BiografiePart One: 1990 - 1995: The Formative Years



Doom metal band Forsaken, consisting of Leo Stivala (vocals), Albert Bell (bass), Sean Vukovic (guitars) and Simeon Gatt (drums) has remained one of the most consistent and long-standing bands in Malta's metal scene. The band started out as in September 1990 as progressive metallers Blind Alley featuring Leo Stivala (vocals), former Fall Out keyboardist Cay Schembri, Kevin Azzopardi (guitars), Simeon Gatt (drums) and Tony Azzopardi (bass).


The band adopted the epithet "Forsaken" shortly after the recruitment of ex-Kremation and Vandals bassist Albert Bell in July 1991. The new line-up set about writing new material that displayed a wide array of doom metal oriented influences. Forsaken's first live performance was at the RadioCity Hall in Hamrun, Malta on Friday 13 September 1991, co-headlining a gig with local Thrashers Manslaughter and speed metal band Extremity. This gig signalled the re-generation of Malta's underground scene and saw Forsaken introducing its own firebrand of epic and progressive Doom Metal to local enthusiasts.


After this satisfying live debut, the band released its debut demo entitled Requiem. The demo was a low-budget affair recorded in three days towards the end of December 1991, with Marcel (Ex- Beheaded vocalist) handling the production. Requiem received favourable reviews in a number of foreign fanzines and mags including In My Veins (France), Verbal Aggression (UK), Underground Empire (Germany),Heavy Oder Was (Germany), Slayer (Norway) and Doomhauled (Canada). It also served to attract a great deal of interest in the band, which culminated in a deal for 7" EP with the French underground independent label Arkham Productions. Titled Virtues of Sanctity the EP featured a re-worked version of Where Angels Have Fallen from the Requiem demo and another track called Confessing My Desolation.Virtues of Sanctity was released in July 1993 to widespread acclaim in the underground scene furthering the band's recognition with Doom Metal enthusiasts world-wide. Prior to the Ep's release, Cay Schembri (keyboards) left the band for personal reasons. The EP featured the talents of Daniel Magri (guitars, ex-Manslaughter) who was recruited to ensure a stronger guitar-based, riff-oriented sound. This line-up remained stable until late 1993 when the band parted company with long-standing guitarist Kevin Azzopardi. As replacement Forsaken enlisted the versatile services of their present guitarist Sean Vukovic (Norm Rejection/NV). Between 1992 and 1993, Forsaken's efforts were mainly focused on the live front and soon the band developed into one of the Island's strongest live acts. Between February and March 1994, the band embarked on a tour throughout France and Spain, playing in various cities like Grenoble, Lyon, Paris, Rennes, Lille, Barcelona and Venaros. These dates saw the Forsaken teaming up with a number of foreign underground bands including, Oddmongers (France), Human Waste (Spain), Melem (France) and Lone Wolf (France). The tour was followed with further gigs in Malta and Gozo where the band still thrives from a dedicated horde of followers. Following their return from their 1994 France/Spain tour the band started writing new material with the prospect of releasing a debut full-length album.



Part two: 1995 - 2001 - The "Dark Ages"



New tracks such as "Moon Dancer" and "The Healer" saw the band moving away from their epic doom metal roots and provided a clear-cut indication of the classic doom rock orientation the band was taking at the time. In May 1995 Forsaken recorded "Moon Dancer" at TempleStudios (Malta) for the first all-Maltese underground CD compilation entitled The Storm Has Begun and released on June 24th, 1995 on the Maltese label (now unfortunately defunct) Storm Records.



