MICHAEL POULSEN Says BLACK SABBATH Influence On New VOLBEAT Album Is 'Obvious'

During a recent appearance on "Whiplash", the KLOS radio show hosted by Full Metal Jackie, VOLBEAT frontman Michael Poulsen spoke about the musical inspiration for the band's eighth studio album, "Servant Of The Mind", which came out on December 3 via Republic Records.

"If you look at the more heavy side of the material, it's obvious that's a lot of old BLACK SABBATH inspiration — more from the [Ronnie James] Dio past and from the Tony Martin [era] of BLACK SABBATH," he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "I do love the Ozzy [Osbourne] material, but you can definitely hear the inspiration from the BLACK SABBATH Dio and Tony Martin era. And there's also some pretty old-school death metal influences, like DEATH and BOLT THROWER and ENTOMBED; you can definitely hear that in between. And early METALLICA as well. And when we're doing those kinds of parts, we still have that '50s rock and roll inspiration that comes from Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard, and some punk elements that might take you back to some of the RAMONES stuff and really darker kind of CRAMPS stuff."

VOLBEAT's "Shotgun Blues" single, which is taken from "Servant Of The Mind", holds the No. 1 slot on on both the Billboard Mainstream Rock and Mediabase Active Rock charts, the band's tenth top-charter, and cements the group's record for having the most No. 1 singles on the Mainstream Rock chart by an artist based outside of North America.

Revolver called "Servant Of The Mind" "excellent… the darkest and heaviest VOLBEAT offering yet." For the LP, the band, which consists of Poulsen, Jon Larsen (drums),Rob Caggiano (guitars) and Kaspar Boye Larsen (bass),took its signature heavy metal, psychobilly and punk 'n' roll sound up a notch while showcasing Poulsen's keen ability for songwriting and storytelling. "Rarely has such a successful band sounded so ravenous," says Kerrang! magazine of the album.

"Servant Of The Mind" was written and recorded during the shutdown and quarantine necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The LP includes the "double barrel" of summer songs the band released this past June: "Wait A Minute My Girl" and "Dagen Før" (featuring Stine Bramsen),the former of which became the band's ninth number one single on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.

VOLBEAT has racked up nearly three billion cumulative streams over the course of its career, notched a "Best Metal Performance" Grammy nomination for "Room 24" (featuring King Diamond) from 2014's acclaimed (and gold-selling) "Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies", and has grabbed multiple Danish Music Awards.

Since forming in 2001, VOLBEAT has gone from the clubs of Copenhagen to headlining stages around the world, including the famed Telia Parken stadium in Denmark (becoming the only domestic artist to ever sell out the venue). Over the course of seven record-breaking albums the band has picked up number one songs (including nine No. 1s on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart and counting, the most of any band based outside of North America),multi-platinum certifications, awards and accolades all over the planet. Most recently, they contributed a cover of "Don't Tread On Me" to "The Metallica Blacklist", with all proceeds from the track benefiting METALLICA's All Within My Hands foundation and the Børne Cancer Fonden of Denmark.

Photo credit: Ross Halfin