Metal Injection is hosting the exclusive premiere of the epic video for “Between The Pines,” the new single from international progressive metal quintet PHILOSOPHOBIA, formed by current and former members of Kamelot, Pain Of Salvation, Wastefall, and more. The single is the latest preview of the band’s eponymous debut album, nearing release this month through Sensory Records.
PHILOSOPHOBIA unites vocalist Domenik Papaemmanouil, bassist Kristoffer Gildenlöw, drummer Alex Landenburg, keyboardist Tobias Weißgerber, and guitarist Andreas Ballnus. The band is now preparing to issue their eponymous debut album via Sensory Records, the band’s top choice for its release, in conjunction with Kristoffer Gildenlöw‘s return to prog metal on stages worldwide since his departure from Pain Of Salvation.
Together with recording engineer and producer Phil Hillen (Powerwolf, Kamelot, Alyssa White Gluz), PHILOSOPHOBIA recorded an hour-long experience covering a wide range of textures; somber tunes to heavy prog metal tracks to instrumentally artistic roller coaster rides. Philosophobia was mastered by Alan Douches (Fates Warning, Redemption, Mastodon) at West West Side Music in New York, and completed with cover artwork conceived by Ballnus and created by Björn Gooßes/Killustrations.
The video for “Between The Pines” was edited by Andreas Ballnus, who writes with the video’s premiere, “‘Between The Pines’ lyrically deals with the situation between a stepfather and his stepson. On the surface they get along very well with each other. But deep inside the boy is very insecure because of the experiences with his biological father. The stepfather remembers when he was a child playing in the woods. A place where all sorrow had gone away. A place where it was calm and peaceful. The place between the pines. It was chosen as a single because it shows another side of PHILOSOPHOBIA. Not as heavy or complex as the other tracks on the album. Nearly having a pop chorus. Another facet of PHILOSOPHOBIA.”
Metal Injection writes, “The band is now streaming their somber new single ‘Between The Pines’ alongside a very cinematic music video that demands your attention just as much as the music.”
PHILOSOPHOBIA’s epic “Between The Pines” video is now playing exclusively at Metal Injection RIGHT HERE.
Sensory Records will release Philosophobia on CD and all digital platforms worldwide on June 24th. Find physical preorders at the label webshop HERE, and visit Bandcamp for the standard digital HERE and 24-bit hi-res digital HERE. The previously released Time To Breathe” video is also playing HERE.
Stand by for additional official videos to be issued surrounding the release of Philosophobia, and for live dates to be announced in the months ahead.
In 2007, longtime friends Andreas Ballnus (Perzonal War) and Alex Landenburg (Kamelot, Cyrha, Mekong Delta) had the idea of creating a prog metal concept album. After recording a few demos, Landenburg joined Annihilator as their touring drummer while Ballnus became the guitarist for former Iron Maiden vocalist Paul Dianno. With both touring around the world for years, unfortunately they had to postpone their prog adventure due to lack of time.
In 2018, Ballnus got in touch with Kristoffer Gildenlöw (ex-Pain Of Salvation, Kayak) for a book project he had written; the two soon became friends and when Kristoffer heard the demos Ballnus and Landenburg had recorded, he was blown away by the quality of the songs, and at that moment PHILOSOPHOBIA was born. Completed by keyboard wizard Tobias Weißgerber and vocalist Domenik Papaemmanouil (Wastefall), the recordings for the band’s debut album began in 2020 against all odds.
Landenburg and Ballnus headed to SU2 Studios in Southern Germany and recorded nine songs of which eight made it onto the album. In fact, six of them remained the same songs that were written in 2007. The two still felt that those songs were timeless and deserved to be recorded for the final album version.
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