HITTEN - While Passion Lasts LP HRR 943LP, ltd 1200, 300 x black, 400 x blue jay, 300 x neon green + 200 x transparent ultra clear w/ hot pink and evergreen splatter vinyl (HRR mailorder exclusive), lyric sheet, A2 poster Alexx Panza - Vocals Dani Meseguer - Guitars Johnny Lorca - Guitar Satan - Bass Willy Medina - Drums 01 Prelude to Passion 02 While Passion Lasts 03 Blood from a Stone 04 Mr. Know It All 05 Unholy Games 06 Dark Stalker 07 Truthful Lies 08 Hold Up the Night 09 Where it All Begins 10 Crimetime AVAILABLE

Hitten formed in 2011 in the city of Murcia in the South-East of Spain (near Alicante). The same year the band unleashed their first demo entitled »Darkness Queen« onto the world. Two EPs followed, before the band’s debut full-length album »First Strike With The Devil« was released in 2014. Soon after, Hitten signed to High Roller Records and issued three more albums: »State Of Shock« (2016), »Twist Of Fate« (2018) and the highly acclaimed »Triumph And Tragedy« in 2021. Earlier this year, Hitten unleashed a re-recorded version of their debut album »First Strike With The Devil«. This is now followed by the band’s fifth studio album entitled »While Passion Lasts« (with the latest addition of Willy Medina on drums). “»While Passion Lasts« is the rightful successor to »Triumph And Tragedy«”, founding member and guitarist Dani Meseguer explains. “The formula is still the same, a mix of old school heavy metal and hard rock that I still can’t find a better expression to define than calling it ‘hard ’n’ heavy’. This time hinting even more at that late 80s/early 90s hard rock sound, but still largely infused with that old school metal approach which is the foundation of Hitten’s own sound. The production has surely improved. As much as we loved the sound of »Triumph And Tragedy«, with »While Passion Lasts« our search for the perfect sound has been maniacal. We retrieved some equipment from back in the days to try nailing that late 80s/early 90s sound we had on our mind and wanted to recreate, such as the legendary preamp ADA MP-1, a Yamaha SPX 90 Multi-Effects processor, or of course, different vintage guitars, such as an amazing Japanese 80s Kramer JK-1000 which has been the workhorse for most of the record.” According to Dani, there was no real masterplan for »While Passion Lasts«: “No. We didn’t sit around a table and decided how the album should sound like. I don’t believe that sort of things works. I think music and inspiration comes spontaneously … you can't draw lines and put stakes, or at least you shouldn’t, in my humble opinion … I see that as an artistic limitation. So we just started writing down and working on stuff until we were satisfied with the results, and the outcome is just the natural evolution of our sound, influenced by our very own state in that specific moment in time.” »While Passion Lasts« is possibly the most melodic album Hitten have recorded so far. The title track is really catchy, sounding a bit like classic Dokken, Rough Cutt, late Queensryche and »1987« era Whitesnake, very accessible. “Thank you, you just named bands that are our heroes and clearly references for us, so that means we nailed it somehow,” finds Dani Meseguer. “We wanted to write a hymn, a song with big chords and a huge chorus to be sung along and that can get stuck in peoples’ heads, like the masters you named surely knew how to do. We’re absolutely proud of the outcome and we think it’s a great opener that could become one of our classics in the future.” “Memorable big choruses and refrains are key parts of our songwriting,” continues the guitarist. “When we approach a song, we always try to make it sound like a ‘single’, of course some songs are more suitable and straight forward than others, but catchy is the keyword. I guess the title track, or ‘Mr. Know It All’, or in its own way ‘CrimeTime’, are all suitable for the ‘single test’ being the most straight forward …” Did the band have a certain type of person in mind when they wrote “Mr. Know It All”, by the way? “Yes, and we all know at least one person like that,” laughs Dani. “It’s that annoying guy who always has something to say, who always has to add something, who always has an answer for everything, even if most of the time he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. When I wrote the lyrics, I had several people in mind, but especially one …” “Dark Stalker”, as the name suggests, is a darker, more uptempo metal song,of which Dani says: “It’s one of the first songs we started working on for »While Passion Lasts«, and it’s probably one of the most heavy metal sounding Hitten numbers on the new record. The lyrics deal with a current theme: a online hacker on the hunt. This subject is pretty close to me, since in my regular day job I work in Cybersecurity, and dealing with this matter everyday I realize that most of the people still don’t have a CyberSec conscience, even though everybody is using the internet on a daily basis for any aspect of their life, until it’s too late. People don’t understand that social media are not your old school private diary, instead they are a bulletin public board and all the information you publish will stay there forever and can be used against you any time, now and in the future.” The heaviest number, however, is the closer “Crimetime”, it's all guns blazing. ”’Crimetime’ is the last song we worked on for »While Passion Lasts«, explains Dani Meseguer, “and it was supposed to be an instrumental song at first. Then we thought the material was too good to keep it as ‘just an instrumental’, so we re-structured the composition to give it a more classic song-like structure and work on the lyrics and vocal line. To me the last song of the album always has to be something different, to close the record with a boom! Usually on our records the last song is the most anthemic number (and usually pretty long), like ‘Heroes' on »Twist Of Fate or the title track on »Triumph And Tragedy« … but on this one we went the other way, and close the record with a faster and more bombastic straight-in-your-face song.” The name of the new Hitten album is »While Passion Lasts«, so does the title refer to the passion the band still has for metal music in general and Hitten in particular? “You got it,” beams Dani Meseguer. “That’s what it’s all about. This album will be number five for the band, and that is something! We’re still here, playing rock ’n’ roll, driving thousands of kilometers as our holiday from our main jobs, dedicating all the time and energy we have, because that’s our biggest and truest love. Even if it’s a lot of work, even if sometimes it seems like it’s draining us … this is our escape from reality, our safe space … our world! You'll still find us here, ‘while passion lasts.” Matthias Mader