Genres: Progressive Metal, Power Metal, Heavy Metal
Years Active: 2012- Present
Release Date: February 12, 2021
Label: M-Theory Audio
1. Psychosomatic (5:33)
2. Read Between The Lines (6:01)
3. Lockdown (4:12)
4. Phobia (6:13)
5. Clocks (5:12)
6. Self-Isolation (0:39)
7. Goodbye To Farewells (5:50)
8. Candlelight (5:24)
9. Find A Reason (7:00)
10. New Day Rising (5:56)
Album Length: 52:06
"Refreshingly concise and engagingly written, Age of Revolution offers more thoughtful themes and exhilarating moments than someone like Yngwie Malmsteen could ever hope to achieve... This consistent level of engagement is only possible because Immortal Guardian places strong songwriting before instrumental showmanship." - Angry Metal Guy
"“...vocalist Carlos Zema (ex-Outworld) has an amazing range and more passion for delivering heavy words than 98% of active power vocalists out there.” - Your Last Rites
"I’ve been a fan of Carlos Zema since his turn as lead vocalist for Outworld, and if anything, he’s upped his game for Immortal Guardian. He brings a multitude of incredible voices to the mic; most prominently focusing on his standard Power Metal Tenor-Baritone, but also sometimes raising the stakes to Halford-esque screeches, while at other time, dive-bombing into a resonant growl." - Metal Asylum
"“Gabriel is a Virtuoso - - with a capital Flying V, blending Electrical Classical styles with Power Metal and occasional Latin elements.” - Metal Asylum
"Tales say astonishing power metal records only come exclusively from Europe. American power quartet IMMORTAL GUARDIAN says enough for that with their forthcoming album “Age of Revolution”. Parading complex mixtures of different musical styles, big melodies, technical rhythms and unconventional combos, this album is specifically created to blow your mind, drop your jaw and melt your face." - Metal Temple
“Technicality, diversity and power. These three words roughly summarize Immortal Guardian’s new album Age of Revolution. What stands out the most after listening to the album a few times is that the band members are extremely skilled musicians, not only in playing their instruments, but also in composing music with a wide variety of instruments.” - Metal Utopia
"“The band are incredibly skilled, which is an understatement to be brutally honest – the guitar work here is as magnificent as the keyboard playing, which reminds me of only some of the greatest keyboardists in the metal genre.” - The Grim Tower
STORY ANGLES / FUN FACTS - IMMORTAL GUARDIAN
PANDEMIC ALBUM
1.The Lyrics and concepts of the album were all written about the pandemic during the pandemic. Cancelling a North American tour with PowerGlove only days before mandatory lockdown back in March. Big financial hit with visa going down the drain, custom merch with tour dates, and the purchase of a short bus days before departure. We had been working on a completely different album/idea then when the pandemic hit we felt so inspired to make new music relating to the current world events.
SHRED SLED
2.We had this crazy illegal idea to shred on a rolling platform in the middle of the SXSW festival in the Austin, TX streets and shred with no permit, no promotion, just raw metal on the street. This is how the ShredSled was born. After many revisions and upgrades we were asked to do legal performances like opening FFF festival gates for Judas Priest, or doing a drive-thru prank with the guys from Jackass and even getting rained on during a ShredSled performance at the X-Games on TV!
INTERNATIONAL
3.Immortal Guardian has gone to Russia and Brazil to headline music festivals on a governmental cultural exchange grant!
EMERGENCY SURGERY
4.Gabriel had emergency appendix surgery in the middle of his last 37 show North American tour. With two weeks still left and only taking one day off to get surgery, he was back on stage the following day and completed the tour sitting down at performances with the last show crowd surfing.
NEW BASSIST
5.We kicked out our new bassist the morning of the video shoot for Clocks because he showed up unprepared. Since Josh was the producer of the album, already being familiar with the songs, and being already at NAMM, we asked him to fill in at our NAMM performances and music video shoot and that eventually led him to join the band.
ROLLING BUS
6.One time on tour with Marty Friedman, the bus driver stood up to check something outside forgetting to put the bus in park and Gabriel and Marty’s tech Santi realized immediately and started yelling until the driver realized and jumped back in the seat to stop the bus from rolling down a very very catastrophic hill.
YOUNG SHREDDER
7.Gabriel wrote the majority of music in "Read Between the Lines" and "Lockdown" when he was only 15yrs old.
CULTURES
8. We have an Italian-French Canadian Drummer, a Brazilian Singer, and a Mexican-American guitarist and bassist. Residing in Montreal, CA - Las Vegas, NV - and South Texas, there are 5 languages in Immortal Guardian.
