EPK – Paradise – Queen of Mars (single) (2026)
Publicist – Jon Asher – jon[@]ashermediarelations[.]com
Paradiserockband.com | Instagram.com/paradiserockmtl | Facebook.com/paradiserockmtl | Youtube.com/@paradiserockband5339
Paradiserockband.bandcamp.com | Spotify | Apple Music
“The Canada scene has been fire in recent years, and it’s great to see the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll alive and kicking up there. Think about it: in this jaded era of fake music, here’s a group of five genuinely real, thinking, feeling humans who make music that you can also see live. The vibes are infectious. They call it volcanic rock, and the band’s been at it in some form or another since 2002. After two initial releases in the early part of the century, Paradise returned to the recording studio in 2020 ready for a new beginning. Now following the release of Paradise, they’re bringing all the attitude, energy, riffing, and fuzz to bear in the brand single before us: “Queen of Mars.” Beginning with a splash of pedal-mediated wah, the song picks up a groovy, heart-pounding pace, joined by grinding desert revving perfect for the visuals of the music video. Vocals tell the story in gritty and clean tones of “straying beyond the desert’s edge” and encountering the elusive Queen of Mars, depicted as “a gypsy spirit, wandering this ancient land.” Mysteries abound and you are invited to trip with the band into this strange, electrifying realm. Paradise’s new single comes out on Tuesday, April 28th, so this is your chance to hear it first! Stick it on a playlist with Freedom Hawk, Sandveiss, Bone Church, Kal-El, and Blackwülf. Give ear…” – Doomed and Stoned
“Montreal based hard rock band Paradise have returned after a six year hiatus with a red hot new single, ‘Queen of Mars’. A sci-fi tale ripe with a deep bottom end, driving heavy riffs, percussive rolls, soaring guitar breaks and foreboding vocals, ‘Queen of Mars’ is a fantastic epic in a tidy four minutes. It’s also an impressive return to prominence as Paradise sets the stage with this strong statement. In rotation now on your Home for the Best New Rock… W-J-O-EEEE” -WJOE – Findlay’s Home for Rock & Roll
“Fans of melodic heavy rock, there’s a new sheriff in town!” – Jano Lapin (2020)
“Solid, driving Hard Rock from the quagmires of Quebec!” – Reek Of STOOM (2020)
“Brilliant from start to finish !” – Stoner Rock Army (2020)
“A record that growls like a hungry beast” – ARP Média (2020)
“Riffing melodic hard rock and metal seems to the recipe for Canadians PARADISE, hailing from Montreal. And they do it well!This is a truly giutar driven album including ten songs only, but with energy enough to please you. Among my fave tracks are the cool and heavy riffed ”Who Do You Wanna Be” and the tempo filled ”Away From You” – try to stand still to that one! Like AC/DC on dope, if I exaggerate a bit.” – Melodic.net (2020)
“The synergy of this quintet gives the listener a proper kick in the ass needed to remember why we fell in love with the format. They also lend proof as to why heavy metal is the cornerstone of the myriad of hard rock subgenres. Blistering guitar riffs, thundering drums, and of course ample swipes at stuffy establishment rules.” – Boston Rock Radio (2020)
“The album opens with “Straight From Hell” and it is an adrenaline high. It is an unmistakable straight forward rock construction of verse-bridge-chorus, repeat, repeat, and the dial is set on stadium anthem. RL Black’s vocals are about as rock and roll as you can get – strong clean singing with a gruff edge. The lead breaks are short to fit in with the song structure, and they are pretty metal. I like the brand they have going here. It is great driving music, great drinking music. I would be stoked to see Paradise on the list of bands at a festival because you can just feel from these songs that they are going to put on a good show on stage.” – Flying Fiddlesticks Music Blog (2020)
[Download Single Cover | Download Single Lyrics]
Band: Paradise
Single Title: Queen of Mars – 4:31
Release Date: April 28th, 2026
Label: Self-Release
Distribution: TUNECORE
Genre: Heavy Rock
Location of Band: Montreal, QC, Canada
Single Recording Credits:
• song performed by: R.L. Black, Frank Kelly, Fred Kelly, Freddy Crew Grr, Federico Castrogiovanni
• song written by: Frank Kelly, R.L. Black
• Produced by: Frank Kelly
• Mixed by: Federico Castrogiovanni
• Mastered by: Samuel Plante
• Single Artwork by: R.L. Black
• Member of SOCAN
• Canadian Content (MAPL)
Recording Band Line Up:
François Kelly: Guitar
Frédéric Kelly: Bass
R.L. Black: Vox
Fred Crew Grr: Guitar
Samuel Plante and Federico Castrogiovanni: Drums
Live Band Line Up:
François Kelly: Guitar
Frédéric Kelly: Bass
R.L. Black: Vox
Fred Crew Grr: Guitar
Samuel Plante: Drums
=================================================
About the single:
This song paints a mystical portrait of a timeless, wandering woman, “the Queen of Mars”, who symbolizes freedom, resilience, and transcendence. Moving through a desert that represents both isolation and memory, she exists beyond the limits of time and space, carrying stories, secrets, and a quiet power.
