Dungeon was an Australian melodic
power metal
Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...
band based in
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, considered by some as one of Australia's leading metal bands.
The group existed from 1989 to 2005, released six full-length albums, and toured heavily both throughout Australia and internationally.
History
(1989–1996) Formation and early period
The band was formed in the
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
outback
The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a n ...
mining town of
Broken Hill
Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is ...
in 1989 by guitarist Tim Grose featuring himself, bassist Eddie Tresize and drummer Ian DeBono. According to an extensive bio at the band's official website, Grose took on the singing role due to an inability to find a suitable vocalist. The band played popular rock and metal covers and shortly expanded to a five piece with the addition of Tim's niece Carolyn Boon on keyboards and Jason Hansen on guitar. Randall Hocking replaced Tresize and by the end of 1990 the group's line up featured Grose, Boon, Jamie Baldwin (bass), Dale Fletcher (guitar) and Darryl Riess (drums). By February 1991 however, only Tim Grose remained but a short time later guitarist Dale Corney joined him and the pair wrote and played as a duo for about a year before relocating to Sydney in 1992. A demo was recorded and Grose and Corney decided to rebuild a complete band line-up.
By 1995, Dungeon's live line-up featured Grose and Corney plus Stephen Mikulic on rhythm guitar (giving the band three guitarists), George Smith on bass and Andrew Brody on drums. Several tracks were also being recorded for a demo entitled "Changing Moods", with Grose providing bass and keyboards along with guitars and lead vocals. Brody played drums on the opening track "One Shot at Life" with Jim Yannieh, who had answered an ad in the street press, laying down the drums for the songs "Paradise", "The Promise" and "Slave of Love". Neither proved technically proficient enough to play on the title track, an eight-minute instrumental, so Grose contacted
BMG, with whom he had a publishing deal, for recommendations. They recommended
Virgil Donati
Virgil Donati (born 22 October 1958) is an Australian drummer, composer and producer. He holds the drum sticks in the Traditional grip, traditional style and is also proficient at the Keyboard instrument, keyboard. Donati formed Planet X (band), ...
, who completed the track during a four-hour session.
Brody and Smith left Dungeon in 1996 shortly after the demo appeared and were replaced by ex-Maximum Carnage members Wayne Harris and Justin Sayers. Mikulic also departed shortly afterward. In the meantime, Japanese label TDK-Core had taken an interest in Dungeon and expressed a desire to release "Changing Moods" as an album. Instead, Dungeon chose to re-work it, remixing some of the tracks with bass lines provided by Sayers, dropping a song called "The Promise" and adding nine new recordings including a cover of
Blondie's "Call Me". Released under the name ''
Demolition
Demolition (also known as razing, cartage, and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down of buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a ...
'', the album sold well after it was released in Japan but Harris refused to take part in any promotional activity for the CD and was fired from the band. A friend of the group, Tyrone McMaster, adopted the name Ty Blakely and appeared in promotional packages accompanying the release, however this was merely to give Dungeon the appearance of a complete line-up as McMaster was not actually in the band. It was not to be the last time Dungeon was to resort to this tactic.
In spite of ''Demolition's'' moderate success, Dungeon was dealt a blow when TDK-Core decided to stop releasing rock music. The album, which was only released in Japan, is now deleted.
(1996–2005) Major career
With Wayne Harris gone, Dungeon had no drummer but enough material for another album release. Around the same time, Sydney thrash band
Addictive
Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use oft ...
had disbanded. Drummer Steve Moore was put in touch with Dungeon through a mutual friend and by early 1997 the new line-up was rehearsed and beginning to appear regularly on the Sydney live metal circuit. ''
Resurrection
Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, which ...
'' was then recorded in 1998, featuring a third version of "Paradise", keyboards from Gustav Hoffman and Sayers providing lead vocals on the tracks "Let it Go" and "Wake Up". The period of the recording process was a bleak time for the band and Grose quit at one point only to return after less than a week. Sayers was also keen to move on to other projects but he remained with Dungeon for almost another year.
Several record labels including
Century Media
A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c.
A centennial or ...
courted the band but Dungeon signed eventually to Sydney's
Warhead Records
Warhead Records was an independent record label based in Sydney, Australia that specialised in releasing albums by Australian heavy metal bands. It was formed in 1992 by UK, British migrant Brad Sims and Julie Martin (now Sims) who began by sel ...
in July 1999. Warhead specialised in releasing
Australian heavy metal
Australian heavy metal music has its roots in both the Australian hard rock and pub rock tradition of the 1970s and the American and British heavy metal scenes. Since the mid-1980s, Australian heavy metal has been particularly influenced by for ...
