::: Talisman World :::

		Jeff went on to do things with The Boogie Knights, although he and Marcel had taken some time to record the Human Clay albums.
		Then Talisman also had the chance to play a couple of gigs and to open up for Yngwie Malmsteen in Stockholm.

For those shows the band enlisted Pontus Norgren on guitar (ex Great King Rat) because Fredrik had left in the fall of 1995 to pursue a more metal oriented direction (see the band Southpaw featuring Mats Levén on vocals and John Levén on bass).

In 1998 the guys were requested from Christer Wedin (Empire Records) to do a new Talisman album. Marcel travelled to LA to write songs with Jeff. Jamie and Pontus joined the guys a few days later to rehearse and record drums in a small studio and do overdubs in Jeff's home studio.		Truth (1998)
The new album "Truth" saw the light. The guys had a lot of help with the recording and the mixing from John Ellis (Prism Sound Studios, Boston). The album included a range of covers: Prince's “Darling Nikki”, Queen's “Let me entertain you” and Madonna's“Frozen” (which apparently became very popular in clubs in Germany). Once again there was no touring done for the album unfortunately		Truth (1998)

		In May/June 2001 Pontus, Marcel and Jeff were busy working in Sweden on the album of Humanimal (the band!).
		At the same time, dj Dr. Rock from the Swedish Radio Rock Klassiker persuaded the guys to perform at Sweden Rock Festival.
		Two nights before the festival gig, Talisman played in Stockholm.

Owing to a miscommunication between Jamie, Pontus, Marcel and the guys doing the mobile recording stuff, Marcel's entire gear (bass included!) was left at the venue in Stockholm instead of travelling with everybody else’s gear down to Sölvesborg, south of Sweden, where the Sweden Rock Festival takes place.

Marcel wanted to leave the festival but, after looking inside the tent which was fully packed with a crowd shouting for Talisman, he decided not to turn his back on those people. So Marcel and other people started to run around the festival area to look for a bass to be borrowed in time for the show: Magnus Rosén from Hammerfall finally lent Marcel one of his bass guitars.

The show went great and, since another band playing at SRF had a mobile hard disc recording unit, Christer Wedin managed to get the Talisman show recorded as well.		Live At SRF (2001)
But the sound Marcel had at the show was not too exciting and some out of tunes guitars needed some fixing. So he and Pontus went into the studio to record live together the entire show exactly the same way they would have done it on stage.

The live album was released in October 2002 in Sweden only through Empire Records, charting at number 18 the first week!

Humanimal (2002)		In the same year, the entire back catalogue of Talisman was re-issued with bonus tracks on Frontline Records in Brazil.
		Jeff, Marcel and Pontus later joined forces with drummer Thomas Broman (Great King Rat, Electric Boys, Amaze Me) and finally released the self titled debut album of Humanimal in 2002. In May the band played a couple of shows to support it.
		Unfortunately, this was not a good moment for the guys owing to some personal, professional and legal problems.

Pontus and Marcel had a falling out and this meant that Pontus was out both of Talisman and Humanimal.

Humanimal split. Marcel and Jeff had a meeting with Christer Wedin who explained the guys were basically free to go into business without him.
Since Jeff had already signed a deal with the Italian label Frontiers Records for his solo album “Love Parade”, he talked to them about doing a new Talisman album. Frontiers Records showed them open arms.

		Now the guitar issue had to be sorted. Jeff had had Howie Simon playing on his solo album and was now trying to persuade Marcel to involve him. Jamie was at the same time pushing to get Fredrik back in the band. It ended up with Fredrik back in the studio and Howie joining the band for some live gigs.
		Interesting coincidence, Christer Wedin had been contacted by an Italian recording studio willing to let Talisman use the studio for free.

This contact was reopened and the guys spent two weeks’ time at the Music Planet Recording Studio in Acqui Terme, near Turin, with Jeff being in charge of everything in terms of logistics and dealing with Frontiers Records.

