Chosen by Monk

This is something of an historic release from the NWoBHM veterans, asit comes almost exactly nine years after the death of its driving forces, the legendary Chris Tsangarides – and not only in terms of his production skills (this would prove to be his last ever commission before his passing) but also in relation to him demonstrating his own not inconsiderable guitar playing skills on the accompanying album, which itself finally sees the light of day at the beginning of March.

Speaking about the choice of single, MORE bassist Baz Nicholls explained:

While preparing ‘Destructor’ for release, MORE began introducing new material into their live set. One song quickly separated itself from the rest.

Each time it was played, ‘Spirits of War’ drew the strongest reaction from the crowd, with audiences instinctively singing along to its unmistakable ‘Valhalla’ chorus chant. It soon became clear that ‘Spirits of War’ wasn’t just another track from the album – it was becoming a MORE anthem.

The album – only the third in the band’s 45+ year career and their first since 1982 – has actually been lying gathering dust for the past nine years, having originally been delivered to the band literally on the eve of Tsangarides’ death back in 2017. The ten tracks are now finally seeing the light of day after the final mixes were rediscovered by Nicholls, who had downloaded them from studio equipment left behind after the producer’s Ecology Rooms studio facility closed, storing them on a USB drive. It was then decided to bring in another longtime collaborator,  mastering engineer Maor Appelbaum, who had previously worked on a number of other albums with Tsangarides, with the work completed last year.