Mystic Force

Baltimore, MD's Mystic Force were formed in 1983, when American heavy metal was taking its first strides toward dominating the ensuing decade, but although they shared many of the same musical traits and ambitions as future stars like Queensr˙che and Fates Warning (only adding a little more intricacy and power to the lessons passed on by their British heroes, Priest, Maiden, et al.), Mystic Force would not share the same good fortune. Instead, the group plied its trade in near anonymity for seven years, recording demo after demo for the rejection of countless labels, before finally eking out a contract with the British CMFT imprint for 1989's Take Command EP, and then, after the company's almost inevitable bankruptcy, linking up with Siegen Records for 1990's Shipwrecked with the Wicked mini-album. Luckily, Mystic Force would soon finally find a more reliable business partner in Germany's Rising Sun Records, for whom vocalist Bobby Hicks, guitarist Rich Davis, bassist Keith Menser, and drummer Chris Lembach recorded two albums: 1991's Eternal Quest and 1995's A Step Beyond. Both of these sank without a trace in the post-grunge musical landscape, however, and the band would vanish from sight entirely over the next few years before re-emerging with new vocalist William Wren for one last album, 2000's Man vs. Machine, which fared only slightly better, but still struck a chord only with a select group of extremely well-informed metal fans. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide