Haggard

Haggard began as a death metal outfit, yet shifted direction with the 1994 arrival of their second demo, Progressive. Abandoning the heavier approach heard on 1992’s Introduction, the group turned toward symphonic metal textures, a change that coincided with steady expansion until membership peaked above twenty. A further demo, Once... Upon a December's Dawn, appeared in 1995; two years later the band issued its debut album, the Michel de Notre Dame-themed song cycle And Thou Shall Trust... The Seer. Awaking the Centuries arrived in 2000, followed in 2004 by Eppur Si Muove, a Galileo Galilei-inspired release fronted by songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist Asis Nasseri. In addition to these studio works, Haggard issued the videos In a Pale Moon's Shadow in 1998 and Awaking the Gods: Live in Mexico in 2001, together with a live album drawn from the latter performance. Their fourth studio album, Tales of Ithiria, had been slated for 2007 yet ultimately surfaced in August 2008.