ALMANAC in 2020 consists of musical director Victor Smolski (guitars, cello, sitar, piano, keyboards), vocal tag-team Patrick S?hl and Jeannette Marchewka, bass player Tim Rashid and drummer Kevin Kott, with GAMMA RAY bellower Frank Beck and growl god Marcel Junker adding additional vocal oomph. “Once again, this line-up change really propelled us onwards. Suddenly we had all the time we needed to rehearse, to experiment, to just be spontaneous. And somehow by accident,” he laughs, “we got way more heavy!” “Rush of Death” is not only the heaviest ALMANAC album yet; it's also the most contemporary. After a stint in Russian history and his gruesome hymns on murdered kings, Smolski is turning to the gladiators: The orchestrally driven mid-part is all about Ancient Rome's fabled fighters, the rest of the songs about their modern counterparts – racing drivers. “While the audience is getting one hell of a show, the drivers fight for life and death,” he says. “I am a racing driver for more than 25 years. I know what I'm talking about.”
