Vanexa is an Italian heavy metal band formed in 1978.

Biography

Born in Savona in 1978, thanks to the founding members Roberto Merlone (guitar), Sergio Pagnacco (bass) and Silvano Bottari (drums), the band's style is based on British metal sounds, typical of the NWOBHM. Vanexa were part of the new wave of heavy metal band made in Italy in the late 70s early 80s, like band as Vanadium, Sabotage and Strana Officina. They participated as the headliner at Rock in a Hard Place Festival in Certaldo in the province of Florence, May 21, 1983. In their careers they participated in compilation metal, such as Mountain of Metal, output in the United States, with the song "Hanged Man" and "Metallo Italia" with the song "It's Over". In 2007 they have been reissued on CD their first album Vanexa with 3 unreleased tracks, and their second album "Back From The Ruins" with five live tracks taken from a concert in 1984. The first member in first demo, saw presence of Sergio Pagnacco and Silvano Bottari with Fabrizio Cruciani on vocals and Roberto Merlone on guitar. The first album was titled with the same name of Vanexa and was released in 1983 on Durium label with Marco Spinelli on vocals, like also in the second disc Back From The Ruins recorder on Minotauro and published in 1988. After several years of silence, it comes time to Against The Sun, the third disc of the group that comes out March 6, 1994 still on Minotauro label. This time on vocals was

Roberto Tiranti The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

, in future voice of Labyrinth band and in particular in New Trolls prog band (later New Trolls's Legend). In 2010 it was printed on CD and on vinyl in a limited edition 1979/1980, a compilation of songs sung in Italian of the period 1979 - 1980. In 2011 Vanexa released the first official live album from the band, titled Metal City Live, recorded at heavy metal festival Play It Loud III of 2009. In 2012 he joined the group the guitarist

Pier Gonella Pier Gonella (born Pierangelo Gonella) is an Italian guitarist, composer, arranger, producer and founding member of the heavy metal band Mastercastle and the black metal band Necrodeath. Biography Pier Gonella began playing guitar at the age ...

, member Necrodeath and Mastercastle In 2015 the band released a single of two songs ( "Too Heavy to Fly" and "Paradox") as a preview of the new album "Too Heavy to Fly" Subsequently, the good responses of the individual (first place in the Hard & Heavy section of Amazon), leading in 2016 to the decision to record the whole album "Too Heavy to Fly" with the label Punishment 18 Records on CD and with the Black Widow Records on vinyl (3 different editions).

Band members

Final line-up

* Andrea "Ranfa" Ranfagni - voce * Artan Selishta - chitarra * Sergio Pagnacco - basso (ex

Labyrinth In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth (, ) was an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by the ...

) * Silvano Bottari - batteria *

- chitarra (ex

Mastercastle Mastercastle is a heavy metal band formed in 2008 in Italy by the guitar player Pier Gonella and the singer Giorgia Gueglio. History Mastercastle was founded in January 2008 by the guitar player Pier Gonella and the singer Giorgia Gueglio. The ...

Necrodeath Necrodeath is an Italian extreme metal band from Liguria. It is one of the first extreme metal bands originating in Italy. They take inspiration from Slayer, Dark Angel, Possessed, Venom, Kreator, Celtic Frost, Bathory and Sodom. The band is a ...

)

Founding members

* Roberto Merlone -

Guitars The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

* Marco Spinelli -

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production in ...

* Sergio Pagnacco - bass * Silvano Bottari -

Drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

Other members

- voce * Roberto Merlone - chitarra * Alfio Vitanza - voce * Fabrizio Cruciani - voce * Marco Spinelli - voce * Giorgio Pagnacco - tastiere * Alex Graziano - chitarra

Discography

* 1983 - '' Vanexa'' * 1988 - '' Back from the Ruins'' * 1994 - '' Against the Sun'' * 2010 - ''1979-1980''(demo) * 2011 - ''Metal City Live'' * 2016 - ''Too Heavy To Fly'' * 2021 - last to black

Compilation

* 1986 - '' Metallo Italia'' * 1992 - ''Mountain of Metal'' * 1994 - ''Lucretia International Sampler'' * 1995 - ''Tribu' to Mostar'' * 2016 - ''Too Heavy to Fly''

References

{{Authority control Italian heavy metal musical groups