Everything started in Santiago, Chile in the summer of 1998 when Moises (drummer) and Francisco (bass); two old friends that were playing classic rock and heavy metal, decided to form a band with European Heavy Metal influences. With this started the search and auditions for the rest of the band members. The band was looking for musicians with a very technical and progressive style, but unfortunately, they were hard to come by.
When we met Danilo (guitar), we found in him the talent and the music style that we were looking for. With him, we started to write our first songs, we just needed a permanent singer. Later on, Lucho (vocal) came to the band and finally we found a special connection between the four of us. Lucho created songs and lyrics that held a very strong message of the concepts of life, hence the name of the band, MAGISTRAL.
After a couple of months, we recorded a demo with promotion as the idea, not distribution or profit. The promotion came by the way of Chilean Metal Radio Stations, with a very positive and enthusiastic response from the public. Soon thereafter, we had our first gig at a small pub with another Power Metal band: SIXMAGICS. Due to the radio acceptance, and the great local crowd at the show, we were offered the opportunity to record the song Awake on a professional level, and to have the song played regularly on the radio. After this, Lucho had to come back here to the USA, and we as a band had agreed that moving here would be a good idea, and could bring many great opportunities that were too good to pass up. During this transitional period, each band member performed in several different projects, honing our skills for the imminent re-formation of Magistral.
At the end of 2000, we immigrated to the United States with Metal in our hearts, to spread our music to a new genre of Heavy Metal fans. Upon our arrival, we started to play shows in the Houston area, San Antonio, parts of Louisiana, and even Atlanta, Georgia to play at the Prog Power III - Pre Party show. Soon after that, we were offered to record with Now and Then Records in England. Along the way, we added another member to the band; a guitar player from Houston named Kelly FitzSimons. Then, after a couple of years with him in the band, he decided to leave and keep going on his own.
In the need to keep heaviness & guitar harmonies alive, our heads turned towards a former member of Magistral and also compatriot friend:
Javier O. Salvatierra. With his addition, we are once again ready to keep delivering our music with more power, more heaviness, and more harmonies.
So far, it has been a lot of hard work and we each have made a lot of sacrifices, but doing this is like a dream come true for all of us. All we can do is keep working hard and stay true to our musical direction.
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