The Prophecy is an English progressive doom metal band from Yorkshire, England.
Biography
The Prophecy was formed in autumn of 2001 when Greg O'Shea and John Bennett from "The Local Family Butcherers," as the band was known at the time, met up with vocalist Matt Lawson, in the now demolished Empress pub in Bradford. The band immediately went on to record their first demo CD, Her Embrace, My Ruin which although never released spurred the band on to get serious.
The band then spent six months ensconced in their rehearsal room writing and developing ideas before returning to the studio to record the To End All Hope demo. This demo soon began to grab people's attention and it was not long before The Prophecy were approached by the organisers of the Doomination tour with Morgion and Mourning Beloveth.
Now with a full European tour booked for them, the Prophecy needed an album and so they went back into the studio in the autumn of 2002 to record their debut album Ashes.
The Doomination tour took place in February 2003 starting in Ireland and passing through England, France, Spain, Portugal, Holland and Belgium. Along with Morgion, Mourning Beloveth and The Prophecy, a pantheon of bands played support slots on the Doomination metal tour, such as Autumnal, Pantheist, Desire, Process of Guilt, Karseron, Despond and Ataraxie .
The Prophecy's debut album Ashes was picked up by Blackdoom Records, founded by members of My Dying Bride, Hamish Glencross and Andrew Craighan.
In August 2003, The Prophecy went on to tour the US for a full month with Mourning Beloveth and Orodruin. The headliners Morgion had to pull out of the tour. With 18 shows across 13 states the band clocked up 13000 miles on their tour bus and crossed the continent twice. The tour ended with an appearance at the SHoD fest in Portland, Oregon.
The band were then featured in Terrorizer magazine, with a track from their album The Killing Fields being included on the cover of the issue. The band made an appearance in Metalhammer Italy before embarking on a further European tour, this time supporting My Dying Bride.
The Unholy Trinity tour took place on the Halloween weekend of 2003 with shows at London Astoria, Utrecht Tivoli and Antwerp Hof Ter Loo. The tour saw sold out to capacity audiences for each of the three shows and the band played to over 2000 at the Astoria. London was the best for sheer size and the wealth of support the band received from the fans while on stage, Antwerp was the worst due to poor stage setup and technical problems which were out of the band's control.
The band kept touring throughout 2004 with an appearance at the Bloodstock Open Air Festival and a further two tours of Europe the latter being a three-week headlining tour with Australia's The Eternal in support. In September the band entered the studio to start recording Revelations the followup to their debut. But in early 2005 growing tensions within the band came to the fore, causing lineup changes that left The Prophecy without a bass player or second guitar. Relief came in the summer of 2005 when Gavin Parkinson of Tefra was recruited to fill bass duties. He was quickly integrated into the band and for the first time in almost a year the band began to write new songs in earnest.
With just two new songs fully written, the band then embarked upon "The Mist of Death Halloween 2005" tour with fellow doom band Insanity Reigns Supreme, and bands such as Thurisaz, Ten 13, Darmazat, and The Legion of Hethera. The year was rounded off with support slots with My Dying Bride for which John Bennett had to play not only The Prophecy's set but also for My Dying Bride's as well, having been helping out My Dying Bride on drum duties since Shaun Steels' long-term injury.
Work on the Revelations album began in earnest in the winter of 2005 but then suffered a six-month delay while the studio relocated to alternative premises. In the meantime the band renewed their commitment to playing live by playing a whole host of gigs. These included support slots with Pagan's Mind and Powerquest, a trip to Northern Ireland with Honey For Christ, a UK and European tour with Seasons End, an appearance at the Dutch Doom Day Festival and a supporting November's Doom.