Miljenko Matijevic has a new project, and it is a long way from anything he is known for. The STEELHEART vocalist has been writing with Niclas Engelin — the Swedish guitarist best known for IN FLAMES and THE HALO EFFECT — under the name DEATH TO LOVE, and ten songs are already down.
Speaking to Laughing Monkey With Shawn Ratches, Matijevic explained how it came about. "I had this vision I was gonna do something really different instead of the rock world, something really heavy. And I had another friend of mine, a Swedish guy, and I had talked to him about that, and he goes, 'You need to meet Niclas.' So Niclas and I connected. And I gotta tell you — he came over. We did 10 songs. He had the music, so he put the songs up, and I just went live, whatever came out. I mean, boom, boom, boom. And it's, like, boom, there it is. Of course, then you gotta finesse it, write the lyrics and all that stuff."
On the direction, he was specific. "[Niclas is] a fantastic guitar player. So think of it as Gothenburg sound — really heavy Gothenburg sound — with my voice on it." And on what he is doing over it: "I promise you — this is intense. And I'm singing my ass off. We're doing all of it. We're screaming, we're yelling, we're singing low, we're singing soft, we're singing in between. It is everything. And the lyrics are super deep, intense, and a lot of that stuff that I've been through in my life."
He also clarified the name before anyone got the wrong idea. "That doesn't mean 'kill love'. It means when you die, you come to love."
The first DEATH TO LOVE single is targeted for October. "We're just preparing. We wanna make sure we roll this out properly. It's way too precious to just throw out there," Matijevic said. Touring is firmly on the table: "Oh, absolutely. We would love, love, love to tour with this. It's a big picture. It's a big show. It's not really for clubs."
Born in Zagreb and raised in the United States from the age of six, Matijevic has spent more than three decades in music — fronting STEELHEART, supplying the singing voice for Mark Wahlberg's character in the film "Rock Star", and later fronting THE DOORS alongside Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger. He rebuilt his career after a 1992 stage accident that left him with severe injuries and nearly ended it.
Engelin's credentials on the other side of the collaboration need little introduction: a founding figure in THE HALO EFFECT and a veteran of IN FLAMES and ENGEL, he is one of the guitarists who shaped the Gothenburg melodic metal sound in the first place.
Source: blabbermouth.net