Forged In Black | Imperative Management:
It was as recently as 2013 that the band Merciless Fail ditched their name and adopted the stronger and infinitely more metallic moniker, Forged In Black – and in four short years they have taken huge strides musically, perfecting a form of metal they can call their own. The Forged In Black sound is pure, unashamed heavy metal, spun from steel threads drawn from across the metal tapestry. The pride and passion of traditional metal beats at the heart of Forged In Black and the guitar melodies speak of unbreakable bonds with the genre’s greats. Yet entwined around that traditional metal heart you will also find the power and fury of thrash, the atmosphere, grandeur and emotion of doom and the epic scope and boundless energy of power metal, all combined into a war hammer of pure, untarnished metal might.
The Forged In Black self-titled, debut album appeared in early 2013, drawing a definite line in the sand between their past and their future. A new four track EP entitled The Tide followed later in the year, showing the first signs of just how potent a force Forged In Black would soon become. Indeed, this EP attracted the attention of producer Romesh Dodangoda, noted for his work with Motörhead, Sylosis and Bullet For My Valentine, who joined them to record single ‘The Exodus’. For the next three years the band honed their skills with relentless live performance, playing with the likes of Breed 77, Savage Messiah, Praying Mantis and Beholder. Finally, in 2016, they felt they had written the finest set of songs since the band had begun and headed into the studio with legendary producer Chris Tsangarides, a man who helped to craft some of the greatest albums ever recorded, by bands such as Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath and King Diamond. They emerged with the Fear Reflecting Fear EP, a release which gained them more critical acclaim than ever before.
More electric live shows followed the EPs release, with Forged In Black crossing swords with Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens (Judas Priest, Iced Earth), Neverworld , Alwaid and The Deep amongst others, before they returned to the studio, again with Chris Tsangarides, to create the stunning Sinner Sanctorum EP. Sinner Sanctorum was sharper, more focussed and more accomplished than anything that Forged In Black had recorded before and they celebrated its release with a prestigious London show alongside Canadian heavy rockers Diemonds. 2018 dawned with the sad news of Chris Tsangarides’ passing, so Forged In Black sought once again the help of Romesh Dodangoda, who had recently completed work on the latest album from Bring Me The Horizon, to guide them through the recording of their next album – Descent Of The Serpent. Such was the quality of the end results that the band decided there could be no half measures surrounding the release of this album. They enlisted noted artist Dan Goldsworthy (Alestorm, Hell, Accept etc) to create magnificent cover art of the highest quality and began to search for a label that could give Descent Of The Serpent the support it deserved. Before long Fighter Records, a bastion of classic metal and hard rock, were on board and all the pieces had slotted firmly into place. On March 5th 2019 Descent Of The Serpent was unveiled and the reaction from the worldwide press was staggering, with a tidal wave of praise flooding in from the likes of Zero Tolerance, Lords Of Metal, Dead Rhetoric, Metal Temple, Metal Gods TV, Musipedia Of Metal, Powerplay Rock And Metal Magazine and many, many more. The album’s lead track, ‘Seek No Evil’, which was accompanied by a stunning promo video, has to date accumulated more than 25,000 plays on Spotify. Now, with the tough years of the global pandemic finally behind them, Forged In Black have returned with their latest slab of magnificent heavy metal for the modern age. Lightening From The Ashes was recorded at Essex Recording Studios (The Darkness) and mastered by Christian Wright (Therapy?) and features some of the band’s most epic and progressive material to date, while retaining their trademark classic riffs and unforgettable choruses. Tracks like ‘Be One With Fire’ and ‘Dusk Breather’ show Forged In Black at their formidable best. The band have renewed their working relationships with label Fighter Records and artist Dan Goldsworthy, who has created some of the most impactful artwork of his storied career. On June 20th the next exciting chapter in the tale of Forged In Black begins! “I've often been asked where the next big thing in metal is...for me Forged In Black are the ones.”Powerplay Magazine
Genre: Heavy Metal
For fans of: Judas Priest | Candlemass | Grand Magus | Metal Church
Lightning In The Ashes Recording Line-up:
Chris Stoz Storozynski - Lead Vocals
Andy Songhurst – Lead Guitar
Kieron Rochester - Bass and Vocals
Kev Rochester - Drums
Chris Bone - Guitars
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