2008-05-24 - DEFENDERS OF THE FAITH TO SWEDEN ROCK FESTIVAL

The JUDAS PRIEST tribute band DEFENDERS OF THE FAITH, including Mikael Dahl (vocals), former CRYSTAL EYES members Niclas Karlsson (guitar), Martin Tilander (drums), Kim Koivo (guitar) and Stefan Fors (bass), will perform at this years' SWEDEN ROCK FESTIVAL. After two great gigs in the Battle Of The Bands competition DEFENDERS OF THE FAITH has qualified to the final along with six other tribute bands to compete for the title "Best Swedish Tribute Band 2008". Don’t miss the show on Friday the 6th of June at 17:30, Gibson Stage. The day after JUDAS PRIEST headline show :)


About the recording of CRYSTAL EYES next record...

Stefan has nailed the drum tracks, and Claes is busy recording his bass tracks. The recording of the guitars will begin right after Mikael is back from Sweden Rock Festival and Nico will arrive at the end of next month to scream his lungs out. Check the photo page for some nice drum-recording photos.

 

2008-03-17 - NEW LABEL AND RECORD

So what have we been up to lately? Well last year we mutually decided to part ways with our label Heavy Fidelity. During the year the songs for the upcoming album were finished, and a demo was recorded and past around to some labels we thought would be appropriate. Some offers were presented to us, and eventually we decided to sign with the German label METAL HEAVEN. There's of course a lot of reasons for signing with a certain label, but the over-all feeling while dealing with METAL HEAVEN make us confident that we have an exiting time ahead of us.

We will begin recording in May, and the mixing will once again be handled by Fredrik Nordström at Studio Fredman. The song titles for the yet unnamed album are RIDE THE RAINBOW, SHADOW RIDER, DYING IN THE RAIN, GUARDIAN, THE FIRE OF HADES, FIGHTING, WAVES OF WAR, THE DEVIL INSIDE and LONELY BALL OF FATE. Expect nothing but 100% pure Heavy Metal.

We've also been busy getting Paul into the new songs, and of course some old. He's now ready to rock so don't miss his live debut on the 19th of April in Ulricehamn, Sweden.

 

2007-11-18 - BAND OF THE MONTH

CRYSTAL EYES is the band of the month at Hardrock Haven. Read all about it here

 

2007-09-01 - CRYSTAL EYES' NEW GUITARIST

The search is over, and we are proud to welcome PAUL PETTERSON as CRYSTAL EYES' new guitarist. Paul is 41 years old, and lives within walking distans from our studio. He's a great guitarist with the right attitude, personality and humour for this band's chemistry. It's somehow strange that we really should have known him long ago since he has played with friends to the band, and even previous members of CRYSTAL EYES. There's no use describing his guitar playing more than classic eighties Heavy Metal style, perfectly suited for CRYSTAL EYES. Some new photos, and more info about Paul at the member page are coming soon.

 

2007-05-22 - CRYSTAL EYES IS SEARCHING FOR A NEW GUITARIST

Niclas has after only a year in the band decided to leave to focus on other things in life. He told us he had lost his inspiration to play guitar and rehearse, and he felt it wasn’t right to stay. Though sadly, we respect he’s decision and whish him all the best.

So here we are searching for a new guitarist. If you love Crystal Eyes’ music, have the geographical possibility to rehearse, perform and record with the band, and are willing to give 100%, then you could be the one. But remember that Crystal Eyes is a twin guitar band so we’re not looking for any Yngwie Malmsteen copycats :)

If you’re interested please send mp3 samples and/or links (both rhythm and solo guitar), a few notes about yourself and a picture to mikael@crystaleyes.net. Use that address for any questions you might have as well.

 

2007-05-18 - WORKING ON NEW SONGS

CRYSTAL EYES is heading for the next record. Mikael has 7 finished songs and about 8 more in progress. The band will spend the summer rehearsing and completing the new material.

 

2007-03-22 - ONE MORE SONG AT MYSPACE

THE HALLS OF VALHALLA is the fifth song added to CRYSTAL EYES' official Myspace site at www.myspace.com/crystaleyesfromsweden. This song features original CRYSTAL EYES singer/guitarist Mikael Dahl on vocals. You need to scroll down on the player to find the song.

 

2007-02-09 - GOTHENBURG METAL FESTIVAL

On the 29th and 30th of April Gothenburg Metal Festival will take place at Musikens Hus in Gothenburg. Two full days of metal. The running order is not set yet, but we'll get back about that so you don't miss anything important. (Like CRYSTAL EYES or so.) More info at www.gothenburgmetal.se

 

2006-10-22 - MORE SONGS AT MYSPACE

Now we've also added the entire songs WALL OF STARS and INTO THE LIGHT to CRYSTAL EYES' official Myspace site at www.myspace.com/crystaleyesfromsweden. Making it a total of four full songs from the up-coming album at Myspace.

 

2006-09-14 - TWO FULL NEW SONGS AT MYSPACE

The entire songs DEAD CITY DREAMING and BATTLEFIELD are now available at CRYSTAL EYES official Myspace site at www.myspace.com/crystaleyesfromsweden. Two more will follow closer to the release date.

 

2006-09-07 - DEAD CITY DREAMING RELEASE DATE

DEAD CITY DREAMING will be released on November 3:d in Europe and North America. The entire title track will be made available online in just a couple of weeks. Check out the photos from the album photo session by clicking on you-know-which-word in the menu.

