Unleash The Archers Announce New Album Phantoma, Single “Green & Glass” Released
There’s no hiding it. Artificial intelligence — or AI — will be a major part of society moving forward. What that means for everything from electronics to jobs to even music is uncertain at this point, but it’s also great fodder for some sci-fi storytelling. And it’s that fact that Canadian metal outfit Unleash The Archers announced that they’ve got a concept album based on that very topic.
Titled Phantoma, this will be their sixth studio album and their follow up to 202’s Abyss, which won a JUNO Award for Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year and debuted at the top spot of the US Current Hard Music and Top New Artist charts.
According to the band, frontwoman and lyricist Brittney Slayes came up with the concept back in 2021. Here’s the concept in a nutshell:
“Led by the album’s protagonist Phantoma, a Phase 4 / Network Tier 0 unit – model A, the story recounts the trials of AI gaining sentience on a dystopian, near-future planet earth. With the band’s one-of-a-kind blend of power metal, traditional heavy metal, modern prog and pop sensibilities, Unleash The Archers spin a web of sharp musicality, high sci-fi concept and important social commentary about discovering the brutal truths behind the manufactured sheen of social media posturing.”
In addition to the new album announcement, the band dropped the first single off Phantoma, titled “Green & Glass. The band described track as such:
“We struggled for a while to decide which song would lead the way for this record, and in the end chose ‘Green & Glass’ because it is the song that inspired the cover artwork, but also because it doesn’t give too much away about the concept behind the album. We wanted nothing more than to be able to create a fully cinematic retelling of the story through our music videos, and were so stoked when the boys at RuneGate Studio expressed an interest in learning how to use Stable Diffusion to make our dreams come true! They trained the model on the work of Bo Bradshaw, which gives it a beautifully unique animation style; we got to bring his magnificent t-shirt artwork to life!”
Phantoma will be released on May 10 via Napalm Records, but you can preorder your copy today.
The band also have a number of live dates planned from May 3 to September 15, with some breaks in between runs with various festivals and a tour with Powerwolf. You can find dates for all of those below.
UNLEASH THE ARCHERS on tour:
Legions of Metal Festival:
5/03 – Chicago, IL @ Reggies
Australia and New Zealand Headliners:
6/05 – Canberra, AU @ Basement
6/06 – Sydney, AU @ Manning
6/07 – Melbourne, AU @ Croxton
6/08 – Brisbane, AU @ The Zoo
6/09 – Adelaide, AU @ Lion Arts
6/13 – Auckland, NZ @ Galatos
6/14 – Wellington, NZ @ Valhalla
European Festivals:
7/05 – Ballenstedt, DE @ Rock Harz
7/06 – Knislinge, SE @ Time To Rock
7/12 – Visovice, CZ @ Masters Of Rock
7/19 – Laukaa, FI @ John Smith Fest
7/21 – Baile Figa, RO @ Celtic Transylvania
8/02 – Wacken, DE @ Wacken Open Air
8/09 – Villena, ES @ Leyendas Del Rock
8/10 – Walton-On-Trent, UK @ Bloodstock
Supporting POWERWOLF in North America:
8/29 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Hollywood Palladium
8/31 – Denver, CO @ The Ogden Theatre
9/03 – Chicago, IL @ The Riviera Theatre
9/04 – Cleveland, OH @ The Agora Theatre
9/05 – Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore
9/07 – Tampa, FL @ Jannus Landing
9/08 – Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
9/09 – Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore
9/12 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore
9/13 – Worcester, MA @ The Palladium
9/14 – New York City, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount
9/15 – Laval, QC @ Place Bell