bands and Moore had been friends with the owner Brad Sims for many years. This possibly swayed the group's decision at the time. Justin Sayers decided to leave Dungeon at this point on friendly terms and played a small number of live shows with them until he was replaced by Brendan "Dakk" McDonald. McDonald had previously played guitar in a band called Dr Zeus, the same band that had supplied Dungeon with early drummer Andrew Brody. ''Resurrection'' was released in September 1999. While it sold well among the band's growing fanbase, Warhead Records folded early the next year and the album was never re-pressed. Despite this, it won them considerable notice and Dungeon supported
Yngwie Malmsteen
Yngwie Johan Malmsteen ( ; born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck, 30 June 1963) is a Swedish guitarist. He first became known in the 1980s for his neoclassical playing style in heavy metal, and has released 22 studio albums in a career spanning ov ...
and
Nevermore
Nevermore was an American heavy metal band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1991. The band has been inactive since 2011, due to personal issues between the band members. In April 2015, lead singer Warrel Dane confirmed that Nevermore had n ...
late in the year before making their first appearance at the
Metal for the Brain
Metal for the Brain was Australia's largest heavy metal music festival. The event was held in Canberra annually, usually towards the end of the year, and featured Australian bands almost exclusively. The festival was established in November 1991 ...
festival. They would go on to play at the event every year until 2005.
Dungeon toured solidly for another eighteen months until Dale Corney left in September 2001.
Stu Marshall then joined, playing his first show with them as they headlined at Metal for the Brain. Most of the ''
A Rise to Power'' album had been written and recorded by this time, although Marshall was able to contribute some lead guitar and vocal parts before it was released. In mid-2002, the group supported German power metal band
Edguy
Edguy is a heavy metal band formed in Fulda, Germany in 1992.
History Demos, AFM years (1992–2003)
Edguy was founded in 1992 by 14-year-old students Tobias Sammet, Jens Ludwig, Dominik Storch and Dirk Sauer. The name "Edguy" was an affecti ...
on a small scale Australian tour that concluded with them signing to Melbourne metal label Metal Warriors on stage after their performance in Sydney. ''A Rise to Power'' was released shortly afterward, with Metal Warriors owner
Steve Ravic helping them secure a worldwide deal with Germany's LMP. A busy live schedule rounded out the year and included support slots with
Mayhem
Mayhem most commonly refers to:
* Mayhem (crime), a type of crime
Mayhem may also refer to:
People
* Monica Mayhem (born 1978), Australian pornographic actress
* Jason "Mayhem" Miller, American mixed martial arts fighter
* Mayhem Miller (dra ...
and
Destruction
Destruction may refer to:
Concepts
* Destruktion, a term from the philosophy of Martin Heidegger
* Destructive narcissism, a pathological form of narcissism
* Self-destructive behaviour, a widely used phrase that ''conceptualises'' certain kind ...
.
In May 2003, Dungeon went to Japan for festival appearances in Tokyo and
Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...
. The tour was supported by a limited-release album of remixes and covers called ''Rising Power''. The Tokyo show was filmed and released in mid-2004 as the ''Under the Rising Sun'' DVD. Shortly afterward, LMP released ''A Rise to Power'' on the international market, featuring a completely different and cartoonish cover illustration that the band would later renounce.
Dungeon supported
Opeth
Opeth is a Swedish progressive metal/rock band from Stockholm, formed in 1990 by lead vocalist David Isberg. The group has been through several personnel changes, including the replacement of every original member; notably Isberg in 1992. Mikael ...
in early 2004 before entering the studio to work on both a follow-up to ''A Rise to Power'' and a new version of ''Resurrection''. Tim had always expressed dissatisfaction with the original version and demands from fans for the now-deleted album convinced Dungeon to redo it. Sessions had barely begun however when McDonald left rather acrimoniously and while Grose was able to play the bass parts on the albums, the band was due to undertake another tour with Edguy. A long-time friend of the band, Glenn Williams—who was at the time playing bass with a
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
band called Mobstar—took over McDonald's role for the tour. Moore was also replaced by Grahame Goode from Infernal Method. While this was mooted as a temporary move, Moore confirmed his resignation from Dungeon after the tour in August 2004. Grose and Marshall then headed overseas ahead of the release of ''
One Step Beyond One Step Beyond may refer to:
Music
* ''One Step Beyond'' (Dungeon album) or the title song, 2004
* ''One Step Beyond'' (Jackie McLean album), 1963
* '' One Step Beyond...'', an album by Madness, or the title song (see below), 1979
* ''One Step ...
'', performing as a duo in Japan and
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
with local backing musicians, and doing some other promotional work in the U.S.
