Finnish hard rock act Smackbound will release their second album, ‘Hostage’, on 21st April via Frontiers Music Srl. Fronted by versatile vocalist Netta Laurenne, it sees the quintet deliver another powerful slab of metal-influenced music. A first single and video from the record for the song ‘Change’ is available from today (February 15th)
Pre-order / Pre-save the album here.
“We actually started writing the album in early 2021 and even recorded the drums for a couple of songs, but then stopped because a lot of other things were going on in our lives,” explains Laurenne. “Most of it was subsequently written and recorded in autumn 2022 and I actually wrote some of the lyrics and recorded vocal takes just days before the album was mixed and mastered. We were taking turns between working on the record and sleeping! It was a hell of a ride, but we were able to pull through and give birth to our beloved second child!”
Smackbound were founded by Laurenne in 2015. A classically trained singer who had studied several genres, her powerful voice was perfectly suited for the hard rock and metal sound she wanted to pursue and she set about finding suitable musicians, teaming up with guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari (Wintersun), drummer Rolf Pilve (Stratovarius, The Dark Element), keyboardist Vili Itäpelto (Tracedawn), and bassist Tuomas Yli-Jaskari (Tracedawn). Swiftly gelling as a cohesive unit over a number of live shows, they were a well-oiled machine by the time they hit the studio to record their 2020 debut album, ’20/20’, which contained the successful singles and videos ‘Drive It Like You Stole It’, ‘Wall Of Silence’ and ‘Run’.
With touring off the table in 2020 and 2021, Laurenne made several guest appearances on other band’s records and also partnered with fellow Finn Noora Louhimo for the 2021 album ‘The Reckoning’, which was issued to rave reviews.
‘Hostage’ track listing:
1 Reap
2 Change
3 Razor Sharp
4 Rodrigo
5 Break
6 Imperfect Day
7 Graveyard
8 Traveling Back
9 Hold The Fire
10 Hostage
11 The Edge
Produced by Tuomas Yli-Jaskari, Netta Laurenne & Vili Itäpelto
