ShadowKeep was formed in March 1999 in Surrey, England when vocalist Rogue M. joined a songwriting pair of talented guitar players. Chris Allen and Nicki Robson had been looking high and low for the perfect voice to complement their powerful compositions inspired by the likes of Fates Warning and Queensr˙che and had finally found it.
Only three weeks after the addition of Rogue M. to the core of ShadowKeep the band entered the studio for a one day recording. Dark Tower and Inner Sanctum were the tracks chosen to set the style of the band. The demo was to receive positive response and more importantly permit to complete the line-up. James Daley and Dave Edwards, respectively on bass and drums were added to the team...
In the meantime Rogue M. had contacted Karl Groom from famous prog-band Threshold and arranged for ShadowKeep to enter the famous Thin Ice Studio - where bands like Arena, Threshold, Landmark, ShadowLand and lots of others had previously recorded highly-aclaimed products - later the same year. In october 1999, ShadowKeep released 35 minutes of an incredibly powerful yet melodic Power Metal, offering to the fans of the genre what they had been waiting for for the last decade.
The EP, on sale at the time on the internet through the well-known mp3.com website, immediately received an incredible response and the band was overwhelmed with proposals and fans feedback. One of the many opportunities to arise from the situation was an offer to be part of a Queensr˙che tribute album. Queen of the Reich was definitely the perfect track to be revisited on this occassion and the band decided to go back to the Thin Ice once more.
Dark Tower, the band's trademark and eponymous song stayed on top of the mp3.com charts for 2 full months and remained in the top 10 for more than six months. With a successful mini-tour behind them as well as the support slot for the legendary Ronnie James Dio, it was clear that the band would attract the attention of some serious players in the business. In June 2000, the announcement that ShadowKeep would sign to the prestigious and respected German record label Limb Music Products (LMP) was welcome by the press wordwide as well as their entire fanbase. The fact that ShadowKeep was definitely a band that would remain under the spotlight for the years to come was finally a certitude.
As usual, ShadowKeep didn't take much of a break before planning the near future of their career and entered the Thin Ice Studio once again at the end of June 2000 to proceed at some additional recordings in order to release their full-lenght debut comercial release by the end of the same year.
With a release date for the long-awaited "Corruption Within" CD set for the 18th of September 2000 there is no doubt that ShadowKeep's story is far from reaching its end so until next time, you can be sure there will be a lot more to say about this amazing newcomer on the PowerMetal scene (to be continued).
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MINI ALBUM 1999Track list: 1. Dark Tower 2. Inner Sanctum 3. Altar of Madness 4. Cast Out 5. The Silver Sword 6. Murder |
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CORRUPTION WITHIN 2000 LMPTrack list: 1.Dark Tower 2.The Trial of Your Betrayal 3.Mark of the Usurper 4.Altar of Madness 5.Corruption Within 6.Cast Out 7.Meta-Morale 8.The Silver Sword 9.Death: A New Horizon 10.Murder 11.Inner Sanctum |
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