Blackfinger, the band featuring former Trouble vocalist Eric Wagner, has announced the addition of Chicago bassist Willie Max to the group’s ranks [picture]. Willie, a member of long-running Chicago metal outfit Shadoz Edge, as well as Spillage [featuring Earthen Grave‘s Tony Spillman], replaces Ben Smith, who has moved on to pursue other musical interests.
Blackfinger recently signed a worldwide deal with Germany’s Church Within Records. The group’s self-titled debut album will be released on CD and vinyl by the end of the year. A full tour in the support of the effort is in the works.
A new Blackfinger promo video from Kathy Reeves Productions can be seen below.
As previously reported, Dark Star Records will handle the digital release of the Blackfinger debut. The CD, with its many peaks and valleys of heaviness and melancholy, along with Wagner‘s signature vocals, will mark the singer’s first recorded output since Trouble‘s 2007 release, “Simple Mind Condition”.
In a recent interview with Metal Assault, Wagner stated about the Blackfinger LP, ” It hasn’t been an easy record to do. There were a lot of things that detoured me from working on it, personal things and stuff. I don’t know. I get sick of hearing it and I have to take a break from it.”
He continued: “I’ve been working on it for four, five years. There was the original lineup, which is different from today’s lineup, I blew that one up because it wasn’t working and I went back to writing and recording.
“In the past, we had a producer there, so all I had to do was concentrate on singing and writing lyrics, whereas with this one, I had to do everything. I had an engineer that would give me tones and sounds, but as far as recording, writing and arranging it, I had to be there. Sometimes I got a little sick of it. I had to walk away for a while.
“I’m really proud of it. It’s heavy, it’s dark. Heavier than I thought it would be, actually. It’s definitely an album where you sit down and listen to the whole thing.”
Tracklist:
01. I Am Jon
02. Yellowood
03. Why God
04. On Tuesday Morning
05. As Long As I’m With You
06. Here Comes The Rain
07. My Many Colored Days
08. For One More Day
09. All The Leaves Are Brown
10. Til Death Do Us Part
11. Keep Fallin’ Down
Blackfinger is:
Eric Wagner – Vocals
Doug Hakes – Guitar
Rico Bianchi – Guitar
Willie Max – Bass
Larry Piatz – Drums
Related Articles:
Former ‘Trouble’ Vocalist ‘Eric Wagner’ Releases First ‘Blackfinger’ Single [Nov. 2011]
‘Blackfinger’ Signs With ‘Church Within Records’ [August 2013]