Release the new live CD/DVD set
“Scandinavium Alive”
on October 27th at Metalville Records
“Scandinavium Alive”
Ever since he heard “Kiss Alive” for the first time in 1975, Johan Kihlberg has been a huge fan of the US American cult band, and everything he did professionally later on has always revolved around Kiss somehow.
For example, he worked for Polygram Records in the 80s and 90s and got to know the guys from Kiss during that time. At that time he was also asked to lead their fan club.
Later, Johan Kihlberg toured with Vinnie Vincent and had some guest appearances with Bruce Kulick, who also played on the Impera debut “Legacy Of Life” in 2012.
In 2017, Johan Kihlberg published the book “Kiss Klassified”, in which he talks about his life with Kiss.
After the announcement that Kiss would be coming to Europe for some shows in 2020, it was all too understandable that Johan Kihlberg immediately tried to get his band Impera to support him at a show in Sweden. And indeed, just one week later, they were confirmed as special guests at the Kiss show in Gothenburg.
But then Corona came and the concerts were put on hold.
On 22.06.2022 the time had finally come and Johan Kilhberg’s Impera entered the stage of the sold-out Scandinavium Arena in Gothenburg.
The line-up of this unique show consisted of Lars Chriss from Lion`s Share on lead guitar, Mats Vassfjord, who has been with Impera since the beginning, on bass, Magnus Ulfstedt (ex Eclipse) on drums, Jonny Lindkvist (Nocturnal Rites) as singer and Johan Kihlberg as second guitarist.
The gig was a milestone in Johan Kihlberg’s music career and also for the rest of the band, as all musicians who were on stage together that night are big Kiss fans.
The setlist consisted mainly of songs from the latest Impera album “Spirit Of Alchemy” plus a few tracks from “Age of Discovery”.
The show was filmed in full length and is, besides the audio version of the concert, part of the now released CD/DVD set “Scandinavium Alive”.
The CD also features a very special, previously unreleased bonus track. In the autumn of 2022, Johan Kihlberg was asked by the producers of the feature film “Black Hills” (an action film that will be released this fall) whether he could write the film music and whether Johan Kihlberg’s IMPERA could also contribute the title song “Fighter”, which will now be available for the first time on “Scandinavium Alive”.
TRACK LISTING
01 – Nothing Will Last
02 – Lost Your Life to Rock ´N´ Roll
03 – That´s The Way That Life Goes
04 – When Souls Collide
05 – All About You
06 – Fear
07 – In Heaven
08 – Fighter*
*CD track only
DISCOGRAPHY
Legacy Of Live (2012)
Pieces Of Eden (2013)
Empire Of Sin (2015)
Age Of Discovery (2018)
Spirit Of Alchemy (2021)
LINKS
Line-Up
Jonny Lindkvist – Magnus Ulfstedt – Johan Kihlberg – Lars Chriss – Mats Vassfjord
ALBUMS
The Rage
Main Title
Dreaming
At the Gym
Fight Challenge
In The Cell
Fields
Breakout
Confrontation
Tank Assault
End Title
Age Of Discovery
Prelude
That´s The Way That Life Goes
Fear
Falling
The End Of The Road
Just A Conversation
The Right Stuff
Why Does She Care
I Am I
It’s A Revolution
Empire Of Sin
The Beast Is Dead
Evil (become A Believer)
Don’t Stop
Hole In The Sky
End Of The World
Thunder In Your Heart
Lights In The Sky
Darling
Lost Boy
Fly Away
Pieces of Eden
Beast Within
These Chains
All Alone
Smalltown Blues
Since You’ve Been Gone
Goodbye
Easy Come
You And I
This Is War
Fire And The Flame
Legacy Of Life
Turn My Heart To Stone
Kiss Of Death
Break The Law
Shoot Me Down
Sunset Rider
Tell Me
More Than Meets The Eye
Is This Love
Show Me The Money
Dead-end Street
VIDEOS
The Family
History
2018
After three albums with his band IMPERA, founding drummer Johan Kihlberg decided it was time to spread his wings, and the Swede came up with the idea to record his first solo effort, Johan Kihlberg’s Impera “Age Of Discovery”. “I felt this would give me the opportunity to spread my wings a bit and work with some other people,” Johan said. “I grew up with bands like KISS, QUEEN, ABBA and THE BEATLES, who were not afraid to have a wide range of styles on their albums. I’m obviously a hard rock fan at heart, but I’m also influenced by bands like SIMPLE MINDS, KRAFTWERK, MANFRED MANN’S EARTH BAND, HUMAN LEAGUE and many others. I’m also a huge fan of movies and movie soundtracks.”
