Grace And Fire
Elysium
a new outfit from England which describes itself as fusing progressive rock with melodic hard rock in a melodic, song-based, accessible format. That description certainly pricked my interest, as did the presence of bassist Tim Ashton who had a couple of stints with UK prog veterans Galahad. The other musicians: Andre Saint (vocals) and Aaron Gidney (guitars) worked together in a previous band, Shadow of Acolyte, while drummer Graham Brown has worked with John Mitchell and ex-Touchstone alumni Rob Cottingham and Kim Seviour. You may be wondering where the obligatory keyboard player in a prog rock band is hiding, and the answer is that keyboards are mostly courtesy of guest musician Gary Marsh from Tiger Moth Tales / Red Bazar. The presence of other well-known guest musicians - Derek Sherinian (ex Dream Theatre/Sons of Apollo) on keys on one track, and singers Goran Edman and Mark Boals (both ex-Yngwie Malmsteen) - are additional points of interest here.