Dennis Ward

Dennis Ward — American bassist, vocalist and producer based in Germany — is one of the most present figures behind the scenes of European melodic metal over the last three decades. As a musician he is known for Pink Cream 69, the German hard rock band active since the 1980s, and for appearances in various projects on the circuit. But it is as a producer that his influence becomes wide: Ward has handled production, mixing and mastering on dozens of European power metal and hard rock records, and his name appears in the credits of much of what was recorded in the genre in Germany since the 1990s. That kind of work defines the sound of an entire scene. The clarity of guitars, the balance between vocal layers and the definition of the low end that characterise German melodic metal are partly production decisions — and producers like Ward are the ones making them, record after record. Combining playing, writing and production at the same level of competence is rare. Ward is one of the few cases in which the three functions sustain one another across an entire career.