Rekuiem

The classic British metal band Rekuiem, formerly spelt 'Requiem', was founded in the beginning of the the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) movement in the UK by Steve Slater (guitar), Gordon Denny (bass), Mike Reid (vocal), Karl Wilcox (drums). The band were pioneers of this new genre of rock amongst others such as Witchfinder General, Diamond Head, Jameson Raid, Angel Witch and Iron Maiden. Rekuiem pursued their very own style of New Wave Metal which would later become known as Doom Metal. They were strongly influenced by Black Sabbath and wanted to create something that was heavier than anything before.

After many rehearsals the band began to play local gigs in the Midlands/UK at venues such as Cannock Forum and The Famous Lafayette club in Wolverhampton where many famous bands had played in their early days. The band soon built up a strong local fan base. This period also produced some early demos recorded at M.R.S. studios in Walsall which are rare to find today.

In 1980 the band recorded at Foel studios the now rare double-A-sided single "Angel of Sin"/Sacrificial Wanderer, mixed by Dave Anderson (Hawkwind). This single is supposed to be the reason for the new world-wide underground interest in Rekuiem, 25 years after its release. Two years after the founding, front man Mike Reid left the band due to MusicAL differences. The rest of the band wanted to move towards a more mainstream sound and needed a more gritty style vocal that Reid just didn't do. The replacement was Steve Mills. Three further studio demos and gigs all over the UK followed, both as headline act and as support act to big names such as Budgie on their European tour.

After that the band worked on The Release of their debut album Immanent which should have seen the band break out of the underground N.W.O.B.H.M. movement, just as Iron Maiden, Saxon and Def Leppard had done. However, due to rapid changes of the music scene at that time - classic Metal bands were falling from favour to be replaced by the Glam rockera of the mid 80s - Immanent was never released. Despite the adversity, Rekuiem continued to gig around the UK. But in 1984 bass player Gordon left the band to form Midlands A.O.R. band Rough Justice. He was replaced by Tim Harris. The band tried to reshape again, new songs were written and a new image and concept discussed, but eventually at the General Wolfe in Coventry, Rekuiem came to an end. Steve Mills and Tim Harris went on to work with Dave Brock of Hawkwind fame. Steve Slater and Karl Wilcox briefly joined forces to join Broken English and studio recordings were made entitled Makin out and 'Two time love'. Karl then went on to join Progressive Rock band Chase before joining N.W.O.B.H.M. legends Diamond Head with whom he has recorded several albums. Steve Slater went on to form Predator who toured the UK extensively.

The Reunion

In 2002 a new worldwide interest in Metal, specifically the underground N.W.O.B.H.M. movement, brought Rekuiem back to the music scenery. Enquiries from all over the world AbOUT past recordings and about the chance of a reunion brought some of the band members together again. Due to the founding of a couple of other bands in the past years under the same name, the band members decided to change the spelling in Rekuiem.

For a time period of three years, the band wrote and recorded the promised album that was never Delivered twenty years ago. Three original members, Steve Slater (guit), Karl Wilcox (drums) and Gordon Denny (bass) joined forces with Paul Parry(voc), formerly with Tredegar, and Neil Taylor (keyboards)), who has worked before with Sahara Darc, Cloven Hoof, Demon and Ozzy Osbourne tribute Ozzmosis.

The band released an EP for the rock press. This EP featured five demo tracks for the anticipated album, 'Steelbreeze', 'Angel of Sin', 'Nightmare', 'The Black Death' and 'Outro'. All of these are different versions to those that appeared on the finished album and in fact two of these songs don't appear on the album at all, making this a highly collectable piece. The taster EP entitled 'The Black Death' received rave reviews in the Metal press throughout Europe.

The album "Time will Tell" has been released worldwide in April 2006 at Majestic Rock label. It features 10 original tracks (11 on the Japanese EDition) and one cover of the Metal classic 'Paranoid' . The style of the band has gone back to its roots. The album has been produced by Steve Slater and Karl Wilcox and is mixed by Mark Stuart (Magnum) along with Steve and Karl. The album also features the newly recorded versions of the classic Rekuiem tracks from the original single 'Angel of Sin' and 'Sacrificial Wanderer'.

In November 2007 the singer Paul Parry has been replaced by the Sri Lankan born Chitral Somapala, who recorded and toured with bands like Avalon and Firewind in the past and is curremtly working also with his own band Civilization One and German Progressive Metal band Red Circuit.

Currently the band is working on the release of a second album "Raise the Dead" which is supposed to be out soon.

Discography

  • ''REQUIEM - Angel of Sin/Sacrificial Wanderer (single) 1980
  • ''REKUIEM - Time will Tell (Majestic Rock) 2006