CYCLONE - Known unto God MCD HRR 1057CD, slipcase Guido Gevels - vocals Maxime Deschamps - guitars Vincent Heyman - bass Gabriel Deschamps - drums 01 Eliminate 02 Known unto God 03 I Fear Myself 04 Nothing is Real 05 The Truth Lies AVAILABLE

The roots of Cyclone from Belgium, who eventually became one of the most popular European thrash metal bands, go way back to 1981. They were originally formed in Aalst under the name of Centurion. As their music was getting harder and harder, it was decided to use a more cutting-edge moniker. A variety of demos was recorded before Cyclone signed a deal with Roadrunner Records where they released their now legendary debut album »Brutal Destruction« in 1986. This was followed by »Inferior To None« on Justice Records in 1990. After that, the band disbanded. Ending a long hiatus, Cyclone decided to reform in 2018 and have appeared live regularly since then. Now, High Roller Records are extremely proud to present Cyclone’s comeback mini album »Known Unto God«, showcasing five brand-new compositions. The current line-up of the band consists of Maxime Deschamps (lead guitar), Jesse Van Den Bossche (rhythm guitar), Vincent Heyman (bass), Gabriel Deschamps (drums) and Guido Gevels (vocals). Singer Guido Gevels, who hasn’t been in any bands since Cyclone broke up but was running a metal music club called “Negasonic” in his hometown of Aalst, first of all fills us in on how the initial era of the band ended after 1990’s »Inferior To None« album: “We did a European tour with Sadus (US) in 1992 and a second tour in Europe at the end of 1992 with The Accused, and played a few festivals at the beginning of 1993, with Kreator, Biohazard etc. At a certain point, Stefaan Daamen (guitar) and myself, the two remaining original members, decided we had had it … years of pulling the chariot had had its toll on us. So, we played our last show in May 1993 and just stopped.” According to Guido, it took Cyclone 25 years to raise from the dead: “Despite not being in the band anymore, Stefaan Daamen and I remained the best of friends and saw each other weekly, going to shows together etc. We never talked about reforming the band, other people did, every time at shows people would talk to us about Cyclone. Anyway, at a certain point in 2018, we did talk about Cyclone and Stefaan said maybe we should jam to see if we can still pull it of … So, we did, and the spark was there from that first jam. From July 2018 we got the band together and started rehearsing twice a week, the first re-union show was in December 2019.” Cyclone played live regularly following their re-union in 2018, either on their own or at prestigious festivals like Headbangers Open Air in Germany. Eventually, the urge to write new music won: “It was crazy. We started to play again, and it felt like we never stopped. So very soon we had new ideas that popped up. After a while, Stefaan and I decided to spend some days in his home studio every time we could, to work out those ideas. The result being the songs we now recorded. We just felt that we had to record them. We don’t have anything to prove but wanted to record them for ourselves and the people that support the band. As recommended by my friend Schmier from Destruction, we decided to go for High Roller Records to release the new material.” “I got the title for the record a long time ago when visiting war graves in Flanders Fields,” explains the singer. “On the gravestones of unknown soldiers, it often said, “Known unto God”, and said I will once write a song about this … and so I did. The recordings were done in December 2024. All guitars were played and recorded by our guitarist Maxime Deschamps at his home studio, bass was played by Vincent Heyman. The songs were recorded by Max at his home studio. Also, the temporarily guiding drums and vocals were recorded by Maxime, but we re-recorded the drums played by Gabriel Deschamps (brother of Max) at Porino Studios in Antwerp with Martin Furia (guitarist for Bark and Destruction). We also re-recorded my vocals at Martin Furia’s home studio and re-amped all guitars there also. All the mixing and producing and mastering done by Martin Furia who did a fantastic job!” Apart from the five new songs, according to Guido, there is more in the making: “Yep, we thought it was a good way to put us back on the map. There is more stuff, old and new. We have some songs we never recorded from in-between the two albums we did, »Brutal Destruction« (1986) and »Inferior To None« (1990). We would love to bring those out … but there is also more brand-new stuff in the making. We have definitely planned for a follow-up to this release.” “I think it’s the perfect mix of the two albums, without trying to be a copy of it,” continues the vocalist. “There is no recycling. We went for shorter songs than most of »Inferior To None«, more to the point, no need for unnecessary riffs. We wanted to capture our old-school sound but with a fresh touch, without losing the catchiness. I personally think that the catchy riffs and choruses and the perfect balance between aggressiveness and melody are the main factors that makes us maybe stand out more than other thrash bands … the fact when hearing a song once or twice and the chorus sticking to your brain. My favorite track on the record is “Nothing Is Real”. It’s quite unusual and shows a different face of Cyclone … where there is more influence of the early 80’s NWOBHM and early US metal bands. The NWOBHM with bands like Satan, Holocaust, Angel Witch, Sweet Savage, Diamond Head and Venom has always had a huge impact on our playing.” MATTHIAS MADER