Reign of Fury

Reign of Fury
Background information
Origin	England, United Kingdom
Genres	Thrash metal, heavy metal
Years active	2009–present
Associated acts	Gash, Black Flame Dispute, 4 ft Fingers
Website	reignoffury.co.uk
Members	Bison Wrathbone Ed Westlake Jon Priestley Magic Dave Humphries Chris 'Muz' Musgrove
Past members	Matt Earl Paul Bielby Ross "Lenny" McLennan

Reign of Fury are a British thrash metal band who are based predominantly in South West England and The Midlands. Their signature sound is a blend of 1980s thrash metal and NWOBHM, as well as various influences from other styles of metal and punk. The members are an amalgamation of friends that have met over the past 15 years on the UK punk and metal scene. Reign of Fury was formed to celebrate the types of music that provided the most significant influences to the members throughout their lives.

History

Early years and formation (2006–2009)

The original idea for Reign of Fury was born out of a pub in Cheltenham where the lead guitarist, Ed Fury, drank in 2006. He had known drummer, Magic Dave, for many years, having supported his previous punk band 4ft Fingers at various gigs. After numerous discussions about forming a metal band, the original line up finally came together with Jarv from Spunge on bass, Magic Dave on drums, Ed Westlake and Iceman Mark Burzum on guitar and Anj on vocals. Originally called Reign of Terror, they changed the name to Reign of Fury quite early on. They played their first show at The frog and Fiddle in Cheltenham and split up afterwards.

Two years later Magic Dave left 4ft fingers, He and fellow 4ft fingers member Jon Priestly decided that they wanted to keep writing music together and Magic Dave introduced Ed Westlake to Jon. They started writing material under the name The Ransom with the idea of being a punk band. After numerous rehearsals together, the riffs being written seemed to be heading in a far more metal direction. "The Ransom" didn't seem to suit the music that was being written and so the name was changed to "Reign of Fury".

After about 6 months together, Heavy Matt Earl, joined them on bass, having already been in another band, Screamin 88s with Magic Dave for a while. The band continued to write music, but were still lacking a vocalist. They tried out various singers to no avail, desperate to find somebody with the right vocal style for their sound, until eventually, in late 2009, Jon Priestly called upon friend Bison Wrathbone (Matt steed) who was at that time playing bass for hardcore band Section 13. Jon and Bison had worked together for many years in punk band Gash and experimental band Black Flame Dispute. After hearing what the band had to offer, Bison did some sample vocals over a few of the demo tracks that Reign of Fury had recorded. The band finally clicked as a unit and established their signature sound.

REIGN OF FURY officially became a band late 2009 and played their first show at The 2 Pigs in Cheltenham on January 16th 2010 supporting fellow Cheltenham band LUMPHAMMER.

Psycho Intentions and World Detonation (2010–2012)

The band played very few shows in 2010 and only 7 shows in 2011 but continued to write additional material and even got nominated for "best live band in 2011" by an online poll, and released their first EP in Feb 2011, Psycho Intentions (drums and bass were recorded in a tin shack on a farm whilst guitars and vocals were recorded by Jon Priestley at Abatis Studios), which is being distributed through Goodlife Recordings. This coincided with their DIY video for the title track of the E.P, which was originally made back in 2010, being added to the post 9pm rotation on the UK alternative music channel SCUZZ. The E.P artwork, by UK artist Matt Dixon was chosen out of the band's desire to have a mascot and the skeleton figure on the front cover is set to appear on all upcoming releases.

Things then started to pick up for Reign of Fury in 2011 onwards with more and more shows being played.They then began to work on their first album. In 2012 they were asked to play their first festival show at Bloodstock 2012. They appeared on the New Blood stage on Sunday 12 August 2012.

The band's debut album World Detonation was released in August 2012. Shortly afterwards, their first video from the album, title track "World Detonation" was released. This was produced by Andy Pilkington, who also went on to produce their second video "Born to Die" from the album and was released on Halloween 2012.

Headbangers' Balls (2013–2014)

The band had a number of tour dates in 2013, both in the UK and Europe. They rounded the year off with a national headlining tour in support of Teenage Cancer Trust called "Headbangers' Balls". The line-up for each night was different with Reign of Fury the only constant band on the bill. One date clash in Newcastle with Hatebreed resulted in the latter inviting Reign of Fury and their support to open for them, and donating their proceeds from the gig to the Headbangers' Balls cause. The tour culminated with an all-day event in Birmingham that was broadcast live on TBFM Online Radio.

Headbangers' Balls II made a much bigger impact in 2014 with several sold out shows and much bigger audiences across the board with including the likes of Onslaught (band) and Evil Deth (Lawnmower Deth fronted by Dr. Rabid Hell, vocalist of Evil Scarecrow).

In early 2014, the band parted ways with original bassist Matt Earl aka Heavy Matt Earl due to family commitments.^[1] Manager Andy Pilkington stood in for two shows until the recruitment of Paul Bielby in February 2014.^[2]

Death Be Thy Shepherd (2015)

After the successful release of critically acclaimed second LP 'Death Be Thy Shepherd' the band toured extensively across the UK including opening Bloodstock Festival.

The Kickstarter campaign followed for the vinyl release of 'Death Be Thy Shepherd' and reached target in 11 minutes (a suggested record for an unsigned band)

At this point guitarist Ed Westlake left the band due to personal reasons .

Around the same point Andy 'Very Metal' Pilkington stepped down as manager.

The band continue to tour their planned headline 2015/2016 dates with new lead guitarist Ross 'Lenny' Mclennan, with shows including support with Sepultura on their 30th Anniversary Tour and Lawnmower Deth's Xmas Bash at Nottingham Rock City.

Members

Discography

References

External links

• Website