Stormlord

Italian band Stormlord was born in the Summer of 1991 as an idea of Cristiano Borchi (bass, vocals). Forming the band alongside with the original line-up members Claudio Di Carlo (guitar) and Riccardo Montanari (drums), the project produced raw, traditional Death Metal. After releasing their first demo ("Demo '92") a year later, Andrea Cacciotti joins as a second guitar player and with him "Black Knight", the band's second demo is recorded. After various line-up changes which caused some problems withint the band, the group decided to change style and approach something much closer to Black Metal than the brutal Death Metal they had been playing until now. Thanks to the latest addition, keyboard player Fabrizio Cariani the band eventually adopts a style which would be much similar to the one of more popular 'mainstream' bands such as Cradle Of Filth and Dimmu Borgir, without actually becoming commercial or typical 'sell-outs' and sticking to the basics of Symphonic Black Metal. The line-up changes caused some problems for the band as Cristian took over most of the song writing making the act actually appear like a solo project. Eventually, the band adds more symphonic parts to their music, extending songs and making them sound epic thanks to female vocals, long keyboard/guitar intersections and high-pitched screams. As time passes, Stormlord's line-up is slowly restored as Fabban (Funeral Oration, Aborym), Dux Tenebrarum (Art Inferno) and Pierangelo Giglioni all join the group. The epic "Where My Spirit Forever Shall Be" EP is released in 1998 as a sampler of what the band was preparing for their first full-length, 1999's "Supreme Art Of War". "The Curse Of Medusa" EP and the band's second full-length, "At The Gates Of Utopia", were released in 2000 and 2001 respectively. The band's current line-up: Cristiano Borchi (vocals), Andrea Angelini (guitar), Giampaolo Caprino (guitar) Francesco Bucci (bass), Simone Scazzocchio (keyboards), David Folchitto (drums).