The first person Johan approached was LION’S SHARE guitarist Lars Chriss, who is also a renowned producer and mixer. “Johan and I got together and started writing songs,” Chriss said. “He usually had an idea of the direction and we took it from there. We also had a couple of friends coming up with basic ideas for about half of the album. We had the luxury to cherry-pick the songs we thought would add to what we already had going. For lyrics and melodies we worked closely with singer Mick Devine of the band SEVEN, whom I’ve done a couple albums with the last couple of years. My old friend and LION’S SHARE keyboardist Kay Backlund stepped up to the plate and worked with us on a couple of tracks as well.”
Kihlberg and Chriss decided to work with several different singers on the project, while enlisting Kihlberg’s longtime friend and IMPERA bandmate Mats Vassfjord to lay down the bass tracks. “As soon as we had the songs written, we started thinking about what voice and singer that would fit each individual track the best,” Kihlberg said. “Fortunately, they all agreed and did an amazing job on the album. I even managed to get one of my all-time favorite singers, Michael Sadler from SAGA, to sing a song.”
Johan Kihlberg’s Impera “Age Of Discovery” features a wide range of musical influences while remaining a very strong, melodic and powerful album. It boasts great production work by Chriss and a stunning artwork by Carl-André Beckston.
Line-up: Johan Kihlberg – Drums/Keyboards; Lars Chriss (Lion’s Share)- Guitars; Mats Vassfjord (220 Volt) – Bass; Michael Sadler (Saga) – Lead & Backing Vocals on 8; Göran Edman (Yngwie Malmsteen, John Norum) – Lead & Backing Vocals on 6; Mick Devine (Seven) – Lead Vocals on 3, 5, 9 – Backing Vocals on 3, 7, 9, bonus track; Nigel Bailey (Bailey) – Lead Vocals on 7, 10, bonus track – Backing Vocals on 5, 10 ; Nils Patrik Johansson (Lion’s Share, Astral Doors) – Lead & Backing Vocals on 2, 3; Michael J. Scott – Lead & Backing Vocals on 4; Mattias IA Eklundh (Freak Kitchen) – solo on 9; Kay Backlund (Lion’s Share) – Keyboards on 1, 3, 6; Anders Rybank (Coastland Ride) – Keyboards on 8
Produced by: Johan Kihlberg & Lars Chriss
Mixed by: Lars Chriss for www.noterious.eu
Mastered by: Mike Lind
Artwork by: Carl André Beckston
PRESS
“Scandinavium Alive”
Ever since he heard “Kiss Alive” for the first time in 1975, Johan Kihlberg has been a huge fan of the US American cult band, and everything he did professionally later on has always revolved around Kiss somehow.
For example, he worked for Polygram Records in the 80s and 90s and got to know the guys from Kiss during that time. At that time he was also asked to lead their fan club.
Later, Johan Kihlberg toured with Vinnie Vincent and had some guest appearances with Bruce Kulick, who also played on the Impera debut “Legacy Of Life” in 2012.
In 2017, Johan Kihlberg published the book “Kiss Klassified”, in which he talks about his life with Kiss.
After the announcement that Kiss would be coming to Europe for some shows in 2020, it was all too understandable that Johan Kihlberg immediately tried to get his band Impera to support him at a show in Sweden. And indeed, just one week later, they were confirmed as special guests at the Kiss show in Gothenburg.
But then Corona came and the concerts were put on hold.
On 22.06.2022 the time had finally come and Johan Kilhberg’s Impera entered the stage of the sold-out Scandinavium Arena in Gothenburg.
The line-up of this unique show consisted of Lars Chriss from Lion`s Share on lead guitar, Mats Vassfjord, who has been with Impera since the beginning, on bass, Magnus Ulfstedt (ex Eclipse) on drums, Jonny Lindkvist (Nocturnal Rites) as singer and Johan Kihlberg as second guitarist.
The gig was a milestone in Johan Kihlberg’s music career and also for the rest of the band, as all musicians who were on stage together that night are big Kiss fans.
The setlist consisted mainly of songs from the latest Impera album “Spirit Of Alchemy” plus a few tracks from “Age of Discovery”.
The show was filmed in full length and is, besides the audio version of the concert, part of the now released CD/DVD set “Scandinavium Alive”.
The CD also features a very special, previously unreleased bonus track. In the autumn of 2022, Johan Kihlberg was asked by the producers of the feature film “Black Hills” (an action film that will be released this fall) whether he could write the film music and whether Johan Kihlberg’s IMPERA could also contribute the title song “Fighter”, which will now be available for the first time on “Scandinavium Alive”.
TRACK LISTING
01 – Nothing Will Last
02 – Lost Your Life to Rock ´N´ Roll
03 – That´s The Way That Life Goes
04 – When Souls Collide
05 – All About You
06 – Fear
07 – In Heaven
08 – Fighter*
*CD track only
DISCOGRAPHY
Legacy Of Live (2012)
Pieces Of Eden (2013)
Empire Of Sin (2015)
Age Of Discovery (2018)
Spirit Of Alchemy (2021)
LINKS
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