The search didn't last long as the new members attended the same school. So Marco Presazzi became the new drummer while Gabriel Cismondi and Paolo Agnelli completed the guitarist trio. The group started well playing tracks by "In Human Form" previously written by Berera. But the singer was still missing to complete the orchestra, and here in Valtellina it's difficult to find one.
Finally, thanks to an advertisement published on a website and to a friend of the future singer, in March 2002 Davide Magatelli presented himself in Sondrio to be present at the rehearsals. Magatelli well joined the group flogging many miles every week driven by an immense passion for metal and by his wish to enjoy himself.
After some proposals to choose the name of the group an idea came to their mind about an imaginary character, who was a bit gloomy but didn't give out the kind of metal played: "Keeper of Darkness". As a matter of fact, the songs cannot be classified into a specific genre, they have shades which range from heavy to death. It's a particular metal, but it doesn't exceed the limits of the genre.
The group played and had fun but little by little it was realized that three guitars were useless. So, after taking into consideration different possibilities, Paolo left the group, keeping on being bound to the other members anyway. The group kept on rehearsing and made also some concerts, always hoping to attract more fans with respect to the previous performance. But at the end of 2003 another event changed the life of the Keeper: after beginning to go to university Marco decided to leave the group because of study reasons.
After some searching Gabriel contacted a drummer from Morbegno called Luca, who had a good technique. At first he seemed to be desirous and motivated, but I fact he presented himself irregularly to the rehearsals, showing little interest with respect to the group. Also Gabriel seemed to have lost some charge and concord in that period. So, after their absences and many discussions among Berera, Bonetti and Magatelli, the two were dismissed.
A period of pause and desperate searching followed, most of all of a drummer. Suddenly Nicola Lorenzini was found. He was a drummer from Sondrio, he accepted at once the proposal to join the group and on Sunday 9th March 2004 he presented himself at the rehearsals. The performance was good, mixing power, technique and creativity and learning immediately the structure of the songs, re-proposing them after few trials.
In the same period a second guitarist, Max, was engaged, but he sincerely admitted he couldn't engaged himself enough in the band so he decided to refuse the offer.
The life of the poor Keeper still had troubles to face with. Lorenzini showed himself to be little reliable about punctuality and engagement, often leaving the rest of the band out of the rehearsal room waiting for the drummer with the keys in vain.
The time went by and the rage increased, the rehearsals were less and less "hot" and little by little the Keeper were falling asleep. Everything was made worse also by the tension between Berera and Magatelli, who seemed to estrange more and more.
After a pause which seemed to last long, the contacts with Lorenzini faded away and a gleam of revival was seen in the news that Bonetti gave to the two mates left: "I've heard from Press, I've asked him if he was interested in coming back and from his tone of voice he seemed really excited about the idea of beginning again to play with us".
So, after the two made it up again having breakfast with Soulless by Running Wild and after Marco Presazzi was back, it was decided to come back to Sondrio to rehearsal just like the old times.
The very good performance of everybody struck positively the members and led to the return of the band on the stage. Nobody misses a rehearsal, the repertoire has been becoming richer and richer and the energy given off by music is now a vital element for these four musicians.
After a few rehearsals the Keeper was in a very good form again and so it has been decided to record something serious. The five recorded tracks are going to compose the much waited and loved demo, the first-born of this band from Valtellina. We hope that this baby could act as a launch also outside the valley...