The recording of this track marked the band's first experience at Temple studios and the start of an extensive collaboration with the famed local producer David Vella. Together with a host of Maltese bands, including Amentia, Norm Rejection and Beheaded, the band played in a one-off gig with Anathema at the Rick's Nightclub in Paceville on 24/6/1995 to mark and promote the release of the compilation. Shortly after this gig, Forsaken signed a one album record deal with Storm Records and entered Temple studios again in 1996 to record their debut CD. In February 1997 the band officially released its long-awaited debut CD entitled Evermore on Storm Records. The CD was recorded at TempleStudios, and pressed at Prime Studios London, UK. Featuring nine tracks including Madrigal, Season's End and the epic opus Winter Tears (with the latter indicating the passion the band still retained for epic doom metal), Evermore received favourable reviews in a number of established fanzines, including the notable Metallian Mag (France), Metal-rules.com (Canada), and Eternal Frost Zine (USA). Forsaken's efforts on Evermore landed the band with a "best-band" nomination in the 1997 Malta Music Awards -possibly the first occasion where a local metal act received some sort of recognition at a mainstream-oriented musical event.



Despite the success of the release, this period, was also marked by internal strife in the band on the band's future musical direction. Following a brief three-month amicable hiatus, the band regrouped, revisiting its roots and taking a decidedly epic doom metal direction. Shortly afterwards, in January 1998 the band bolstered its line-up by recruiting Weeping Silence founder member Mario Ellul on keyboards and undertook a concerted effort to revamp an extensive musical repertoire. The band's newly found enthusiasm however was to be dealt a severe blow. On the 4th of January 2001, Daniel Magri, the band's longest serving guitarist passed away after a long and courageous battle against Cancer. Daniel's contribution to the band was indeed outstanding. He had helped to re-orient the band's sound after his recruitment in 1992 and had been instrumental in the composition of several of Forsaken's most memorable tracks, including Confessing My Desolation and Rubicon. Despite his illness, Daniel was still highly active in the band, and was central in re-dimensionalisng the band's sound on "Neon Knights"- a cover of the monumental Sabbath track off "Heaven and Hell", which the band contributed to a Mk II Black Sabbath tribute entitled Dehumanized Witch released on MidWest Metal Production (USA) in 2000.??? Daniel, however, will not be remembered only for his artistic ingenuity.? Apart from being a highly resourceful musician, Daniel was a great friend and his companionship will certainly remain cherished for many years to come and shall leave an indelible mark on the band.



Part three: 2002 -"Doom Shall Rise!"



Despite the tribulations the band had gone through in previous years, inspired by Daniel's wishes to see the band progressing even after his passing away, Forsaken re-entered the studio towards the end of 2001. In Feb 2002 Forsaken opened a new chapter in their eventful history with the release of a three-track demo simply titled Demo 2002. Shortly after despatching the demo to various labels, the band was approached by Golden Lake Productions (Scotland, UK) with a concrete offer for a new record deal. Taking into account the label's enterprising status in the UK underground metal scene and its strong and concrete interest in the band, Forsaken felt no hesitation to forge a new partnership with Golden Lake Productions. Forsaken's first output on Golden Lake Productions was a 35 minute EP ?entitled "Iconoclast" in December 2002. Released in cd format the EP featured four doom laden tracks recorded at Temple Studios, Mistra Bay, Malta, namely,Where Angels Have Fallen, Via Crucis (The Way Of the Cross), A Martyr's Prayer and Wither the Hour. The EP attracted considerable attention in the international underground metal press and was heralded as marking the band's return to their roots and true form! In February 2003, the band featured in the first international Doom Metal festival -"Doom Shall Rise", held in Crailsheim Germany with several other seminal doom bands including Revelation (USA), Thunderstorm (Italy), Mirror of Deception (Germany) and Reverend Bizarre (Finland). In spite of being their first on German soil, the band's performance was favourably received by those in attendance. Moreover, most review reports on the festival described Forsaken's show as one of the most memorable and passionate of this fast-growing, exclusively doom metal two-day event. In November 2003 Forsaken were nominated and voted best heavy rock band in the Malta Music Awards - undoubtedly an important milestone in Forsaken's history.



