Portuguese battle metal outfit RAVENSIRE has announced the addition of guitarist Mário Figueira and drummer Alex Fonseca. The pair replaces Zé RockHard and Francisco Machado, respectively. The band’s most recent album, “The Cycle Never Ends”, was released in 2016 by Italy’s Cruz Del Sur Music.
Comments guitarist Nuno: “After we finished recording our album ‘The Cycle Never Ends’, we started preparing for the shows that would follow. Unfortunately, after a while, Zé started facing some changes in his personal life that prevented him from rehearsing as much as he would’ve liked. So, after a few weeks in a sort of limbo, he finally approached us and told us that he couldn’t continue playing with the degree of commitment needed, so he’d leave the band in order for us to find a replacement as soon as possible. After some searching, we had a few guys willing to step into Zé’s shoes.
“So, we planned a few auditions and there was no question that Mário would be the one taking the battleaxe for future battles! Although Mario played mainly in death metal acts in the last decade (BLEEDING DISPLAY, for example), recently he had been reconnecting to his roots and started playing in a hard rock band called 15 FREAKS. Another fun fact was that way before Zé left the band, he saw a RAVENSIRE concert and enjoyed our sound so much that he got in touch with us! Who knew that one year later he’d be joining the fold?”
Shortly after the departure of Zé, long-time drummer Francisco Machado stepped down from RAVENSIRE, citing personal matters. “Honestly speaking, this was an even bigger blow, because F had been one of the main forces in getting RAVENSIRE together,” says Nuno. “Of course, we fully understood his motives and nothing changed in our friendship. This time, though, instead of trying to find a replacement and going through auditions and whatnot, we went straight to MIDNIGHT PRIEST‘s drummer Alex since we knew he was available to commit to another band and we’ve been friends and mutual fans of each other’s bands since the beginning!”
RAVENSIRE’s lineup now consists of:
Rick – Vocals / Bass
Nuno – Guitar
Mário – Guitar
Alex – Drums
With their new lineup in place, RAVENSIRE has begun work on their third full-length album, which they plan on recording during the first half of 2018. The band has also planned some new live assaults:
December 9, 2017: Riddle Of Steel Festival, Marburg, Germany with A SOUND OF THUNDER, HEATHENS OF THE NORTH, ARKHAM WITCH, IRONSWORD, BATTLE RAM
December 22, 2017: Cascais, Portugal with CAPE TORMENT, MIND TAKER and TUMENT
February 16, 2018: Bordeaux, France with SILVER MACHINE
February 17, 2018: Rennes, France with SILVER MACHINE
April 14, 2018: IX Metalmeria Fest, Almeria, Spain
Related links:
https://www.facebook.com/Ravensire