STEEL PULSE RELEASES AFRICAN HOLOCAUST
LEGENDARY REGGAE GROUP’S FIRST STUDIO OUTING IN SEVEN YEARS

New York, NY - June 21, 2004  Grammy award-winning reggae supergroup STEEL PULSE have inked a deal with Sanctuary / Ras Records in New York for the July 13, 2004 release of AFRICAN HOLOCAUST (89931-2), their first studio album in seven years.

Ras label chief Gary Himelfarb shared his personal enthusiasm for the long-anticipated arrival, explaining: “As huge STEEL PULSE fans, we knew this album would be great. But as a label, when you hear a finished product this musically tight and this relevant from a group with STEEL PULSE’s track record you just want to jump for joy!”

The relevance of AFRICAN HOLOCAUST is due in no small part to the fact that STEEL PULSE writer and lead singer David Hinds is also an avid historian.  In Darker Than Blue, Hinds lends his authority to the original words of musical hero Curtis Mayfield: “Pardon me brother, as you stand in your glory I hope you don’t mind if I tell the whole story.”

AFRICAN HOLOCAUST is the whole story ? a tightly-wound, highly-charged celebration of the struggles of Black people over the past 700 years brought to life by STEEL PULSE’s legendary uplifting music.

“Black history is not just some tale told by the victors,” explains Hinds, “because there are still too many victims and you can’t reinvent what’s still going on. But we look for ourselves first-hand at places like the Door of No Return and give thanks,” he says, referring to the Senegalese port from which slaves were forced aboard ships,” because the Black people are no longer spiritually out in the cold.”

In keeping with their Rastafarian spiritual beliefs, STEEL PULSE deliver powerful messages of positive motivation throughout AFRICAN HOLOCAUST.  “Our music is always stimulating - no way can you ever sit still to it - but our focus is serious and true.  We deal with environmental issues, political issues and religious issues - difficult issues all over
the border,” says co-founder Selwyn Brown.  The environmentally stormy Global Warning urges activism with a pop-sounding hook: “Stand up and be counted, never let them chop us down.”