Throughout this period the band were also heavily engaged at Temple studios laying down the final touches to their new full-length entitled "Anima Mundi" also to be released on Golden Lake Productions. Featuring 7 tracks (including the likes of "Kindred Veil", "Sephiroth", "Carpe Diem" and a re-worked version of "All is Accomplished") for a running time of circa 52 minutes, the album was officially released on 20th February 2004 to very strong acclaim in the metal scene world-wide. This was evidenced by a torrent of positive reviews (see reviews section) and a notable 6th position in the world-wide top 80 metal releases as voted by journalists of the reputable Heavy Oder Was Metal magazine (Germany). In July 2004 the band left for Northern Germany for another memorable live show, this time at the Headbangers Open Air festival VII (Germany) alongside several classic metal acts including NWOBHM legends Fist and Elixir (UK), US thrashers Intruder and Hirax, Dutch veterans Vortex, Italy's Rosae Crucis, Hellas' rising stalwarts Battleroar and Bloodstained, Tyr (Faroe Islands) and epic metal Godz Brocas Helm. Unfortunately, the HOA show was to mark Mario Ellul's (Keyboards) last live appearance with the band after both parties decided to end a six-year collaboration. The split was amicable and to date the band has not sought to replace Mario, going for a more guitar oriented sound in future releases. 2005 kicked off with the release of Anima Mundi on vinyl by Germany's Immortal Vinyl Records. This limited 500 copy DLP edition featured all the Iconoclast Ep as bonus tracks and signalled the start of a fruitful and on-going collaboration with one of finest exclusively-vinyl metal labels worldwide. Shortly afterwards the band?s 1996 debut album Evermore was re-released by Golden Lake Productions to meet to growing demand by fans who had missed out on the album?s original release. Featuring a fantastic re-mastering job by David Vella from Temple Studios and new artwork by the band's erstwhile artist Chris Zarb, the cd version of the album also contains a re-mastered version of the band's Neon Knights cover which originally appeared on the Black Sabbath MK tribute Dehumanized Witch in 2000. During the summer of 2006 the band relocated to Temple Studios for the recording of their third full-length and most widely acclaimed full-length album to date - Dominaeon. Focusing on a conceptual lyrical theme dealing with man's pathway to spirituality and divine revelation and with famed Polish artist Jowita Kaminska (Exodus, Manilla Road, Emerald, Dantesco, Attacker etc) handling cover artwork duties, Dominaeon has been applauded by various critics as one of the milestones in contemporary doom metal, even clinching the No 1 spot in December 2005?s studio test by Heavy Mag (Germany). The album was officially released on the 1st November 2005 and launched at at Germany's top traditional in-door metal fest Keep it True V in November 2005 alongside Raven (UK), Virgin Steele (US), Slough Feg (US), Jag Panzer (US), Skullview (US), Intruder (USA), Skull View (USA), Storm Warrior (Germany) and Ignitor (US).? The band followed this up with a good number of local gigs with several more planned for the future.? Early in 2006, the band's debut album Evermore also saw the light of day on vinyl, becoming Forsaken's second DLP to be released by Germany's Immortal Vinyl Records. Featuring live versions of Carpe Diem and a cover of Dark Reflections (Candlemass) from the band's HOA 7 (2004) show, the DLP was issued as a limited 333 in purple, black spatter vinyl. To the band's delight, a DLP release of Dominaeon (also on Immortal Vinyl Records) was unleashed in June 2006. At present the band is engaged in the song-writing process for their next full-length album which is scheduled for late 2007. You can also expect to be able to catch the band live in Malta and abroad throughout 2007. Doom or be Doomed!
Quelle: http://www.forsakenmalta.com/Discografie1991 - Requiem (Demo)

1993 - Virtues Of Sanctity (7" EP)

1996 - Evermore

2002 - Demo 2002

2002 - Iconoclast (MCD)

2004 - Anima Mundi

2005 - Dominaeon

2009 - After The Fall

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