Forgotten Tales is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

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 from

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, originally formed in 1999.

Biography

Forgotten Tales were formed 1999 as a cover band, playing

songs by their favorite

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an bands. As one of Canada's few melodic power metal bands, they performed live regularly, including an opening slot for

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

group

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 ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

in November, 2000. At this point, the group began writing original material for an album. The group went into Victor studios in Montreal in April 2001 to record their debut effort, '' The Promise''. Forgotten Tales supported groups such as

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 ...

and

Gamma Ray A gamma ray, also known as gamma radiation (symbol γ or \gamma), is a penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation arising from the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. It consists of the shortest wavelength electromagnetic waves, typically ...

. In 2003, the band entered Menzo studios in

to record the material that would become their second album, '' All the Sinners'', released in August, 2004. In 2005, original drummer Cédric Prévost left the band, replaced by Mike Bélanger. At the beginning of the following year, the band opened for Finnish power metal act

Sonata Arctica Sonata Arctica is a Finnish power metal band from the town of Kemi, Finland. Created as a hard rock band named Tricky Beans, they later changed to Tricky Means and finally to Sonata Arctica, when they shifted to power metal. The current lineup ...

. In February 2007, the band announced their new keyboardist William Simard replaced, Frédérick Desroches. In February 2009, Desroches rejoined. Their third album, ''We Shall See the Light'', was released in 2010. This album was received well, reviews claiming that despite being an independent release, listeners "would not be able to tell". The drumming of Mike Belanger was praised, along with the strong vocal work of Sonia Pineault.

Musical style

Forgotten Tales in relation to power metal, claim to be "pioneers of this style in Canada". They cite their style as "Forgotten Tales music offers, to the heavy metal enthusiasts as well as those fond of whatever is new, a musical performance with hints of classical, baroque and, at times, progressive influences." Their singer Sonia Pineault has deeper voice range than typical female vocalists within power metal bands like

Elize Ryd Hanna Elise Isabell Maj Höstblomma Ryd (born 15 October 1984), known professionally as Elize Ryd, is a Swedish singer, best known as one of the three vocalists and co-lyricist in the metal band Amaranthe. She also gained some popularity prior to ...

Amaranthe Amaranthe is a Swedish metal band originally known as Avalanche. The band is notable for their blend of various metal genres and having three lead vocalists. History Formed by Olof Mörck (Dragonland, Nightrage) and Joacim "Jake E" Lundbe ...

, or

Tarja Turunen Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen-Cabuli (born 17 August 1977), known professionally as Tarja Turunen or simply Tarja, is a Finnish heavy metal singer, best known as the former lead vocalist of Nightwish. She is a soprano with a three and a half o ...

. Sonia avoids the use of opera style vocals in lyrical portions of their songs, resulting in a direct, powerful feel emphasizing the lyrics. In terms of instrumentation, guitarists Marco Lavoie and Martin Desharnais demonstrate a very neoclassical style to solos. Their keyboardist uses

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

, and string effects to give a folk feel to songs, as their songs feature medieval themes.

Band members

Current members * Sonia Pineault – vocals * Martin Desharnais – guitars, backing vocals * Patrick Vir – bass * Mike Bélanger – drums * Frédéric Desroches – keyboards * Marco Lavoie – guitars Former members * Cédric Prévost – drums, backing vocals * William Simard – keyboards

Discography

Albums

* ''The Promise'' (2001) * ''All the Sinners'' (2004) * ''We Shall See the Light'' (2010)

References

External links

Forgotten Tales MySpace

Forgotten Tales Facebook
{{Authority control Musical groups established in 1999 Canadian power metal musical groups Musical groups from Quebec City 1999 establishments in Quebec