 

2006-08-08 - JONATHAN LEAVES AND NICLAS RETURNS

After 9 years Jonathan has now left the band. With a growing family, a house and a full time job he felt his engagement in CRYSTAL EYES had been suffering too much lately. His decision was made during the recording of the new album, so Mikael has finished all guitars by himself except one solo, which Jonathan played as a farewell gesture. Jonathan is still a really good friend to everybody in the band, and we wish him all the best.

As Jonathan's replacement we are now welcoming back Niclas Karlsson. Niclas started the band with Mikael in 1992, and was actually the one who came up with the band name. During the short break in 1995 Niclas quit the band and formed FIERCE CONVICTION (later CONVICTION), which released two albums. After that he appeared on one album with ZONATA, and played for a short while with FRETERNIA and RISING FAITH. Lately Mikael and Niclas have also been playing with the same cover band so it was quite easy to ask Niclas if he wanted to come back.

To the left here you'll se the cover artwork for DEAD CITY DREAMING, made by Mattias Norén. A page for DEAD CITY DREAMING has been set up under the DISCOGRAPHY section, and a page for Niclas under THE BAND section.

The plan right now is to release the album late October or early November to coincide with CRYSTAL EYES gig together with TREAT on the 3:d of November in their hometown Borås.

 

2006-05-23 - RECORDING SESSION FINISHED

The basic recordings of the new album are now finished. Only some detail work remains, which Mikael will carry out during the summer. Fredrik Nordström has set a fantastic sound, and everything's been working so much smother thanks to him. Fredrik will start mixing early September.

Here's a few personal comments Mikael wanted to share about the new album: The song writing process has been a bit different this time. I've written songs for Crystal Eyes since 1992, and there are so many great songs that never ended up on our records. So last year I took a deep dive into my archives, and found over 50 full songs! There were so many good ideas I just couldn't leave them like that. So some of that stuff have been reworked and included in the new material, and in doing so I think we've ended up with a really fresh and revitalised Crystal Eyes. (I also found some whole songs that definitely deserves being properly recorded, but that's a whole other project.) Adding Nico's very powerful vocals to this makes it feel like a new start for the band. Nothing drastic though, just very fresh.

 

2006-04-02 - CRYSTAL EYES STARTS RECORDING THE NEW ALBUM

This Wednesday CRYSTAL EYES started the recordings of the new album at their own studio CRYSTAL SOUNDS. The recording process at CRYSTAL SOUNDS is supervised by Fredrik Nordström from STUDIO FREDMAN. This guy needs absolutely no introduction by now. The recordings will be finished by summer time, and Fredrik Nordström will start mixing the album at STUDIO FREDMAN the first week of September. The plan is to have the album out a.s.a.p. after that, but a street date will probably be made official right before the mixing begins.

The album title will be DEAD CITY DREAMING, and the title track's lyrics are based upon the short story THE CALL OF CTHULHU by H.P. Lovecraft, which also serves as an inspiration for the ideas which are currently being tossed around for the cover artwork. The artwork will once again be made by Mattias Norén.

The song titles for the ten songs featured on the album are, in no particular order, DAWN DANCER, DEAD CITY DREAMING, ROADS OF LONELINESS, THE NARROW MIND, THE QUEST REMAINS, WALL OF STARS, INTO THE LIGHT, TEMPLE OF IMMORTAL SHAME, BATTLEFIELD and THE HALLS OF VALHALLA.

 

2006-03-20 - CRYSTAL EYES AT ITUNES

You can now buy any of CRYSTAL EYES' albums in the iTunes music store for $5.99, or a single song for $0.99. Click on this link to get directly to the CRYSTAL EYES page in the iTunes music store. You need to have iTunes installed on your computer, or you'll be asked if you want to download it.

 

2005-12-04 - CRYSTAL EYES' NEW VOCALIST

CRYSTAL EYES new vocalist is SØREN NICO ADAMSEN from Copenhagen, Denmark. The band didn't really know what to expect when we went public with this "vocalist search thing" since none of us have experienced anything like this before, but the response has been overwhelming. Mikael received tons of material from vocalists from all over Europe, and actually most of the vocalists were from outside Sweden. Many thanks to all of you who showed interest, and put down the effort to record and send us some really great stuff. A few auditions were held this autumn at CRYSTAL SOUNDS, and Nico, which is his preferred name, was simply Mr. Right. Singing-wise he's a cool mix of Rob Halford and Dio, so expect some raw and powerful vocals on the next CRYSTAL EYES album.

Nico comes from Copenhagen, Denmark, which is actually just a few hours with the bus from Borås, so rehearsing and recording will not be a problem even though he's living in another country. The language is no problem either since the difference between Swedish and Danish is probably less than ten beers. Nico is 37 years old, and has previous recorded one album with the Danish band STARRATS, which he will continue to sing with. For more personal info about Nico check out THE BAND in the main menu, and some brand new photos with the new line up at the PHOTOS page.

The plan for the nearest future is to rehearse the songs for the upcoming fifth CRYSTAL EYES album. Plus a few old ones as well for a one off gig at the club HEAVY FIDELITY together with DREAMLAND on Friday February the 3:d. Then start recording the new album directly after that gig, and release it sometime after the summer.

 

2005-11-06 - SWEDEN ROCK FESTIVAL DVD

Watch out for the official SWEDEN ROCK FESTIVAL 2005 DVD on the 28:th of November. It's a tripple DVD with over five hours playing time. The first song on the DVD is the CRYSTAL EYES song THE WIZARD'S APPRENTICE. Read more about it at the festival's official website here.