Hailing from Pittsburgh, PA, Persephone's Dream offers a blend of neo-prog and prog metal rock, drawing from Rush and Dream Theater, but also from song-based prog groups like Marillion and Renaissance. They are mostly noted for their female vocalist, Karin Nicely, and their use of a percussionist, something rare in the world of metal rock. Their activities remain confined to the United States.
Persephone's Dream is the project of guitarist Rowen Poole and bassist Chris Siegle. The two met at a Thanksgiving Party in 1993. Poole, a software engineer who also used to play bass, offered to teach novice Siegle, a computer programmer. By the next May, they were writing songs together. Their first dream was not to start a working band, but to record their music so they began to build their own facility, StarGlider Studios. Things were slowly taking shape, but they failed to find a suitable vocalist. They were resigned to make instrumental music when Siegle met singer Judilynn Neidercorn over the Internet. She recorded the vocal tracks for the group's first album, Evening Mirage, self-released in November 1997 and now deleted. Due to a lack of promotion and live activity, it didn't make an impact.
After a short break, Siegle and Poole reconvened, this time determined to put a real group together. They recruited drummer Ed Wiancko from an ad in a local music paper, a big improvement from the drum machine featured on the first album. The trio recorded a few tracks and, in the meantime, discovered Karin Nicely, a session vocalist. She was seduced by the group's music and this quartet recorded Moonspell (1999). Percussionist John Tallent, who appeared as a guest on the second CD, became a full-time member. Keyboardist Kim Finney completed the lineup and Persephone's Dream was finally ready to perform live. The group appeared at the 2000 edition of the prog metal festival Powermad in Baltimore. The addition of Finney shifted the music toward something more gothic and metal, as is illustrated by the 2001 CD Opposition. ~ Fran+ºois Couture
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