VIGILHUNTER - s/t CD HRR 1015CD, slipcase ALEXX PANZA - vocals & rhythm/lead guitars MATTIA ITALA - rhythm & lead guitars MIRKO NEGRINO - bass MARCELLO "CELL" LEOCANI - drums 01 Loading...Error 403 02 Disconnected 03 Titan Glory 04 Shadow Rider (Vigilante) 05 Curse of the Street 06 Sacrifice For Love 07 So Cold...It Burns 08 Outburst of Rage 09 The Downfall March 28th

Chances are that you will have heard the extraordinary voice of Alexx Panza before. He is the singer on Hitten's latest studio album »While Passion Lasts« (2023) as well as on »Souls Of The Innocent« (2022) by Jack Starr's Burning Starr. However, his newest venture is called Vigilhunter. For their much anticipated debut album the band has signed a contract with High Roller Records. Besides the Hitten singer, who is also playing rhythm and lead guitar, Vigilhunter consist of Mirko Negrino on bass, Mattia Itala on second guitar and Marcello “Cell” Leocani on drums. “The project has never been officially talked about before,” explains the vocalist, ”a demo version of the song 'Shadow Rider' has been uploaded on YouTube some years ago (and now currently removed), after putting this project on ice for quite a few years ... In recent times we decided to resurrect the project and finish working on the songs in order to make a proper release since we felt they had great potential. This line-up brought new enthusiasm that finally led to a full-length release.” “The recordings took place during the summer of 2024,” continues Alexx Panza. “The drums have been recorded by Davide Billia at his MKII Recording Studio outside of Turin and the vocals by Marco Panzanaro at Nebula Project and Recording Studio here in Turin, while bass and guitars have been recorded at my home studio and later re-amped in Barcelona at Moontower Studios by Javier Felez, who also took care of the mixing process. The mastering has been done in Philadelphia by Arthur Rizk.” And what a great debut album Vigilhunter have come up with! Compositions such as “Disconnected”, “Titan Glory” or “Sacrifice” are some of the best songs Queensryche have never written. Alexx smirks: “I take this as a huge compliment, thank you very much! We are obviously very much influenced by them, but we couldn’t write 100% ‘Ryche songs even if we try, ha, ha. This project bears several influences, but I feel like in the end, when you listen to the whole record, you can surely cite bands but can’t really point a finger on specific names (this may sound more like this, this may sound more like that, but in the end it sounds like ourselves). As much as we don’t want to reinvent the wheel, I believe this record has a voice of its own. I can tell you that a great amount of work has been put into the album and that we are very happy with the final result. We can’t wait to hear the world’s perception but we are confident that the old US Power Metal lovers will enjoy the record.” Is there a certain era of Queensryche the band cherishes most then? “That’s an extremely hard question I can’t really answer...,” confesses the singer. “I love almost all their releases up to »Operation Mindcrime« equally, leaving »Empire« just a small step behind (still a masterpiece, let’s be clear!). The debut EP is most probably the best debut EP of all time (such an incredibly high level, mature work for a young band!), »Warning« is pure US Metal perfection, and »Rage for Order« is a unique record and very experimental in its own way, terribly underrated if you ask me. The atmosphere that transpires from that record can’t be found anywhere else. I think that you can't describe a record like »Operation Mindcrime« with mere words: the concept, the production, the vocals, the feeling, the arrangements. It's a true masterpiece!” Apart from Queensryche you can hear a bit of Crimson Glory and some prime era Fates Warning in Vigilhunter as well. “I guess you nailed the main references,” confirms Alexx Panza, “Crimson Glory and Fates Warning are surely part of the sound and the era we tried to recreate. I might add Savatage and Vicious Rumors for the purely 'US Heavy Power' side of the record but that said, sometimes ideas come from influences that are so far from what the final results end up being that you wouldn’t even imagine.” Alexx explains how the initial project came about in the first place: “It all started several years ago with an idea of mine of making a US Power Metal oriented record, in fact the first songs I wrote were a bit more direct and 'in your face'. Then right at the time when I started composing 'Titan Glory' (that surely has a more 'proggy' vibe) Mirko joined and he became a huge part of the composition process, and we decided to enhance the prog-like vein a bit more. Even though it is not exactly a team effort as such, the record wouldn’t have came out the way it did if it wasn’t for the precious work of the musicians involved, with Marcello's dynamic drumming and Mattia’s superb solos.” Obviously, with Alexx signing for both, Hitten and Vigilhunter, one question remains: In how far are there similarities between both bands? His answer is quite analytical: “I think that even if there are parts, here and there, that might have worked on a Hitten record as well, it’s different in every way. The approach of the songwriting is very different. Hitten’s a more song-oriented band while in Vigilhunter sometimes it's more about the 'atmosphere' (even if the song is key, there’s no escape from that). I mean, in Vigilhunter there are songs where the chorus can not be found more than two times! Anyway, some of the material has even been written before I joined Hitten, he, he.” Regarding Alexx' singing style on the Vigilhunter debut, it's a similar story: “I surely try to sound different every time, as I try to sound different on Burning Starr where I have a bit more of a R.J. Dio approach, compared to Hitten where I have more of a Don Dokken approach, so to speak. You can obviously do so much with your own voice and I always sound like Alexx Panza at the end of the day.” MATTHIAS MADER