Great shows at With Full Force festival, in Wacken, at Rock am Ring/ Park and spectacular support slots for arena acts like Metallica or AC/DC – we’ve seen Danish Rockabilly / Country / Metal boys Volbeat more often on the road than professional truckers! And this autumn, their fans can look forward once again to one or the other nice encounter on the road when Copenhagen’s finest present their latest release „Beyond hell / above heaven“ live on stage. Front man Michael Poulsen epitomises the band’s style: with his black, perfectly groomed quiff, Motörhead t-shirt, multiple tattoos on his arms (among them, the names of Elvis Aaron Presley and Social Distortion), he’s an impressive – and perfectly nice and friendly - representative of their genre. Other than that, Volbeat have recorded a CD meant to convince and conquer even the toughest critics (not that there are too many of them, though). So, everything’s fine in the state of Denmark!„We dream of Metallica as the opening act for us“, Poulsen flashes a mischievous smile - „but, seriously, we really can’t complain. We’re still average blokes, no glam band or so-called Rock stars. I’ve just bought a small house for which I have really worked hard. Things couldn’t be better for us – apart from the incredibly high taxes here in Denmark...“ In spite of the permanent stress with the royal tax office, the boys still manage to come across more powerful and intoxicating than ever before on „Beyond hell/ above heaven“: with more Country, more Rock `nŽ Roll and more Metal, the Scandinavian quintet completes the Punk Rock crime story it has started on the last album which was released on 2008. „The songs ‚7 shots‘ and ‚The mirror and the ripper‘ finish the plot. Again, it’s all about that bloke who already has experienced so much shit you wouldn’t believe. On the one hand, he’s a living hell, on the other hand, there’s still a good core in him, making him see the light at the end of the tunnel sometimes. Apart from that, the title means you have to accept both, good and evil. You have to recognise that everything in life is intertwined somehow, that you are responsible for your actions and you can’t just blame somebody else. We all have our demons within. Volbeat are neither a political nor a religious band - the title was just my way of playing a bit with that idea of heaven and hell, not taking it too seriously: if we dug deeper than hell, heaven would look like it, wouldn’t it?“ There’s still one question to answer: where does The King live today? „Oh, Elvis is long dead“, Poulsen laughs. „He’s buried in Graceland. I ought to know – I married there, just a few months ago ...“ Well, congratulations – and see you soon somewhere in Germany!