German cinematic rock act STAIRWAY TO VIOLET have released their highly anticipated debut album ‚Invictus‘ via No Cut Music. The record blends orchestral rock, electronic textures and cinematic drama across 13 intense tracks. Accompanying the release is the new single ‚We Are We Are‘, available now with a lyric video.STAIRWAY TO VIOLET, the cinematic rock project founded in 2021 by actor and musician Béla Klentze, have officially released their debut album ‚Invictus‘ via No Cut Music. The record is available digitally through The Orchard and physically through OPEN, formerly known as SPV and Membran, with a limited first edition available on gold metallic 2-LP and digipak.
Spanning 13 tracks plus two exclusive piano versions, ‚Invictus‘ is an ambitious sonic statement that weaves orchestral rock, electronic textures and the dramatic sweep of classic film scores into a cohesive and emotionally charged whole. The album title, meaning ‚unconquered‘, serves as a guiding philosophy for the band: resilience, self-belief and the will to rise from adversity.
Bandleader Béla Klentze brings a remarkable artistic background to the project. Having appeared in the Oscar-winning film ‚Nowhere in Africa‘ at age eleven, later becoming the face of the German Disney Channel and starring in the US sitcom ‚Disney’s Short Break‘, Klentze has long operated at the intersection of performance and storytelling. His father, jazz musician Thorsten Klentze, instilled a deep musical sensibility that now finds full expression in STAIRWAY TO VIOLET.
Previously released singles ‚Unholy War‘, ‚Let It Go‘, ‚It Thrills It Kills‘ and a piano cover of The Rasmus classic ‚In The Shadows‘ laid the groundwork for the album. The latest single ‚We Are We Are‘, released alongside the album, explores themes of identity, loss of self and the search for meaning.
‚The music lives inside me and screams out of me,‘ Klentze has said. ‚And it is a reflection of my life.‘ With ‚Invictus‘, STAIRWAY TO VIOLET announce themselves as a bold new voice in European cinematic rock.