Her journey reflects a spirit that refuses to be confined: she’s both earthly and cosmic. The song suggests transformation and inner strength, someone who turns solitude into sovereignty, becoming almost mythic, even intimidating, as she rises above darkness and control.
In short, it’s about a lone, powerful figure who embodies eternal freedom, mystery, and the ability to transcend time, hardship, and identity.
The music is a hypnotic, cinematic space-rock track that blends atmospheric, heavy guitars with a steady, ritualistic rhythm, creating a sense of lonely grandeur. Its mood is mysterious, introspective, and empowered, evoking the feeling of a mythic figure moving through vast, otherworldly landscapes. Vocals are controlled and poetic, emphasizing storytelling over raw emotion, placing the song stylistically between Hawkwind’s cosmic art-rock, the dreamy textures of Dozer, and the dramatic, cinematic sweep of Muse.
L-R: PARADISE Current Line Up | Frank Kelly (Guitar) | Frédéric Kelly (Bass) | R.L.Black (Vocals) | Samuel Plante (Drums) | Fred CrewGrr (Guitar)
Photo Credit – R.L. Black
Montreal summer of 2002. First, they were swept up in a wildly creative, almost electric state of mind, then proceeded to forge “volcanic rock” and chose a name: Paradise. The next day, still riding that same surge of inspiration, they came up with a title for their first album: Rock Anthropologists on the Kon-Tiki Voyage. Obviously, the creative energy hadn’t worn off. Co-founders and fellow guitar players, Frank Kelly and Jet Phil, convinced they had a great concept on their hands, fired up the rock riff machine and came up with a bunch of kick-ass rock and roll. Pretty soon, every track was assigned a title and, what do you know, they were all taken from a Kon-Tiki drink menu. It all made a lot of sense…
Still without any lyrics to complete the recipe, they set out to find someone crazy enough to work on their project. Through a mutual friend, rock promoter François Lalancette, they were introduced to singer-songwriter Richard Eusanio, who was more than crazy enough to jump in feet first. Within days, the record started to take shape. By this time, also on board was guitar master and the Sword‘s axeman Mike Plant. Paradise was happening…
Frank and Phil then recruited good friends, underground icon Xavier Caféine and drum god Michel “Away” Langevin of Voivod, to help. Pretty soon Paradise became big and loud…
The record was then sent to Glen Robinson (Voivod, Tea Party) to be mixed and mastered. Fall of 2002, Paradise came alive with the release of Rock Anthropologists on the Kon Tiki Voyage.
Summer of 2004: The boys were now ready for another roller-coaster ride. The usual suspects were rounded up, including bass man Fred Kelly. Now transported from the beaches of the South Pacific to the famous and even infamous hotels of this world, they began to work on Paradise’s follow-up “Hotel“. Everybody was ready for the trip.
During the sessions in the summer of 2004, they were blessed with the inspirational collaboration of Voivod‘s guitar pioneer, the late but great Denis “Piggy” D’Amour, who left his stamp on a couple of titles before losing his battle to illness in August of 2005. Mixed and mastered again by Glen Robinson, Paradise’s Hotel was released in the winter of 2005, and once again, it all made a lot of sense.
2019 /2020: With the will of the volcanic rock gods, the resurrection of Paradise was inevitable. The then line-up was composed of Frank Kelly (guitars), Fred Kelly (bass), R.L. Black (vocals), Fred Crew Grrr (guitars) and Mat Hias (drums), Paradise, like a phoenix that is reborn from its ashes, releases a new eponymous album that sways on the line between hard rock and pure heavy metal (recorded, mixed and mastered by Kevin Jardine from Slaves On Dope). From the opening piece and future classic “Straight From Hell” to the final “Free in Exile”, through “Hitting On All Sixes” and “Long Gone”, Paradise delivers an album where the balance between catchy riffs, attitude, intensity, and melodies is perfect.
2026: After years of letting the idea simmer somewhere between myth and memory, Paradise resurfaces, still driven by that same untamed creative force, to finally close the loop. This time, the voyage goes further: an intergalactic expedition where they fully embrace their role as rock anthropologists, digging through the strange, colorful relics of ’60s and ’70s sci-fi culture. Analog futures, cosmic psychedelia, and B-movie dreams reimagined through roaring guitars and hypnotic riffs. Paradise, once again locked into their riff-fueled orbit, set out to translate that retro-futuristic universe into sound. Each track becomes a transmission, a fragment of a larger journey; part nostalgia, part exploration, bringing their Kon-Tiki vision full circle, only now it’s drifting somewhere far beyond the stars.
Discography:
2026 – Queen of Mars (single)
2020 Paradise
2004 Hotel
2002 Rock Anthropologists on the Kon-Tiki Voyage
Shared Stage with:
Sword, Anvil, Sandveiss, Anonymus, Deadwood, Nova Spei, Global Haulocost, Hazytones
Tours and Festivals:
2019: Cuban tour
2024: NXNE – Toronto, ON
2024: Metalagora
2025: Gaspesian Metal Fest
Corporate sponsors/artist endorsements:
Frank Kelly has an artist deal with Reverend Guitars
Samuel Plante has an artist deal with Collision Drumsticks
ashermediarelations.com 
Comments
Trackbacks & Pingbacks
No incoming links found yet.