The Swiss band Crystal Ball is surely one of the most talented names on the contemporary melodic hard rock scene. Their music, strongly influenced by heavy and power metal, delivers a truly outstanding mixture of solid drumming, tight guitar work,

The Swiss band Crystal Ball is surely one of the most talented names on the contemporary melodic hard rock scene. Their music, strongly influenced by heavy and power metal, delivers a truly outstanding mixture of solid drumming, tight guitar work, dazzling solos and energetic vocals. ?Virtual Empire?, the group?s third full-length offering, is by far one of their most impressive works, combining all the best elements of their style into one big rocking masterpiece!

Released in May, 2002, ?Virtual Empire? was Crystal Ball?s first LP for Nuclear Blast and one of their most sophisticated works yet. The twelve (excluding the intro) tracks found on the album delivered a perfect mixture of hard rock and heavy metal, backed with atmospheric sci-fi punctuations which underlined ?Virtual Empire?s? futuristic theme. The LPs content varied from straight-forward power metal killers such as ?Hands of God? or ?Blind Side? (which has a similar structure to Helloween?s material) to the beautiful ballad  ?Look In My Eyes?. Other highlights included pure rocking tracks such as ?Night and Day? and ?Dance With The Devil?. Produced by Tommy Newton (Helloween, Ark, Human Fortress), ?Virtual Empire? proved to be a big success for the band, followed by a massive tour across Europe with Dokken, U.D.O., Doro and Krokus.

Metal Mind Productions will re-release ?Virtual Empire? on 21st September in Europe and 1st December in USA (via MVD). New digipak edition is limited to 2000 copies. Digitally remastered using 24-Bit process on a golden disc.

Crystal Ball
?A Virtual Empire? (remastered)

Label: Metal Mind Records
Cat. No.: MASS CD 1326 DG
Barcode: 5907785035447
Format: CD Digipak (limited edition of 2000 numbered copies)
Genre: hard rock
Release date: 21.09.2009 Europe / 01.12.2009 USA

Tracklist:

1.  3rd Dimension
2.  Hands Of God
3.  Savage Mind
4.  Am I Free?
5.  Virtual Empire
6.  Night And Day
7.  Dance With The Devil
8.  When The Night Is Over
9.  Blind Side
10.  Talk In Circles
11.  Look In My Eyes
12.  Private Visitor
13.  Find Your Ground