Eidolon

Toronto's Eidolon stands among Canada's leading power metal acts, built around siblings Glen Drover on guitar and Shawn Drover on drums. The pair formed the band in 1993 while opening their own recording facility, also named Eidolon. Vocalist Brian Soulard and bassist Criss Bailey later completed the lineup, enabling the Drovers to shift from their initial instrumental heavy metal explorations toward a fuller power and heritage metal approach. That evolution yielded two independent releases, 1996's Zero Hour and the conceptual 1998 album Seven Spirits, whose quality secured a contract with Los Angeles-based Metal Blade Records. Under that agreement the group issued four respected albums—2000's Nightmare World, 2001's Hallowed Apparition, 2002's Coma Nation, and 2003's Apostles of Defiance—all featuring bassist Adrian Robichaud, with Pat Mulock handling vocals on the final two. Greater commercial traction may have followed had Eidolon been willing to tour more extensively. Partly for that reason the band left Metal Blade in 2004, yet quickly arranged a fresh agreement with Sweden's Escapi Records.