BACK FROM THE DEAD
9. Before soundcheck for a show Carlos got into a car accident and died, after being brought back to life, Zema stayed in a coma for 2 weeks, and he was back on stage after a month.
SCAMMED
10.Immortal Guardian once did a scam tour with a scam booking agent, the dude booked an entire tour, dates, itinerary, promo, etc just to find out on the actual tour he scammed us and none of the tour dates actually existed. One night we showed up the bar didn’t exist, another night the “venue” was a company Christmas karaoke party and this one time I recall one spot letting us play cuz it was “Bluegrass Jam Thursday’s” haha. We were like 18yrs old. We didn’t know a thing! Never again, contracts and reputations are mandatory now ha.
The seeds of progressive/power metal group IMMORTAL GUARDIAN were sown by band founder and native Texan Gabriel Guardian in 2008. The guitarist/keyboardist began his mission of delivering “super metal” packed with melody and shred, and the group would begin evolving into its current form with two acclaimed self-released EP's, 2013's “Super Metal: Edition Z” and 2014's “Revolution Part I”, the latter produced by Roy Z (Bruce Dickinson/Halford). The EP's showcased Guardian's full-frontal assault of anthemic melodies, technical rhythms, and furious shred, and were augmented by the high-energy, high-flying vocals of Carlos Zema, who had already built his name through stints with respected Brazilian power metallers Heaven's Guardian and Houston progressive-metal act Outworld.
IMMORTAL GUARDIAN began building their following throughout their home state of Texas with live performances alongside some of the biggest names in heavy metal, including Judas Priest, Dragonforce, Kamelot, Symphony X, Sonata Arctica, Slayer, Metal Church, Soilwork, and Steve Vai. The buzz that has been built by their EP's and live performances led to the group signing with M-Theory Audio for the release of their 2018 full-length debut, “Age of Revolution”. The album was hailed by MetalSucks as “seriously epic”, and by Angry Metal Guy as the “front-runner power metal record of the year.” The band was applauded by Metal-Observer as “stylistically trail-blazing” and by Metal Utopia for its combination of “technicality, diversity, and power.” IMMORTAL GUARDIAN further cemented their reputation as a thrilling live act by touring relentlessly for the next eighteen months, touring nationally in support of fellow shredders such as Marty Friedman, Powerglove, and Exmortus. The group also spread their brand of melodic progressive/power metal worldwide by performing in countries as far-and-wide as Russia and Brazil, and with high-profile performances at ESPN's X-Games, South by Southwest, and Fun Fun Fun Fest.
IMMORTAL GUARDIAN guitarist/founder Gabriel Guardian also has a very active presence on YouTube, garnering hundreds of thousands of views on the platform for his self-produced videos showing off his uncanny ability to play guitar and keyboard simultaneously. His cover of “Sweet of Child O' Mine” was shared on Facebook by Guns N' Roses themselves and received over one million views within 24 hours, and other dual-instrument covers of songs by the likes of Iron Maiden and Pantera have also won over social media audiences. Guardian's abilities have also been showcased on the MTV series, “Amazingness”.
Gabriel Guardian and Carlos Zema gathered in Las Vegas at the beginning of 2020 alongside new drummer Justin Piedimonte and bassist Joshua Lopez to record the second IMMORTAL GUARDIAN full-length album. As the spread of COVID-19 and the subsequent pandemic began to ensue, each member of the band retreated to their respective hometowns. With shutdowns around the world being enforced, the band completely scrapped the record that they had been working on and were heavily inspired to write and create a new thematic record about their emotions surrounding current events. The resulting album, “Psychosomatic” (set for release Feb. 12, 2021 on M-Theory Audio) was a truly multi-national record, with guitarist/keyboardist Guardian remaining in Las Vegas, Zema recording his vocals from his home in Brazil, Piedimonte recording his drumming performances in his hometown in Montreal, Canada, and Lopez recording bass guitar in IMMORTAL GUARDIAN's native Texas. In addition to his new role as the group's bassist, Lopez also handled recording engineer duties on the new album, as he had on the group's previous record, “Age of Revolution”.
Despite the challenges presented by the global pandemic, “Psychosomatic” is the next step in IMMORTAL GUARDIAN’s evolution while still capturing the band’s exhilarating trademark melding of melodic power metal with progressive/shred tendencies.
Discography:
2021 - Psychosomatic (M-Theory Audio)
2018 - Age of Revolution (M-Theory Audio)
2014 - Revolution, Part 1 (EP)
2013 - Super Metal: Edition Z (EP)
