Defenders of the Faith - 'I'm in Love With My Tank' (official video)

«Defenders of the Faith is an 80's heavy metal side project of Christofer Johnsson and Therion.»

Κάπως έτσι μας συστήνεται το νεοσύστατο μουσικό σχήμα, το οποίο βρίσκεται στην τελική ευθεία για την κυκλοφορία του ντεμπούτο του. "Odes to the Gods" ο τίτλος, αποτελείται από εννέα τραγούδια (Heavy Metal Shakedown, I’m In Love With My Tank, The Time Machine, Northern Stones, Darkside Brigade, Funeral Pyre, Intruder, Our Saviour, The End Of The World) και αναμένεται τον πρώτο καλοκαιρινό μήνα (27 Ιουνίου 2025). Ο ιθύνων νους Christofer Johnsson μας λέει σχετικά:

«➜ The album have two categories of heavy metal songs. Half the album is a bit more edgy and tough like Accept and (when they are in the mood for it) Judas Priest. The other half is more sophisticated and melodic, like Maiden and Scorpions.

➜ One of the songs have a part with a bit of strings. It wasn’t common back then, but Ozzy had it in at least two songs I can think of - which makes it approved by the rules in the Book of Heavy Metal.

➜ The album has a lot of kind of obvious nods and winks to other artists and also some so called Easter Eggs (read ”Easter egg (media)” in wikipedia if this concept is unknown to you). Those are more subtle, but can be discovered by a trained ear and a sharp mind of a metal head knowing his / her heavy metal history.

Then there are the difficult ones that I think only professional (or very skilled amateur) artists will figure out. A few of the easter eggs are not heavy metal though, some are references to an artist that were one of the influences for the 80’s heavy metal bands.

➜ Playing live. I decided to cut down drastically on playing live with Therion, so I’m obviously not going to start touring with a new band instead. So the idea is not to play live.

➜ The cover. I really love this cover and I am happy many seems to like it too. It was done by Jan Yrlund and he had free hands to work from a basic concept idea I gave him. To me Accept ”Restless and Wild” (original cover with the two burning flying V guitars) was the cover that had the biggest impact on me back then.

But I also loved Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow's debut album with the Stratocaster castle. So I asked for something like the Rainbow cover, but with a Flying V and make it more like a temple. He went more in the classic castle style instead, but as soon as I saw it, I was blown away and understood this was better.»

Track listing:
1. Heavy Metal Shakedown
2. I’m In Love With My Tank
3. The Time Machine
4. Northern Stones
5. Darkside Brigade
6. Funeral Pyre
7. Intruder
8. Our Saviour
9. The End Of The World