Tomahawk Technique, the long-awaited album from Sean Paul, was released yesterday by Atlantic Records in parts of Asia and Europe, as well as South Africa and Mexico.

There has been much antici-pation about the release of the 12-track set which is the Grammy-winning deejay's fifthalbum and the follow-up to 2009's Imperial Blaze which was also distributed by Atlantic. France, Finland, Sweden and Portugal are the European countries where Tomahawk Technique will be available. Got 2 Luv U, the first song from the album featuring American pop singer Alexis Jordan, did very well on the continent last summer, reaching the top 10 in several countries.

For his next single, How Deep Is Your Love, Sean Paul recruited Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child fame, and the song is already creating a buzz. Recently, Sean Paul told theboombox.com website that How Deep Is Your Love is similar to Got 2 Luv U. He said although he works with two American singers, the songs are 'definitely dancehall'. He continued: "I'm trying to bridge the gap and broaden my artistry. I'm asking [the producers] to try and make dancehall from their perspective. So it's sounding more international than dancehall."

How Deep Is Your Love was produced by Stargate, which did similar duties for the Swiss pop chart topping Got 2 Luv U. Stargate is a hot Norwegian production team who has worked with R&B singer/songwriter Ne-Yo and Beyonce and their massive hit songs, So Sick and Irreplaceable. Other top producers who contributed to Tomahawk Technique are Benny Blanco and DJ Ammo. Blanco is one of pop music's sought after producers, having worked with Britney Spears and Justin Beiber. He and Swedish producer Shellback co-produced She Doesn't Mind, another of Tomahawk Technique's much-touted songs.

No date has yet been set for the album's release in the larger, more lucrative US market where Sean Paul has enjoyed tremendous success with the breakthrough Dutty Rock and The Trinity albums, which were released in 2002 and 2005; respectively. Both albums returned multi-platinum sales and were jointly distributed by VP and Atlantic Records. Dutty Rock won Best Reggae Album at the 2004 Grammy Awards.

Tomahawk Technique is the most highly-anticipated dancehall album for 2012. Got 2 Luv U's strong performance in Europe has set the pace for a massive promotional push by Atlantic on that continent where the song made the top 10 in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania and Spain. Got 2 Luv U also did well in Australia and Latin America. Sean Paul is one of the most successful performers in dancehall history. He is also among the biggest selling artistes in contemporary music during the last decade, thanks to the hit-laden Dutty Rock and The Trinity albums. The former introduced Sean Paul to an international audience through hit songs like Get Busy, Like Glue and Gimme The Light. The Trinity was another monster hit, producing chart hits in Temperature, Give It Up To Me and We Be Burnin'.