After having finished in the studio, Marcel and Jeff flew to Boston where they worked with engineer and friend John Ellis for the second time. They were supposed to be mixing, but had to do some editing first instead and so John did the final mixes without Marcel and Jeff.		Cats & Dogs (2003)
“Cats and Dogs” was released in May 2003 and a tour in Europe (including a headlining slot at Gods of AOR Festival in the UK, a performance at Frontiers Records Showcase in Italy, a new appearance at Sweden Rock Festival and a show at Lokerse Festival in Belgium) took place in the following months.		Cats & Dogs (2003)

World's Best Kept Secret (2005)		Always starting from 2003 through GMR Music Group Sweden, the entire back catalogue of Talisman was re-mastered and re-issued, complete with bonus-tracks, demos, live gigs, promotional videos and liner notes.
		In March 2005 through Frontiers Records,Talisman launched a double DVD package “World’s best kept secret” which coincided with the 15th year anniversary of the release of the first Talisman album.
		The set comprised two complete shows from the “Cats & Dogs” tour in 2003 (Sweden Rock Festival and Club Mondo in Stockholm), archive backstage and live footage, all the band’s promotional videos, an instructional video from Marcel Jacob and much more!

Also a double live album “Five men live”, including the gigs at Sweden Rock Festival and at Club Mondo, was released at the same time.		Five Men Live (2005)
The double DVD and CD offer a very wide perspective on the Talisman career with - for the first time - the twin guitar attack featuring Fredrik Åkesson and Howie Simon. An unmissable chance to enjoy the live attitude of the band!
After the tour, all the guys got busy working with other bands/projects: Jeff with Soul SirkUS (featuring Neal Schon), Fredrik with Tiamat and Arch Enemy, Marcel with Last Autumn's Dream and Locomotive Breath, Jamie with Last Autumn's Dream and with the reunion of Treat.

The 7th (2006)		For about 9 months starting from the end of 2005, Jeff, Marcel, Jamie and Fredrik have worked on a brand new Talisman album called “7”. According to Marcel, this might simply be the best Talisman album ever!!!
		The release is due on 20th October on Frontiers Records with a Japanese release on King Records.
		The working title was “Bar” which stood for “Bitter-Angry-Resentful”, basically a joke referring to the guys’ outlook on certain life events.

The guys then opted for the more straightforward title “7” (it’s actually the band’s 7th studio album!).

The new material is very melodic including some ballads, yet it encompasses what is the band’s trademark: catchy hooks, groovy rhythms, aggressive guitars and the ability to play different music styles. All songs were written by Marcel and Jeff, except “Shed a tear goodbye” which was written by Jamie and Jeff.

“7” was recorded at XTC Studios in Älvsjö and at Mahatma Gandhi Location in Stockholm with all the vocals done at the Hampton in Northridge, California. Marcel has been handling all guitars except leads and keyboards. The album included 11 tracks and was mixed by Pontus Norgren, who is also the guest guitar player on “Final curtain”, the bonus-track on the Japanese release

The band was supposed to do a tour in September/October 2006 hitting Germany, Greece, Belgium, Italy and Spain, but everything has been delayed to further notice due to Jeff’s commitment in Journey.

After all the lastest problems, the band announced their "final" European tour dates were set for April 2007. However, shortly after being announced, these shows were scrapped. Despite Soto's Journey schedule, Talisman announced summer 2007 shows, including a spot on the 'Sweden Rock' festival.

But here it goes again the problems: Fredrik Åkesson step back his position as lead axeman a couple of weeks before the tour begin, because he has been confirmed as Opeth's Peter Lindgren replacement.

Then Brian Young (David Lee Roth) was choosen by the band as Åkesson replacement and the tour began but by the time that the band were playing in Sweden, Jeff Scott Soto received another bad news: Journey decided to quit their contract with him as Lead Singer.