

This exclusive re-release of their only live album, „Live at Hibiya ’85“, brings back a true metal icon, delivering music that is timeless… The album brilliantly captured the outstanding energy that emerged on the historical night (October 10th, 1985) at the Hibiya Yagai Ongaku-Do. The concert was a major success and brought the band many hopes for the future. New digipak edition is limited to numbered 2000 copies. Digitally remastered using 24-Bit process on a golden disc. The album will be re-released on 6th October in USA (via MVD).

Silver Mountain
“Live at Hibiya ‘85” (remastered + bonus track)

Label: Metal Mind Records
Cat. No.: MASS CD 1260 DG
Barcode: 5907785035386
Format: CD Digipak (limited edition of 2000 numbered copies)
Genre: heavy metal
Release date: 06.10.2009 USA

Tracklist:

1. Shakin’ Brains
2. Universe
3. Always
4. Why
5. Handled Roughly
6. Meaningless
7. Walking in the Shadow

Bio
The band was first assembled in 1978 by Jonas Hansson (guitar, vocals), Ingemar Stenquist (bass), Morgan Alm (guitar) and Marten Hedener (drums). Taking their name from a song by Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, the group begun crafting their own style, eventually releasing a single called “Man Of No Present Existence” in 1979. Unfortunately the single didn’t gain much popularity and the band begun to suffer from constant line-up changes. Over the next three years, a large number of local musicians fronted Silver Mountain (including none other than the Swedish guitar hero Yngwie Malmsteen!), until finally in late 1982 a solid line-up has emerged. The group, consisting of Hansson, guitarist Per Stadin, keyboardist Jens Johansson and his brother Anders on drums, played together for almost two years to eventually sign a record deal with the acclaimed label Roadrunner Records. Thus, in March 1983, Silver Mountain’s debut LP – “Shakin’ Brains” – was finally released. The album brought a huge dose of electrifying hard rock/heavy metal, clearly inspired by Rainbow, Deep Purple and Iron Maiden. Brilliant guitarwork was the key feature of this release, instantly putting Silver Mountain on the top of the list of Swedish metal artists. Unfortunately, soon after the release of the debut LP, Jens and Anders Johansson departed to join Yngwie Malmsteen for the recording of his LP “Rising Force” (later on Jens went on to Stratovarious, while Anders joined Hammerfall). Hansson and Stadin re-employed the band’s original drummer Marten Hedener and along with new vocalist Christer Mentzer and session keyboardist Erik Nielsen they recorded their second album – “Universe” – in 1984. The LP didn’t gain a huge success in Europe, but surprisingly it became a big hit in Japan. The amazing response enabled the band to play an excessive tour over the entire country, which ended in recording a live album called “Hibiya – Live in Japan’85”. The album brilliantly captured the outstanding energy that emerged on that historical night (October 10th, 1985) at the Hibiya Yagai Ongaku-Do. The concert was a major success and brought the band many hopes for the future. Unfortunately, their third LP – “Roses & Champagne”, released in 1988 – did not manage to become as successful as the band expected it to be. Recorded with two new members – Johan Dahlstrom (vocals) and Kjell Gustavsson (drums) – the album was a solid release with a bunch of memorable songs like “Forest of Cries”, “Paradise Smile” and “Not You Baby”. Nevertheless, the poor sales forced Silver Mountain to disband in 1989…
After splitting up, most of the musicians went on to different projects, while founder Jonas Hansson concentrated on composing soundtracks and his solo career, forming the Jonas Hansson Band. But the legend of Silver Mountain was not forgotten – in 2000, the original line-up which recorded “Shakin’ Brains” got back together for a couple of shows and eventually decided to make one last album, containing left-over songs from the debut LP’s recording sessions. All songs were rewritten and recorded from scratch, brilliantly joining the old-school feeling with modern technology. Finally, “Breakin’ Chains” was released in 2001, immediately becoming a long-awaited metal classic, especially with such amazing songs as “Maniac”, “Axeman and the Virgin” and “Dance Around the Fire”. The band called it quits after this release, officially closing the last chapter of Silver Mountain’s history.