THE PROPHECY began in 2001 when John Bennett and Greg O’Shea met up with vocalist Matt Lawson one bleak and grey evening in the now demolished Empress bar in Bradford. Two weeks later THE PROPHECY had recorded a demo CD Her Embrace, My Ruin at Performance Studios.
From this point on the band decided to get serious and spent six months enclaved in their practice studio. The result of this was the To End All Hope demo which, although far from perfect, still stood high above the crowd of doom metal wannabe hopefuls. It was this demo CD that secured the band its place on the first DOOMINATION OF EUROPE tour with Mourning Beloveth and the now defunct Relapse artists Morgion. The band released their Ashes debut just in time for the start of the tour and this was quickly picked up by local label Black Doom Records. Just five months later the band then went on to play THE DOOMINATION OF AMERICA. This was a month long tour, coast to coast, as far south as Austin, Texas and as far north as Portland, Oregon. Few states were left untouched by the Doomination cavalcade...
With this grueling tour of America under their belts who was better placed to support My Dying Bride on their Halloween 2003 tour than THE PROPHECY? Playing to sold out crowds at the London Astoria, Utrecht’s Tivoli and Antwerp’s Hof der Loo. The tour was a resounding success and nicely rounded off the year for the band.
In 2004 work began on the follow-up to the Ashes CD. The songs were fully written and finalized and the band entered the studio in September to record drums. On the gig front the band played the BLOODSTOCK 04 festival getting KKKK in Kerrang! They then went on to headline the DOOMINATION OF EUROPE II with Australian band The Eternal in support. This tour expanded on the previous year’s Doomination, taking in Hungary, Italy, Germany as well as Spain, Portugal and the Benelux. This gruelling tour was to take its toll however, with second guitarist Christian Moore-Wainwright leaving the band shortly afterwards.
2005 was to be difficult year for THE PROPHECY. Lineup problems resulted in the band playing as a four-piece for much of the year and feeling like they were not achieving their full potential in terms of live sound. Work on Revelations also became a slow grind as Greg now had to record all guitar parts after delays caused by the previous bass player who was also to depart in eary 2005. However, with the recruitment of Gavin Parkinson on bass in the summer things began to look up for The Prophecy. The decision was made to stick to having one guitar and the band started to write new songs again wasting no time in getting out on the road again ’The Mist Of Death’ tour covered most of the Benelux countries with fellow Doomster’s Insanity Reigns Supreme and a whole host of bands in support. A month later the band ended the year supporting My Dying Bride at Bradford Rios.
In 2006 THE PROPHECY unleashed a new streak of creativity writing the majority of songs for the followup to Revelations opus. Provisionally entitled ’Into The Light’ this album should literally see the light in 2008. A busy touring schedule pushed the bands live show to another level with highlights being a Northern Ireland tour with Honey For Christ and the Days of Reckoning tour of Europe including an appearance at the fabled Dutch Doom Day.
Onto 2007 and this year has been the year of revelations with reviews flooding in for the album. Gaining massive acclaim from magazines such as Terrorizer, Zero Tolerance, Powerplay and Loud magazines The album has been voted album of the year at Metal Review picked up numerous album of the month awards and been nominated for the best doom album of 2006.
On the live front the band played the closing night of Bradford Rios to a packed out audience of over 1000 as well as making an appearance at the premier Irish metal festival Day of Darkness. The band then appeared at the Portugese festival, Pontape na Canela, in August despite being stranded in Portugal after their tour bus broke down. October then saw the band play the Doom Over Vienna festival in Austria as well as making a week long tour across Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands
The band are currently preparing to enter the studio to record their third opus entitles ’Into the Light’
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