Invictus Persecution *

Michael Fitrzyk - Guitars / Ferderic Glo - Lead Vocals / Raphael Leger - Drums / Nicolas Acard - Bass In the mid-eighties, bands like SortilŠge, BlasphŠme and Nightmare released true masterpieces of melodic metal and stormed the charts with them, be it in their native country France or in far away Japan. It is no coincidence that INVICTUS came from exactly the same region in northern France: Four dedicated musicians have lined up to revive these great moments of French stainless steel. In 1996, guitar player Mikael Fitrzyk formed INVICTUS (then, under the name QUARK7), soon after he gathered other musicians around him. Even the first musical pieces, still influenced by Yngwie Malmsteen, UFO and Savatage, impressed fans with their elegant and original mixture of Progressive, Symphonic and Melodic Metal music. The music and the band carried a fair amount of aggression, everybody could witness that at the first INVICTUS live gigs, where fists flew regularly, the result of that in many places, they weren't allowed to play. But, hey, that's Rock'n'Roll...! After some line-up changes, QUARK7 produced their first album 'Fly Away' which didn't get the attention it would have deserved. In 1999, they released 'Once Upon A Time' under the name of "Invictus", again self-produced, and finally, this, together with a remarkable, multilingual website (12 languages!) aroused massive interest of some underground labels. Outstanding reviews from all kinds of magazines from Norway, Japan, England, Germany, Sweden and Brazil finally lead to a distribution deal with Black Cat. In February 2002, they locked themselves up in the Melody Studios in Paris to record their third album 'Black Heart' with the help of producer Didier Chesneau and the two guest musicians A. Ribot (keyboards) and S. Grare (backing vocals). At the same time, they signed a deal with Limb Music Products. On 'Black Heart', INVICTUS present themselves audibly matured. On 'Black Heart', INVICTUS presented themselves in fine fashion. The French have shaken off the state of being the diamond-in-the-raw, the eternal inside tip, and they convinced with a powerful and bombastic production. Indeed, as far as production standard and hit potential are concerned, songs like 'Redemption', 'Wonderland' or 'Whispers' could be on a Nightwish or Stratovarius album any time. In spite of all catchyness, INVICTUS have kept their independence and skillfully weave progressive and symphonic parts into an atmopspheric tight sound full of elegance and musicality (e.g. 'The Choice'or 'Miracle'). This truly original band offers a stylistic range and enormous joy of playing which is demonstrated very clearly by the goose bumps-evoking ballad 'Since The Day' and the hard, driving 'Car Crash'. In short: with 'Black Heart', we experience the pure renaissance of French Stainless Steel! It's 2009 and here we have a brand new release Persecution which picks up where Black Heart left off. This exciting new release sees the band hone their style into perfection and the four guys never sounded better. With an impressive array of new songs Invictus are ready to take the world by storm once again.