It was in september 1997 when Deathmaster, a member of the extreme metal band Agarthi, decided to give birth to one of his musical dreams: the creation of an epic metal act in the way of his favorite bands of the 80's. He immediately asked to Guardian Angel to take part in his project, and he agreed to work with Deathmaster...
...on the same day, they were already writing the songs: DoomSword were born.
Deathmaster and Guardian Angel had a long time career in Heavy Metal (Deathmaster has been the vocalist in the progressive metal band Arkhè in 1993), they played together in some projects since 1994, and they have been band mates for about a year in an epic metal act called Warhammer (some of the members are now in the cult band Wotan, one of the few epic bands from Italy, together with Domine!).
Several months before the birth of DoomSword, they both were trying to create a medieval project, inspired by the troubador and trouvère music (13th century), with no electric instruments nor modern musical influences. They called this experiment "1014 A.D.", and, even if some tapes survive of that project, they had too much troubles in finding instruments like lutes, crumhorns, bagpipes or tabors (obviously necessary to that kind of music).
So they could not keep on working on that material, but when they began to write songs for the new band, they tought about a metal version of what they already wrote for 1014 A.D., even because they had the will to mantain a medieval inspiration for DoomSword, too.
No more than a month was necessary to have enough material for a demo, and, even because of the increasing interest for this new band, DoomSword immediately recorded a tape with really unprofessional instruments.
That tape suffered a bad recording, but it really sounded in 80's style, so it was published with the name of "Sacred Metal"(150 copies limited. Sold out!!!). With the help of many people, the demo was reviewed on many mags and fanzines, all of them(!!) appreciated DoomSword, some talked about "Sacred Metal" as a masterpiece! (See reviews on Heavy oder was?!, Snakepit, United Forces in Europe, Flash and Metal Hammer in Italy).
DoomSword influences were clear: Warlord, Medieval Steel, Candlemass, and all the bands that played a kind of epic metal based on slow tempos and atmospheric parts.
The interest from some labels arrived in the same period in which the cult act Agarthi had to split up: according to his musical tastes even the bass player from Agarthi entered DoomSword with the name of Dark Omen. The line-up was almost complete, only a singer was to be found, even if Deathmaster received positive response for his performance on the demo.
The new singer Nightcomer was found in a prog metal band called Madrigal, and his amazing similarity to Messiah Marcolin and Bruce Dickinson gave DoomSword a further increase of quality.
Nightcomer joined the band just two months before the recordings session for the debut album that DoomSword decided to release for the italian power label Underground Symphony (after the proposal received from Lucretia rec.).
DoomSword recorded their first album in July-August 1998 at Alex Studio in Gallarate (the city where DoomSword come from, the same city of the intercontinental airport of Malpensa 2000), and it has been released in March 1999.
So... after three years in which the band had to face many difficulties due to line-up problems, DoomSword come forth with a new chapter of their saga: "Resound the Horn". After the release of "DoomSword" both Guardian Angel and Nightcomer left the band, the first to dedicate himself to his own composition, the second to continue his career with his first prog-band Fury and Grace.
Deathmaster and Dark Omen were the only two left from the line-up of their first album, so that the band had to be revised completely. So began the search for new members to be recruited who started with Guardian Angel II (Warlord style name!), who already played some solos in the first release. Having decided to make Deathmaster sing in the new album, the missing members were a rhythm guitar player and a drummer.
Since 1999 till 2001 only 4 tracks have been written by Deathmaster, called "Odin's Hail", "The Stygian Council", "In the Battlefield" and "Crimson Sky-the Flag of Armageddon".
Only "Odin's Hail" was recorded in the second album with the title of "Resound the Horn: Odin's Hail". All these songs belong to the period in which Deathmaster was forced to write the songs by himself with no help, the same period in which DoomSword recorded their version of "Black Mass" (taken from Deliver Us - the first Warlord EP), which had to be on the tribute to Warlord, yet not released.
Finally the band was able to find a musician whose spirit fit well with the feeling of DoomSword in the person of The Forger.
He had not previous experiences but a doom-folk metal band which never published a demo or something similar; he entered the band as a full time songwriter and gave Deathmaster significant help to write the new tunes, so that the compositions for the new album began.
Just immediately after The Forger, GroM became the drummer and the line-up was definitely completed.
It was the winter of the year 2001 when DoomSword had the first contact with the actual label Dragonheart. Deathmaster and Enrico Paoli (mainman of Domine) were in contact since the releasing of the band first demo "Sacred Metal", and the deal came almost obviously in the name of epic metal and a long time friendship (Brothers of the Sword).
The new album "Resound the Horn" is the result of a three years effort, in the name of the loyalty which the fan base of DoomSword demonstrated, the real force which kept DoomSword alive.
