Helsinki's most famous vampires, THE 69 EYES, recently announced the release date of their new 11th studio album, Universal Monsters. The album will be released on April 22nd via Nuclear Blast.

After launching several album trailers, the band are premiering another music video for the darkly infectious track 'Dolce Vita', which can be viewed here, today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuAdKbEEf0o

Get the single digitally here: https://nblast.de/The69EyesDownloads

Pre-order Universal Monsters now and get 'Dolce Vita' as an instant download!

The song is a mix of METALLICA meets Fellini with the video combining classic Roman scenes and Helsinki vampires shot by Finland's most famous rock and metal photographer Ville Juurikkala (NIGHTWISH, HIM, AMORPHIS).

"The riff smelled a bit like good old METALLICA for me and I mixed it with Paolo Sorrentino's The Great Beauty movie in my head, so that's what it's all about. On Saturday afternoon during the midsummer weekend in the last June I recorded all those 12 o'clock church bells at the Capitoline Hill in Rome that you can hear in the beginning of the song, so that adds some Fellini there as well!," explains singer Jyrki 69 about the song.

Check out the album trailers here:
#1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWC0309-hiY
#2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFnYNNWs9Bc
#3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UYUAL_H14E
#4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOkOjE5nsfA
#5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ1gZ25peQ8
#6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LioCq16vYrU

Ville Juurikkala is also be seen as an important part of the band, creating their photos and also the video for first single 'Jet Fighter Plane'.

"We do this from friendship and love for rock 'n' roll. THE 69 EYES, producer Johnny Lee Michaels and photographer Ville Juurikkala have done this together over two decades. This is our lifestyle. This is also how we see the world right now."

Watch 'Jet Fighter Plane' here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDaN1JFAliY
Purchase 'Jet Fighter Plane' digitally here: https://nblast.de/The69EyesDownloads

"As I first heard the instrumental demo of the song, it immediately sounded for me like a song from the early 80's new wave/post punk days. You know, like when the music was heavily inspired by David Bowie's dark visions, the Cold War, the threat of nuclear war and 1984-kind of the future. So I wrote such lyrics from the past ' and all of a sudden, the history started to repeat itself and the Cold War winds started to blow again! It was very strange - all of a sudden THE 69 EYES have a song which is very "today" and even political, longing back to the days of peace," explains singer Jyrki 69. "We also wanted the video to be artistic and visually capture the vibe and theme of the song. There is hope but also darkness, violence and innocence. And it's only goth 'n' roll."

The new album's cover artwork was conceived by Ville Juurikkala - known for his work with NIGHTWISH, AMORPHIS, HIM, APOCALYPTICA and MICHAEL MONROE. As the album title "Universal Monsters" refers, the band are captured in movie monster lightning, showing them as well classic and timeless creatures. "The covers are planned and designed as an old-school CD covers - remember when the booklets used to be as exciting as the album itself?! It will actually have five different covers - each member of the band can be used as a cover creature of their own. Ville has really succeeded in capturing the classic movie vibe for the shots without any special make-up or photo shopping. THE 69 EYES are the universal rock 'n' roll monsters - not so many of us left anymore," says THE 69 EYES vocalist Jyrki. "So from real fans I wish they would get the actual CD in their hands to get the full album treatment as we want it to be experienced!"

Pre-order Universal Monsters here: https://nblast.de/The69EyesMonstersNB

Universal Monsters tracklist:

01. Dolce Vita
02. Jet Fighter Plane
03. Blackbird Pie
04. Lady Darkness
05. Miss Pastis
06. Shallow Graves
07. Jerusalem
08. Stiv & Johnny
09. Never
10. Blue
11. Rock 'N' Roll Junkie

Pre-order your copy of Universal Monsters here:
https://nblast.de/The69EyesMonstersNB

Visit THE 69 EYES online:
www.69eyes.com
www.facebook.com/the69eyes
www.nuclearblast.de/the69eyes