Hamburg, Germany-based heavy metal veterans Paragon have announced the release of a brand new studio album, entitled “Metalation”, out on November 8th, 2024, via Massacre Records.
A music video for their first single, the album opening track “Fighting the Fire”, is now premiering below!
“A typical and fast Paragon opener, except that we spiced up the chorus with a nice catchy melody to support Buschi’s vocal line”, says bassist Jan Bünning. “The guitar melody was there first. As far as I remember, we haven’t done something like this before. Furthermore this song features lots of double-bass and screaming guitars – the way speed metal should be played”!
Their new album “Metalation” was one of the most difficult albums to make, according to Paragon’s Jan Bünning, as the band almost broke up in the time between the release of the band’s previous album “Controlled Demolition” and the present day.
Bünning and Martin Christian started working on new song ideas in the winter of 2019 and then the pandemic rocked the world and brought the majority of band activities – ranging from live gigs to rehearsals – to a halt. But still, both continued writing new songs and in the end of a long process, nine songs were ready to be recorded for “Metalation” and the first vocal demos were recorded last year. For this album, Paragon decided to record the guitars, bass and drums on their own.
Whereas “Controlled Demolition” was a very hard and fast offering, Paragon weren’t keen to repeat this pattern once again and instead decided for the new album to make it sound a little more melodic and versatile, just like in their old days. “Metalation” was produced with Piet Sielck, who also mixed and mastered the album.
Due to the tensions connected with the pandemic and lockdowns, guitarist Günny left the band in the late summer of 2022 and so did his replacement, as well as drummer Sören, who left the band for personal reasons. The remaining band members toyed with the idea to release one final album and to play some farewell shows with Martin on guitar and his son Jason Wöbcke on drums, and then to disband Paragon. Sometime after Easter 2023, though, Jason joined Paragon permanently on drums and Martin decided to stay as well.
The band’s chemistry is better than ever, so it’s no surprise that everyone is very satisfied with how the new album turned. Paragon simply can’t wait for everyone to listen to the new album and they are eager to hit the stages again!
Pre-order & pre-save “Metalation” here.
Tracklist:
1. Fighting the Fire
2. Slenderman
3. Battalions
4. Beyond the Horizon
5. MarioNET
6. The Haunted House
7. Burn the Whore
8. Metalation
9. My Asylum
10. Hellgore (Bonus Track)
Line-up:
Andreas “Buschi” Babuschkin – Lead Vocals
Martin Christian – Rhythm-/Lead-Guitars, Backing Vocals
Jan Bertram – Rhythm-/Acoustic-/Lead-Guitars, Backing Vocals
Jan Bünning – Bass, Backing Vocals
Jason Wöbcke – Drums, Backing Vocals
