Ari Koivunen Readies Sophomore Album, "Becoming"

Heavy metal singer Ari Koivunen, winner of the Finnish national TV talent competition "Idols," is readying his sophomore album, currently set for release by Sony BMG on June 11, 2008. Ari and the band, together with producer Nino Laurenne, have been working on it since the beginning of March. According to producer Nino Laurenne, the record has now been mastered at Chartmakers with Svante Forsbäck.

The tracklist of Ari's second album "Becoming" has been revealed as follows:

1. Raging Machine
2. Under The Burning Sky
3. Give Me A Reason
4. Sign Of Our Times
5. Sweet Madness
6. Father
7. Keepers Of The Night
8. Tears Keep Falling
9. Hero's Gold
10. My Mistake
11. Unscarred Within

At the end of May, the band will play two gigs in Japan. According to Sony BMG it seems likely that the forthcoming album will be also published in Japan.

In related new, the new single, "Give Me A Reason," was released last week in Finalnd and debuted at Number 3 on the Finnish Single Charts. "Give Me A Reason" is also available for streaming on the band's MySpace player.

Ari's debut, "Fuel For The Fire," has so far sold 75,000 copies in Finland.