LEVERAGE Signs With SPINEFARM RECORDS

Finnish melodic metal band LEVERAGE has inked a deal with Spinefarm Records.

Commented LEVERAGE guitarist and main songwriter Tuomas Heikkinen: "Actually, this is LEVERAGE's first real artist deal with a record company. Before, we've had distribution and licensing agreements. Personally, I have no complaints about anything in LEVERAGE's last couple of years, but I'm very pleased that we're now with a very well recognized heavy music label, and that we now get to make our next album concentrating solely on just that. We're in full steam writing new songs, and the overall feeling is great! In addition, our bass player Pekka is now rapidly recovering from a serious disease, which really is the best news of the moment for this band."

Spinefarm A&R representative Hannu Lehtonen added: "I am happy to star working with LEVERAGE and I look forward to hearing their new material. With a strong new album, like both their previous ones have been, I am certain that we can take LEVERAGE into the right direction, step by step. There's tons of work to do for LEVERAGE to conquer the world, but '09 will hopefully be a good kick off for that!"

LEVERAGE will spend the next few months writing material for its third album, to be released in the fall.

LEVERAGE's second album, entitled "Blind Fire", was released in the U.S. on October 21, 2008 via Blistering Records USA, Inc. with Ryko distribution.

LEVERAGE came out of nowhere in 2006, causing a stir with the release of its debut album, "Tides". The group's blend of modern metal sound and old-school, melody-based songwriting earned rave reviews from the media and created a fanbase both in Finland and throughout the rock community in many countries.

"The warm welcome for 'Tides' was a pleasant surprise for us," the band's guitar player and main composer Tuomas Heikkinen previously said. "We got good radio airplay in Finland, even climbed to the charts, all before our very first gig with our own material! Since then, we’ve played throughout Finland at clubs and festivals. Our music has been described as melodic metal or melodic heavy rock, which is fine by us."

He continued, "We wanted to plan the second album and the second step of our career carefully. The songs were all written between the release of 'Tides' and entering the studio in July 2007. Right from the first demos we knew that the second album will be a great step forward for LEVERAGE. Here's why: we're tighter as a band, we know what our own style is and what we might be capable of, and we're busting our butts to make as solid music as we ever can. We recorded and mixed (Torsti Spoof and Jari Mikkola) the album at Studio Audio, Jyväskylä, Finland between the beginning of July and halfway of September. It was mastered at Chartmakers, Helsinki."

LEVERAGE is:

Pekka Heino - vocals
Tuomas Heikkinen - guitar
Torsti Spoof - guitar
Pekka Lampinen - bass
Marko Niskala - keyboards
Valtteri Revonkorpi - drums

LEVERAGE's "Mr. Universe" video can be viewed below (taken from "Blind Fire").