Create a concept, find the right partners, work to make everything cohesive and invest in the potential to pursue your goals. Under this perspective, Armored Dawn appeared in 2014. From the initial conception to the present moment, the group, which currently promotes the third album, the conceptual “Viking Zombie”, has gone from promise to reality. More than that, Eduardo Parras (vocals), Tiago de Moura and Timo Kaarkoski (guitars), Heros Trench (bass), Rodrigo Oliveira (drums) and Rafael Agostino (keyboard) were able to make the name Armored Dawn become relevant on the Brazilian metal scene.
After all, there were tours and shows alongside names like Saxon, Megadeth, Scorpions, Whitesnake, Europe, Diamond Head, Symphony X, Hammerfall, Rhapsody, Fates Warning, Marillion, Sabaton, Tarja, De La Tierra, The Offspring and Texas Hippie Coalition, in addition to taking part in “Motörhead’s Motörboat”, the Motörhead cruise. “The experience of being among great bands like Motörhead, Slayer and Exodus was unique! Unfortunately, it was one of Motörhead’s last shows, and seeing Lemmy doing his best was a great experience, a life lesson”, said Eduardo Parras.
This effort typical of great warriors, by the way, has always been the soul of the group. Debut album, “Power of Warrior” (2016), produced by Tommy Hansen (Helloween, Jorn) and mixed by Peter Tägtgren (Hypocrisy, Amon Amarth, Children of Bodom), already showed that Armored Dawn would set any city on fire.
“Barbarians in Black” (2018), which featured production by Bruno Agra (We Are Harlot), the late Kato Khandwala (The Pretty Reckless, Papa Roach) for mixing and Ted Jansen (Metallica, AC / DC, Kiss, The Rolling Stones, Pantera) in mastering, proved once and for all that the band does not lose one battle while drinking from the skulls of their enemies.
For “Viking Zombie”, recorded at Dharma Studios, in São Paulo, two members of the group, who have worked for years as producers and sound engineers, meticulously took care of production, mixing and mastering: Rodrigo Oliveira and Heros Trench.
Trench, by the way, has already produced more than 200 bands and won a Latin Grammy in 2009.
The repertoire of “Viking Zombie” tells the story of the couple Bálder and Sigrid, who go through several battles alongside their fighting friends. Bálder, a warrior with war strategies, extraordinary strength and a will to win, is courageous and passionate about the beautiful and determined Sigrid who, besides being his companion, is an implacable warrior. The pact of love between the characters was so strong that it ranged from fidelity in life and battles, to death. “One of the songs says, ‘Nobody knows who I am or what I have become.’ Therefore, it is an album dedicated to people who have not yet found a place to which they belong. Now, with this band, they can join us and find strength in the Armored Dawn brotherhood “, explains vocalist Eduardo Parras.
Presenting its sophisticated and versatile power metal, the group collects large productions in videos. The one for “Sail Away”, track of “Barbarians in Black”, had a cinema super-production by Ricardo “Micka” Michaelis (Ideia House), creator of the documentary “Brasil Heavy Metal” (2016) and guitarist of Santuário, a pioneer of Brazilian heavy metal.
The video for “Beware of the Dragon”, filmed and directed by Grupo Libertà Films (Megadeth, Angra and Dee Snider), was shown in all movie theaters in Brazil during the trailers for the movie “Aquaman” in 2018. The video has already reached over 2.9 million views on YouTube.
“Ragnarok”, the first single from “Viking Zombie”, featured a video that, in just under three months, had more than one million views on YouTube. “Animal Uncaged”, the second single, had a video recorded during the “Rockfest” festival, held in October 2019 at the Allianz Parque stadium, in São Paulo (SP), when Armored Dawn played for an audience of approximately 37 thousand people. It is the third single, Zombie Viking that became successful in several territories and has gained wide prominence on commercial radio stations from countries like Brazil, Mexico, Chile, and Argentina.
There is no rest in the Armored Dawn kingdom. During the pandemic that canceled musical activities in 2020, the band prepared a new studio album and warriors are always ready, armed for battles and the conquest of new territories. Among the plans for 2021/2022 are an extensive tour of South America, the United States and Europe, in addition to the first season of the “Armored Dawn Convida” campaign – this is a tour of Brazil in the company of renowned names from different styles of the Brazilian scene.
(*) Ricardo Batalha is editor-in-chief of Roadie Crew Magazine since 1996 and has been collaborating for several media outlets linked to heavy/rock ever since the 1980s.