''One Step Beyond'' was released in November 2004. Echoing the band's situation at the time of ''Demolition'', Justin Sayers appeared in the accompanying booklet photos despite not having been a member of Dungeon since 1999. Goode was retained as drummer and since Infernal Method had disintegrated, founding member Petar Peric came into the group on bass. Following a handful of shows both Goode and Peric quit after their appearance at the Canberra leg of Metal for the Brain in February 2005. Goode's departure was particularly unfriendly and an air of animosity has surrounded his relationship with Dungeon ever since. Williams returned to the line-up and long time fan and experienced drummer
Tim Yatras took over Goode's role in time for the band to play at Metal for the Brain in Brisbane the following weekend. Yatras was considerably younger than the rest of the group but already had an impressive resume having featured in a string of
black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
and death metal bands from the NSW South Coast area including Malice and Battalion, with whom he had recorded a CD. He had also been the touring drummer with Sydney black metal band
Nazxul
Nazxul are an Australian black metal band which formed in 1993. They issued two studio albums, ''Totem'' (March 1995) and ''Iconoclast'' (July 2009). In March 2021, their most recent studio album titled ''Irkalla'' was released with the lineup ...
the previous year. In April, Dungeon supported
Nightwish
Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Neva ...
and then
Angra before a national tour with
Megadeth
Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal along wit ...
.
Dave Mustaine
David Scott Mustaine (born September 13, 1961) is an American musician. He is the co-founder, lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter of the thrash metal band Megadeth, as well as their sole consistent member. Mustaine has releas ...
's approval of Dungeon was so high he personally selected them to support Megadeth on a European tour in June. Dungeon then played shows in Japan before returning to Australia in August after promotional work in Canada and the U.S.
(2005–2007) Break-up and aftermath
In September 2005, after a run of shows with wrestler
Chris Jericho
Christopher Keith Irvine (born November 9, 1970), better known by the ring name Chris Jericho, is an American-Canadian professional wrestler and singer. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the leader of the Jeri ...
's band Fozzy, Dungeon issued a press release on their official website announcing that due to the departure of Marshall and Williams, Tim Grose decided to put an end to the band. They performed a final show at the Gaelic Club in
Surry Hills
Surry Hills is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney. Surry Hills is surroun ...
, Sydney on 11 December 2005. Justin Sayers, Dakk McDonald and Stephen Mikulic made guest appearances during the band's almost two-hour set. A final album entitled ''
The Final Chapter'' was announced. Recorded by Grose and Yatras, with guests
Andy Dowling (bass) and Mav Stevens (guitar), this album was released in mid-2006.
The band's various members have moved on to other projects. Grose and Yatras continued to work together under the name
Lord
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or ar ...
with Dowling. This name was previously used by Grose in 2003 for a solo release. Lord continues to play the Dungeon back-catalogue live and follows a similar musical path.
Both men also featured in the
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
studio-based power metal band
Ilium until Grose announced his departure in early 2008. Stu Marshall formed a band called 20 Grams with Yatras briefly on drums and later with Jordan Howe, a one-time member of
The Harlots, on vocals. This band is now known as
Paindivision and has gone on to issue two albums as of mid-2010. Former bass player Sayers plays in a heavy rock / punk act called Platinum Brunette that released an EP in early 2007 and now features Lord Tim guitar. This band released an album in early 2009. Stephen Mikulic is a member of Lycanthia. Grahame Goode and Pete Peric reformed Infernal Method shortly after their brief time with Dungeon, however that group split up for good in April 2007; Goode later joined the thrash band Killrazer and Peric is now with Nazxul. Glenn Williams joined Brisbane melodic metallers Sedition (former bassist Andy Dowling had left to join
Lord
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or ar ...
.) One-time drummer Steve Moore played in thrash band Vaticide and now plays in a Brisbane rock and metal band. Dakk McDonald runs a CD/DVD duplication business. Of the band's early guitarists, Dale Fletcher died from a brain haemmorhage in January 2005, Jason Hansen builds handmade guitars and Dale Corney sings for a Broken Hill metal band called Soulforge.
Members
Final line-up
*
'Lord' Tim Grose (1989–2005) – vocals, guitar, keyboard, bass
*
Tim Yatras (2005) – drums
Former members
* Jason Hansen (1989–1990) – guitar
* Dale Fletcher (1990–1991) – guitar
* Dale Corney (1991–2001) – guitar, vocals
* Stephen Mikulic (1992–1996) – guitar
*
Stu Marshall (2001–2005) – guitar, vocals
* Eddie Trezise (1989) – bass
* Randall Hocking (1989–1990) – bass
* Jamie Baldwin (1990–1991) – bass
* George Smith (1994–1995) – bass
* Justin Sayers (1996–1999) – vocals
* Brendon McDonald (1999–2004) – bass
* Petar Peric (2004–2005) – bass
* Glenn Williams (2005) – bass
* Carolyn Boon (1989–1991) – keyboards
* Ian DeBono (1989–1990) – drums
* Darryl Reiss (1990) – drums
* Andrew Brody (1994) – drums
* Wayne Harris (1994–1995) – drums
* Tyrone McMaster – drums (1996)
* Steve Moore (1997–2004) – drums
* Grahame Goode (2004–2005) – drums
Discography
References
External links
Dungeon.cd– official website
Dungeonat
MySpace
PainDivision.com– official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dungeon
Musical groups established in 1989
New South Wales musical groups
Australian heavy metal musical groups
Australian power metal musical groups
Musical groups disestablished in 2005