This comeback came out of nowhere: in 2013, German epic melodic metal band HUMAN FORTRESS returned to the scene – five years after their latest release “Eternal Empire” (which due to a change of style was a disappointment for many fans). But “Raided Land” easily made up for that and became the unexpected strong comeback, going back to the band’s roots of traditional metal, as displayed on their early-2000’s works“Lord Of Earth And Heavens Heir” and “Defenders Of The Crown”.
“Raided Land”also was the first release with Gus Monsanto (ex-Adagio, ex-Revolution Renaissance) on vocals, who impressively proved why he is hailed as one of the genre’s premier singers.
Two years after the release of “Raided Land”, HUMAN FORTRESS are back with twelve brand new and compelling songs. “Thieves Of The Night” will amaze their followers easily, but also win over fans of 80’s/90’s Virgin Steele, Kamelot and Avantasia. Songs such as the brilliant title track, lively power metal anthems (“Rise Or Fall”, “Vicious Circle”), or the more modern – but no less epic – “Thrice Blessed”, will completely convince all fans. “For us, “Thieves Of The Night” holds the essence of what HUMAN FORTRESS is about”, says guitarist Todd Wolf. “We went back further to our roots and wanted to make the new songs very catchy. Meanwhile, we also got to know the range of Gus very well and can write to make it for for him perfectly”.
“Thieves Of The Night”was mixed by Sebastian “Seeb” Levermann (Orden Ogan, Almanac).
1997 sees the beginnings of what should become HUMAN FORTRESS shortly after. First demo recordings gained attention in Germany’s metal underground, resulting in a record deal and the release of “Lord Of Earth And Heavens Heir”. Two years after, the sophomore album “Defenders Of The Crown” was unleashed, followed by several line-up changes – with the most significant being the departure of vocalist Jioti Parcharidis who was replaced by Carsten Frank (ex-Galloglass). Third album„Eternal Empire“ was released in 2008 but showed a very different approach, heading much more into a modern direction. Shortly after“Eternal Empire” hit the stores, HUMAN FORTRESS disbanded. But it didn’t take long and at the end of 2008, previous members Wolf, Trost, Parcharidis and Zaios gathered to resurrect the band. Unfortunately the year after, Jioti left the band due to ongoing health issues. So it took a while until a stable new line-up was found, but finally Dirk Liehm (keyboards) and Andre Hort (bass) joined the band, and a perfect new singer was found in Brazilian Gus Monsanto.
This new-forged alliance went on to record the “comeback” album „Raided Land“ in 2013 and now follows up with „Thieves Of The Night“.
„Our biggest goal at this point is to play concerts and festivals again “,Todd Wolf says.