Magnus Karlsson is on a journey Into The Unknown with Heart Healer’s metal opera
It’s been less than a year since Stargazed’s Peter Andersson Öhrn reviewed “We Are The Night” by Magnus Karlsson’s Free Fall. Heart Healer is now revealed as the new project by Swedish guitarist Magnus Karlsson, with the debut album, “The Metal Opera by Magnus Karlsson”, to be released through Frontiers Music Srl on March 12, 2021. The album can be saved/pre-ordered on CD, Color Vinyl, and Digital.
The album features seven vocalists playing different characters: Adrienne Cowan (Seven Spires, Sascha Paeth’s Masters Of Ceremony, Avantasia), Netta Laurenne (Smackbound, Laurenne/Louhimo), Youmna Jreissati (Ostura), Ailyn (Her Chariot Awaits, ex-Sirenia), Noora Louhimo (Battle Beast), Margarita Monet (Edge of Paradise), and Anette Olzon (The Dark Element, ex-Nightwish). Snippets of songs featuring all of the vocalists are available further down this page.
A first full taste of the album is also available through the video “Into The Unknown”, a single featuring the Finnish vocalist Noora Louhimo of Battle Beast. Watch the video for “Into The Unknown” here:
Heart Healer’s debut is the culmination of more than 20 years of blood, sweat, and tears put into writing and performing music by an esteemed musician and producer. Karlsson’s resume includes, but is not limited to, Last Tribe, Allen/Lande, Primal Fear, Kiske/Somerville, The Ferrymen, and his other project, Magnus Karlsson’s Free Fall. For this latest endeavor, Karlsson worked on his biggest and boldest production to date, enlisting some world class orchestra musicians. The opera is about The Heart Healer, a character played by the awesome Adrienne Cowan, who wakes up with no memory and does not know who she is. She soon finds out that she can heal people with just a touch of her hand, but every time she does, she gets weaker. On her journey to find out who she really is, she meets new characters who want to help her, those who want her help, and those who are scared of her and start to hunt her.
In Karlsson’s words, “my interest in orchestral music has been growing increasingly during the years. I wanted to mix the epic and dramatic orchestral sound with metal and produce something without any limits and rules. At the end of 2019, I started to work on ideas and tried new sounds and arrangements with the goal to create something dramatic, epic, and beautiful. This is easily my biggest and most demanding work ever. First the music with big arrangements and orchestra. Then all the singers and the need to find the right parts for everyone to make it as good as possible. Finally, mixing it all together in an interesting story about the ‘heart healer’. I have to say, if I didn’t work with such great and professional people it would be impossible to make this happen!”
“I have worked with so many amazing singers in my career, but mostly male singers,” says Magnus. “I have of course worked with some incredible female singers such as Noora Louhimo, Amanda Somerville, and Anette Olzon, for example. But I really wanted to write for and record with more female singers and this was a perfect opportunity. I also saw that my label Frontiers had signed a lot of awesome bands with female singers and that also got me inspired. Of course I want to have the best singers, but I also want to have different kinds of singers. They all have very unique voices and sing in different styles, which is very important for a project like this.”
Tracklist:
1. Awake ft. Adrienne Cowan
2. Come Out Of The Shadows ft. Youmna Jreissati, Margarita Monet, Netta Laurenne
3. Who Can Stand All Alone ft. Adrienne Cowan, Anette Olzon
4. Back To Life ft. Margarita Monet, Ailyn, Adrienne Cowan
5. Into The Unknown ft. Noora Louhimo
6. When The Fire Burns Out ft. Ailyn, Netta Laurenne
7. Evil’s Around The Corner ft. Noora Louhimo, Adrienne Cowan
8. Mesmerized ft. Anette Olzon
9. Weaker ft. Anette Olzon
10. This Is Not The End ft. Adrienne Cowan, Ailyn, Youmna Jreissati, Netta Laurenne, Noora Louhimo, Margarita Monet, Anette Olzon
Line-up:
Magnus Karlsson – Guitars, Bass, Keyboards
Anders Köllerfors – Drums
Daniel Tengberg – Cello
Erika Sävström Engman – Violin
Vocalists (in alphabetical order):
Adrienne Cowan (Seven Spires, Masters of Ceremony)
Ailyn Gimenez (Her Chariot Awaits, ex-Sirenia)
Youmna Jreissati (Ostura)
Netta Laurenne (Smackbound)
Noora Louhimo (Battle Beast)
Margarita Monet (Edge of Paradise)
Anette Olzon (Dark Element, Ex-Nightwish)
You can hear snippets of songs from the album in these trailers featuring each singer:
Heart Healer – Meet The Singers: Ailyn (Her Chariot Awaits, ex-Sirenia)
Heart Healer – Meet The Singers: Adrienne Cowan (Seven Spires)
Heart Healer – Meet The Singers: Youmna Jreissati (Ostura)
Heart Healer – Meet The Singers: Netta Laurenne (Smackbound)
Heart Healer – Meet The Singers: Noora Louhimo (Battle Beast)
Heart Healer – Meet The Singers: Margarita Monet (Edge Of Paradise)
Heart Healer – Meet The Singers: Anette Olzon (The Dark Element, Allen/Olzon)
