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In 2014, Peter and David had written material and recorded songs for
a metal band project that, unfortunately, did not pan out. The material
was solid and in no way was it going to be wasted. But the style required
a strong vocalist.
Over the late 90’s, Peter had become friends with the members of Exciter
and stayed in touch with Jacques after he left Exciter, in 2006. Peter
and Dave agreed that they had nothing to lose in asking if Jacques would
be willing to work with them. So they sent him a demo.
After leaving Exciter, Jacques had not been part of a band for eight
years. Then he received the demo. He liked the material so much that he
decided to get the voice back in shape and be part of the project. In 2015,
he flew over to Sweden to record vocal tracks to six songs, at Peter’s
studio. The overall result was good, and after his return to Canada, Jacques
hooked up with Manfred Leidecker (with whom he had recorded three Exciter
albums: “The Dark Command”, “Blood of Tyrants” and “New Testament”) to
record the vocals to five more songs.
In April 2016, “Agents of Mystification” (AoM) is released on Pure
Steel Records. Of note, Marcus, who had been a session drummer on AoM,
joins the band as a full-time member. Also, this album features lead guitar
by Janne Stark (Overdrive, Grand Design, et al.). Furthermore, the song
“The Demented Force” is released on Metal Blade Records’s resurrected compilation
album series “Metal Massacre”. AoM offers well-crafted songs and lyrics
delivered with Jacques’ powerful vocals, speed and aggression, but also
with epic and melodic elements. The reviews are excellent:
Fans of traditional legends like Exciter, Omen, Judas Priest, Overlorde,
and Manowar should definitely check out these guys. […] But Assassin’s
Blade aren’t ripoffs or anything like that. They just were these influences
like a sleeve. […] Fans of pure heavy metal take some time to check out
Assassin’s Blade and you won’t be disappointed. You can thank me later.
– Manos Xanthakis, http://www.dutchmetalmaniac.com
Thanks to unusual ingenuity and interesting melodies, each song is
a brick hit. Just listen to the melodic "Autumn Serenade" or the feisty
"Frosthammer". There is a lot going on in the album […]. The best albums
of Attacker, Helstar, Exciter or Agent Steel are resounding in this great
debut of Jacques and Assassins Blade. It’s a strong album, and we’re now
waiting for more. (Translated from Polish).
– Power Metal Warrior, http://powermetal-warrior.blogspot.com
In 2017, Bruno joins Assassin’s Blade as lead guitarist. The same year,
the band is invited to play one of the lead spots at the Metal Magic Festival,
in Denmark. At the end of 2017, the band starts working on the next effort:
“Gather Darkness”.
It is in October of 2019 that “Gather Darkness” will be released. This
album is quite a step forward for the band. The style is pretty much the
same as the first one, but is faster, stronger, more aggressive and much
better produced. Mixed by Martin “Mattes” Pfeiffer (UDO) and mastered by
Stefan Kaufmann (Accept, UDO), “Gather Darkness” is the first Assassin’s
Blade album involving a complete band for the whole recording process,
which considerably brought up the maturity level in every aspect of the
songs: screaming and melodic power vocals, epic lyrics, powerfully skillful
guitar work, resounding bass, thundering drums, dynamic vocal arrangements.
No gimmicks here: “Gather Darkness” is a raw, uncompromising, clear, in
your face delivery.
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