Veteran Swedish hard rockers 220 Volt have announced the addition of singer Anders Engberg (pictured below; Therion, Lion'S Share) to the group's ranks. The band's current line is completed by founding members Thomas Drevin and Mats Karlsson on guitar, returning drummer Peter Hermansson and Mike Krusenberg on bass.

"The time is right," says Karlsson in a statement. "2013 will be great for us, things are moving in the right direction again, forward that is. We're lettting people hear a few samples of our new demos, and we hope to be releasing new music in the next few months, but a full album will not be out until late this year."

220 Volt describes its new songs as "as classic hard rock/metal — a bit harder than before, but still melodic."

Sony/Bmg has just reissued 220 Volt's first five albums ("220 Volt", "Power Games", "Mind Over Muscle", "Young And Wild" and "Eye To Eye") digitally with some bonus tracks added on to the "Power Games" and "Eye To Eye" LPs. They are now available on iTunes, Spotify and similar platforms, though it may still be a few weeks before they are released in the U.S.

2013 marks the 30th anniversary of 220 Volt's self-titled first Lp and the 25th anniversary of their landmark effort, "Eye To Eye". The band recently released short stories on their Facebook page about the recordings of each of their albums. They're posted in chronological order and take us album by album up to date.