When William J. Tsamis, founder of legendary epic metal masters Warlord, sadly passed away on the 13th of May 2021, at the age of only 60, it looked as if the premature death of one of the most creative forces in American metal had come. However, Warlord bounced back in 2024, with a new line-up and a brand new highly acclaimed studio album entitled Free Spirit Soar (High Roller Records).
This was quickly followed by FromThe Ashes To The Archives – The Hot Pursuit Continues, a limited edition release to mark the occasion of the band’s festival appearances in 2024 with returning Warlord vocalist Giles Lavery. (who also sings for Jack Starr and Alcatrazz).
With a new studio album in the bag, it was time for the “reborn” Warlord to hit the road. In the summer of 2024, they appeared at Trveheim (Germany), Golden R Festival (Greece), Pyrenean Warriors (France) and Metalitalia (Italy).
It was the band’s idea to give their loyal following a something extra in return for their loyalty, as Giles Lavery explains: “We wanted to do something special and also something I don’t think anyone else has ever done before – release and “give away” an exclusive ‘free download’ song to mark each festival stop on the tour, four of them in one month. The reactions at these shows was again something that exceeded our expectations, people singing every word with us, the energy and response from the festival crowds was amazing.”
The songs we are talking about are “Golgotha (Place Of The Skull)”, “The Rainbow”, “Lost Archangel” and “Stygian Passage”. All four can be found now in physical form on Warlord‘s new release The Lost Archangel.
The singer goes into more detail: “They are brand new recordings: but ‘The Rainbow’ is an old Warlord demo from the very early 80s, which was recorded back then, so we re-recorded it in 2024. The other three songs were compositions Bill released on his Lordian Guard albums in the 90s, that we ‘Warlordized’ also in 2024. These were the last three Lordian Guard songs that we felt we could bring over to Warlord, so we thought why not release them this way as free downloads.”
“Almost directly after we released them free we were asked if we were going to issue these in physical format. Apart from these four new songs, The Lost Archangel also features a wealth of older and more recent live recordings as well several studio re-workings of historic Warlord material.”
Track-listing: The Lost Archangel: 01 Golgotha (The Place of the Skull) 02 The Rainbow 03 Lost Archangel 04 Stygian Passage 05 Enemy Mind (2025) 06 70,000 Sorrows (2013/2025) 07 Night of the Fury (2013/2025) 08 Father (Live in Athens 2013) 09 Glory (Live in Athens 2013) 10 Soliloquy (Live in Athens 2013) 11 Lucifer’s Hammer (Live 2024) 12 Black Mass (Live 2024) 13 Child of the Damned (Live 2024)
Produced by Giles Lavery, Thomas Mergler & Eric Juris
Note: The vinyl edition also includes the previously “CD only” bonus track “Twin” from the CD edition of Free Spirit Soar.
Warlord: Giles Lavery – Vocals 1-13 Eric Juris – Guitars 1-5 / 11-13 Diego Pires – Guitars 1-5 / 11-13 Jimmy Waldo – Keys 1-5 / 11-13 Philip Bynoe – Bass 1-13 William J Tsamis – Guitars 6-10 Mark Zonder – Drums
“Free Spirit Soar” Tracklist: 01 Behold A Pale Horse 02 The Rider 03 Conquerors 04 Worms Of The Earth 05 The Watchman (CD-exclusive track) 06 Free Spirit Soar 07 The Bell Tolls 08 Alarm 09 Twin (CD-exclusive track) 10 Revelation XIX
Line Up: Mark Zonder – Drums Philip Bynoe – Bass Eric Juris – Guitars Jimmy Waldo – Keyboards Giles Lavery – Vocals
Epic Metal pioneers WARLORD are on a mission in tribute to fallen bandmate William J Tsamis and return once more with a new album in 2024.
With “Free Spirit Soar”, a brand-new studio album by Warlord with all songs having been recorded between March and September 2023, singer Giles Lavery and drummer Mark Zonder honor their bandmate Bill Tsamis who passed away in 2021.
They are joined by Jimmy Waldo on keyboards/synthesizer, Philip Bynoe on bass and Eric Juris on guitars. “We wanted to finish these pieces of music that were started ‘for Bill’,” explains Lavery, “and the material we felt was certainly strong enough to inspire us to do so.” Regarding the guitar parts he specifies: “Bill is there where we could pull his tracks off the demo recordings, in much the same way the Beatles were recently able to rescue John Lennon’s voice from an old demo tape. however be assured this album is not “a demo”, nor does it sound like one, our new guitarist Eric does most of the heavy lifting as far the recording, but all of the music was written by Bill and we stayed very very faithful to what he wrote.”
Tracklist: 01 Behold A Pale Horse 02 The Rider 03 Conquerors 04 Worms Of The Earth 05 The Watchman (CD-exclusive track) 06 Free Spirit Soar 07 The Bell Tolls 08 Alarm 09 Twin (CD-exclusive track) 10 Revelation XIX
Line Up: Mark Zonder – Drums Philip Bynoe – Bass Eric Juris – Guitars Jimmy Waldo – Keyboards Giles Lavery – Vocals
Watch out for further news such as the album cover, pre-order info as well as a first single very soon!
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