Claymore

Claymore is a German electronic music producer. The name is also used by several bands, including a Bulgarian symphonic progressive black metal group formed in Ruse in summer 1999, and a band from Jersey, Channel Islands that plays a mix of grunge, stoner rock and doom metal.

Bulgarian black metal band

The Bulgarian Claymore forms in Ruse in 1999 with founding members Kamen on bass and Martin on guitar. Tsvetelin joins on keyboards after an audition period and becomes one of the group’s key members. After several lineup changes, the band’s later line-up includes Martin on guitar, Kamen on drums, Tsvetelin on keyboards, and Emil on vocals and bass. The group builds a style described as melodic death and black metal with progressive, heavy, thrash and grind influences, together with a strong classical music element.

The band gives its first performance in September 1999 and then tours across many Bulgarian cities. It appears at the Bourgas 2000 underground festival and later plays a range of metal festivals, including Trash till Death, Heatework Festival, Heart Rock Festival, Chaos Fest, Massacre Fest, Legacy Open Air Fest, Barock Fest, Nightmare Fest, Ost Festival, Sea Black Festival and Urpin Fest. On these bills it shares stages with acts including Destruction, Dimmu Borgir, Primordial, Mystic Circle, Napalm Death, Sinister, Lord Belial, Graveworm, Eastern Front, Exumer, Negura Bunget, Izegrim, Spoil Engine and Zombie Inc.

By the end of 2000, the band records its first demo tracks and follows them with a demo CD called Warriors of Claymore, which circulates through web magazines and radio shows in Bulgaria and abroad. In 2002 it records another demo, Released, consisting of five songs that become part of its live set. The first full-length album, Prolonged Active Antagonism, appears on D.O.P. in Bulgaria, with mp3 distribution through Forces of Satan in Norway and Toxicity Records on Vodafone Live in Bulgaria. The second album, Vengeance Is Near, leads to a deal with Japan’s Red Rivet Records and includes the track Centuries of Chaos Part II on Terrorizer issue 247.

The group also tours Europe twice: Vengeance Is Near in 2014 through Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria, and Between Two Worlds in 2015 through Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany. Both tours are supported by the Municipal Foundation “Ruse-city free spirit.”

Jersey band

Another band called Claymore comes from Jersey in the Channel Islands. This group includes James McMillan on rhythm guitar, Theo Ibbotson on lead guitar and vocals, Perry Mesney on bass, and Loic Hanby on drums, and it draws on grunge, stoner rock and doom metal.