product: Gabrielle De Val – I Am The Hammer
release date: 27.06.2025
format: CD & digital
territory: world
Gabrielle de Val began to get involved in the Rock scene in Madrid, where she started by winning several important contests in Spain with her first band, such as the “Villa de Madrid”. Gradually, music became a very important part of her life.
In 2011, she released her first full album with her band, The Val, titled ‚Back‘, taking advantage of the rise of social networks which allowed the band to be heard beyond their borders. The album was distributed and supported by important media such as Classic Rock Magazine and Fireworks Magazine, which made possible the recording of a second album, ‚Heading for the Surface‘ (2015) and a third one, ‚King Ocelot‘ (2020), all of them with extraordinary reviews from the specialised media.
With The Val, Gabrielle gave major concerts, participated in festivals, toured England and had the opportunity to sing live alongside big names in international Rock such as Robert Tepper (Rockingham Fest, 2015).
In 2022, an album created by Bruce Mee (editor of Fireworks Magazine) and Khalil Turk (Escape Music), ‘The Garden’, by Circle of Friends, was released, in which the vocalist performed an original song written by Mikael Rosengren titled ‘When He’s Gone’, which was highly praised by the specialised press. In this work, she coincided with several of the artists who would later participate in her first solo album.
‚Kiss in a Dragon Night‘, Gabrielle’s first solo album, was conceived when Bruce Mee listened to the album ‚Back‘ to write a review for Fireworks Magazine. Somehow, the song that gave the album its title, over time, led him to want to record a full album, and together with producer Khalil Turk (Escape Music), he shaped the idea and created an album involving vocalists such as Steve Overland (FM), Mick Devine (Seven), Robin McAuley (Michael Schenker Band), Mark Boals (Yngwie Malmsteen) and Terry Brock (Strangeways) as well as musicians such as Gary Pihl (Boston), Eric Ragno (Joe Lynn Turner), Johan Kullberg (HammerFall) and Fredrik Folkare (Nordic Union).
After the debut solo album, Gabrielle began working 18 months ago on what had been conceived to be her second album, ‘Cry Wolf’, but due to a delay in production, Gabrielle and Bruce Mee took advantage of the waiting time and wrote a bunch of songs together. Tommy Denander took on the role of producer/musician, leading the creation of a completely new album, titled after one of these recent songs, ‘I Am The Hammer’. Bruce and Gabrielle are the authors of almost all the tracks on the album, except for ‘Show me Heaven’, whose author is Tommy Denander himself, and ‘Princess of Darkness’ which was written by Mee and Roland Forsman, from the Swedish band Remedy, and which will surely delight fans of that band.
Gabrielle and her band have been playing live over the past year, both in Spain and England, including sets at the inaugural Tower of Fire festival and the revamped Firefest 2024. Several concerts are already planned for 2025, and with the new album ‘I Am the Hammer’ already recorded, and ‘Cry Wolf’ expected to be finished in the coming months…2025 really seems to be shaping up as a very important year for this Spanish-German singer!
Produced, mixed and arranged by Tommy Denander
Mastered by Harry Hess
Executive Producer: Bruce Mee
Recorded and mixed at: Holliewood Studios, Sweden
Vocals: Gabrielle de Val
Backing vocals: Gabrielle de Val, Manuel Iglesias, Valerie-Anne Gibson, Jasmyne Lindon
Guitar, bass and keyboards: Tommy Denander
Keyboards on ‘Princess of Darkness’: Roland Forsman
Drums and percussion: Neil Anami
Cover art: Manuel Iglesias
Logo and Layout Design: Sebastian Kozak
https://www.gabrielledevalofficial.com/es
https://www.facebook.com/gabrielle.devalkoenzen
https://www.instagram.com/elledeval
https://www.youtube.com/@GabrielleDeVal
Tracklist:
1. The Sky Is Falling
2. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
3. Good Morning Vietnam
4. For Whom The Bell Tolls
5. Show Me Heaven
6. The Ghosts of My Lai
7. Land Of The Blind
8. Blinded
9. Autumn Sun
10. Princess Of Darkness
11. I’m The Hammer
12. The Nights Are Killing Me
13. Toxic
14. Shadow
