KRUX III - He Who Sleeps Amongst The Stars LP HRR 210, gatefold cover, uv spot, 4 page lyric insert, ltd 1000, 100 x blue/ white blend, 300 x "sea-blue" vinyl + 600 x black vinyl Mats Levén - Vocals Leif Edling - Bass Jörgen Sandström - Guitars Fredrik Åkesson - Guitars Peter Stjärnvind - Drums Carl Westholm - Keyboards - He Who Sleeps Amongst The Stars - The Hades Assembly - Emily Payne (And The Black Maze) - Small Deadly Curses - Prince Azaar And The Invisible Pagoda - The Death Farm - A Place Of Crows SOLD OUT!

KRUX III IS FINALLY HERE!! The last part of a colossal trilogy that began with the critically acclaimed KRUX (2002) and KRUX II (2006). This time with an undertitle: “HE WHO SLEEPS AMONGST THE STARS”. KRUX takes the listener on an epic metal journey that starts with the spinechilling title track, and ends with the 12 minute tale of PRINCE AZAAR AND THE INVISIBLE PAGODA. Great stuff! In between we get to know THE HADES ASSEMBLY – a group of men that want to rule the earth together with the guy downstairs! SMALL DEADLY CURSES is a sinister little piece about missing somebody so much you end up hating your loved one instead. And EMILY PAYNE is the lovely girl that disappears into a black maze! Heavy, dark, evil....with some haunting keyboards delivered by Carl Westholm (Carptree, Jupiter Society). Peter Stjärnvinds (Nifelheim, ex Entombed) drumming is also worth mentioning. For all of you that don’t know KRUX we can tell you that they consist of some pretty well known names and faces! Mats Levén (Firewind, ex Yngwie Malmsteen) gives us some great vocals and check out the deadly double axe work by Jörgen Sandström (Vicious Art, Torture Division, ex Entombed) and Fredrik Åkesson (Opeth). We talk about METAL here! And speaking about the latter...Fredrik plays some incredible solos on KRUX III! If you wanna know exactly how fast, mean and tasteful a solo can be...just listen to the title track! KRUX III – HE WHO SLEEPS AMONGST THE STARS is a formidable METAL FEAST for everyone into doom, heavy, epic and powerful music! Candlemass songwriter Leif Edling is behind six of the seven songs on this album. HONEY AND BEES was co-written with Jörgen, and has a sweet end solo played by no one else than Bruce Franklin from Trouble! KRUX III – HE WHO SLEEPS AMONGST THE STARS The sound of a metal catepillar dropping a dumpster on your doorstep!! Every self-respecting Doom Metal fan will surely be aware of the name Leif Edling. This man is a legend in his own right. He's not only the father of one of the greatest Doom bands of all time, Candlemass (and their predecessors Nemesis), but has also started several rather interesting side projects. One was Abstrakt Algebra. And the other one was Krux. Now Krux is probably a bit more well-known than Abstrakt Algebra. Leif Edling formed the band in 2002, maybe with the attention to fill the void after the second break up of Candlemass. He explains: “In a way that was the case, but the first version of Krux was formed two years earlier when Jörgen and Peter wanted me in their band Devil Sun. Nothing came out of that unfortunately, and I formed Krux instead a bit later with them in it. The only thing that's left of Devil Sun is the song 'Devil Sun' on 'Krux II'.” Stylistically, Leif thinks Krux is closer to Candlemass than Nemesis: “Well, since Nemesis was something I did over 25 years ago, it's quite obvious that Krux is closer to Candlemass than my first band that was formed when I was still in school. But to me Krux and Candlemass are two very different bands. Guess you can hear hear it's me writing the songs, but the Krux vibe with the keyboards and all is something else than the stuff we do in Candlemass. I think that 'Krux III' sounds nothing like what I've done on any album this far. I have never classified Krux as a pure Doom band. The element of metal has always been very important to me. Krux will always be heavy, epic and metal. It's just the way you approach the songwriting that will be different.” “Krux III: He who sleeps amongst the Stars” is the album High Roller Records is proud to release on vinyl. The album contains an epic 12 minute piece called "Prince Azaar and the invisible Pagoda". It's the centrepiece of the album, says Leif Edling: “Since it's the longest track I guess so. Maybe together with the title track that I like a lot. The song 'He who sleeps amongst the Stars' goes well with the cover and captures the atmosphere of the album in a great way I think.” Somehow a lot of people (including me) got the impression that “Krux III” is the third and final part of a trilogy. However, according to Leif that is far from the truth: “Well, 'Krux III' is not the ending part of of a conceptual trilogy. We just said that three albums were planned for the band. I have absolutely no clue why we said this, but this is only the third record we do. Have no idea if there will be a fourth. Maybe … maybe not. Since there's no concept, we have seven songs on this album with very varied themes, or should I say lyrical content. The title track is about fulfillment, and 'Hades Assembly' is about greedy men in boardrooms, and 'Prince Azaar and the invisible Pagoda' is about what we seek in life.” Bruce Franklin of Trouble plays a guest solo on the song "Honey and Bees". So there must be some kind of connection between Leif Edling and Trouble. Was Trouble a musical influence for early Candlemass at all? Leif Edling says so: “It's a well known fact that Candlemass was influenced by Trouble in the early days. We loved the first album and wanted to get the same guitar tone. Of course we didn't succeed, he he! But I still listen to Trouble frequently and Jörgen is a big fan too, so when he wrote his song 'A Place of Crows' he asked me if it was possible to get Bruce to play a solo on it. I contacted Bruce and since they were in the studio recording the new Trouble album, it was no sweat for him to do the solo. And we love it!” Mats Levén is singing on “Krux III: He who sleeps amongst the Stars”. He's been with Yngwie Malmsteen and Firewind. This is what Leif thinks about maybe the greatest guitar player in the history of Swedish Rock: “Yngwie is a great guitar player and I really liked what he did on the records up to 'Odyssey'. I think Mats did a good job in Yngwie's band. Mats is a super singer and I think he is able to sing absolutely anything. But he's always best when he sings Metal … in Krux!” Opeth at the moment is a pretty successful band. Fredrik Akesson is playing guitars on “Krux III: He who sleeps amongst the Stars”. Now you might even call Krux some kind of an all-star band then, can't you? Leif Edling: “We all are in … or have been in pretty well-known bands. Except for drummer Carl of course. But we are mostly a bunch of pretty good friends that like to play together in the very relaxed environment that is Krux. Everything is loose and manana in this band. Absolutely no reason to panic, ha, ha, ha! Sometimes maybe a little too relaxed, but eventually we got this album done and I think the result speaks for itself! I personally can't wait 'til I get my hands on the vinyl and can enjoy the full organic stereo sound of it, together with the photos and the painting inside, and the beautiful cover!” Well, as you can see, Leif is as big a vinyl lover as all you maniacs out there … As Krux is such a “laid-back band” it is no wonder that they haven't toured the world so far: “We only do a handful of shows when we release an album. All the people in Krux are busy with theirs, so it's not an easy thing to play live with Krux. There's always one person or two that have other obligations the nights in question. We will of course try to do some gigs with the new album, but for instance Fredrik will be very busy with Opeth, and I will have my hands full with the new Candlemass album next year. But we'll see. I'm sure we can arrange some shows anyway. Would be fun!” Matthias Mader