Band Biographies: The Colony

Infectious melodies shimmering across the gleaming surface of impenetrable armour plating, huge choruses soaring above fiercely focussed, technical riffing and open-hearted emotion backed by staggering firepower. These are the contrasts that weave their way through the breathtaking sound of The Colony – one of the most exciting and accomplished metal bands to emerge from the UK in recent years.

The band formed over a decade ago and worked tirelessly to forge their sound, a brand of metal that had unique identity, that possessed a powerful character and a musical sense of adventure. They honed their skills, developing their musicianship until they had the capability to bring to life all the music they could imagine and then, in 2011 they released their debut EP, Romper Stomper – a sharp, energy filled three song attack. On the back of a positive reaction to this debut release The Colony hit the road around their native Scotland, gaining invaluable experience as they worked towards the creation of their debut full length album, Dust And Stone, which emerged in 2013. Dust And Stone, copies of which have long since sold out, was a much more ambitious release, as evidenced by the expansive two part title track. The Colony’s sound was starting to expand...

It was in 2015, after more concentrated gigging around Scotland, that The Colony juggernaut really began to gather speed. On July 18th they released their second album, Time Of Wolves and if Dust And Stone had been strides ahead of Romper Stomper, then Time Of Wolves waved them both goodbye and disappeared over the horizon. Heavier, more melodic, more adventurous, more imaginative, Time Of Wolves represented the sound of a band really finding their chosen path and heading for the future without a backwards glance. PureMZine thrilled to the “frantic guitars and drums”, the “fervent vocals” and “rapid riffs”, concluding that “the passion and intensity infused into each entry ends up being incredibly infectious, resulting in a consistently compelling compilation.” This was the moment that the rest of the world started taking notice and The Colony toured Ireland and Eastern Europe on the back of the critical acclaim reaped by Time Of Wolves and were invited back to play a number of open air festivals in Romania, including the Metalhead Meeting, with Kreator, Rotting Christ and Dragonforce.

While some bands may have felt daunted by trying to follow up an album like Time Of Wolves, The Colony were simply inspired. In October of 2017 they unleashed C and left everyone who heard it stunned. Every ounce of potential had been realised, the songs explored even more new dimensions and the individual performances were simply breathtaking. A work of maturity, thrilling contrasts and dynamics...a work of brilliance. The Colony star continued to rise throughout 2018, with the band flying out to Bucharest to perform at the Metalhead Meeting again, this time with Children Of Bodom, Soulfly, Kataklysm and other top metal acts, before returning to the UK for a tour with their friends in Godstone.

With The Colony a new peak is only ever a challenge to climb even higher and in the summer of 2019 they announced their fourth full length album, the quite magnificent Smoke And Mirrors. For this set of songs the band have taken everything that made C so successful and seemingly effortlessly, just raised the bar in every department. Tracks like ‘Here We Stand’ and ‘Soul Saviour’ are nothing less than world class. When Smoke And Mirrors hits the streets in late September expect a tidal wave of acclaim as The Colony step into the spotlight that has been waiting for them.

“...electrifying atmosphere...”

PureMzine Genre: Metal

For fans of: In Flames | Avenged Sevenfold | Trivium

Line-up:

Peter Cullen - Vocals

Aaron Hobkirk - Guitar

Riki Hobkirk - Drums

George Struthers - Bass