Human Fortress

About Human Fortress

Human Fortress is a German power metal group dedicated to expounding upon everything that is glorious and epic about the genre. The band emerged in the late 1990s with a fist-pumping racket that evoked the melodic battle metal of bands like Manowar and Rhapsody of Fire but began incorporating elements of metalcore into their sound in the late 2000s. 2013's Raided Land marked a return to the fantasy metal approach of their early days, a style they continued to hone on subsequent outings like Thieves of the Night (2016) and Reign of Gold (2019). Founded in 1997 by vocalist Jioti Parcharidis, guitarists Torsten Wolf and Volker Trost, keyboardist Dirk Marquardt, bassist Pablo J. Tammens, and drummer Laki Zaios, the sextet released an eponymous EP in 2000 before unleashing their full-length debut, Lord of Earth and Heaven's Heir, the following year. Bursting with Dungeons & Dragons-inspired power metal goodness, 2003's Defenders of the Crown continued in the vein of its predecessor. The band endured numerous lineup changes before issuing 2008's Eternal Empire, which introduced elements of metalcore into the mix. In 2009, the group split into two factions, with some members continuing down the extreme metal road under the moniker Ember Sea, and the remaining members operating under the Human Fortress moniker with pure power metal might. In 2013, the band inked a deal with AFM Records and released their fourth album, Raided Land, which marked the debut studio outing for new vocalist Gus Monsanto, who also helmed 2016's Thieves of the Night and 2019's Reign of Gold. ~ James Christopher Monger

ORIGIN
Hanover, Germany
FORMED
1999
GENRE
Metal
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