Kaine

Kaine is a UK heavy metal group formed in 2009. The line-up includes Rage Sadler, Dan Mailer, Anthony Murch and Chris MacKinnon. The band begins with Rage Sadler and Elliot Jackson writing together in early 2009, and the group later develops through a series of line-up changes before settling into its recorded and live form.

Formation and early line-up

Rage Sadler and Elliot Jackson start writing songs in early 2009. During that year they audition bass players and eventually bring in Dan Mailer, who lives a few streets away from Elliot and near the place where the band first rehearses. Two early songs, Lies of the Forsaken and Violent Metal, become part of the debut EP. Later in 2009 the band also writes Helpless Salvation and Unrelenting Chaos, with the latter beginning as an improvised rehearsal jam.

The band starts recording its self-titled EP in 2010 without a drummer, finishing the first two tracks before recruiting Josh Moreton. With him in place, Helpless Salvation and Unrelenting Chaos are expanded and re-recorded, with Unrelenting Chaos renamed Entropy. The EP also includes a cover of Metallica’s For Whom the Bell Tolls and a drum solo by Josh Moreton, titled The Last Stand of Gibraltar. It is released through Specky Records and later appears on digital platforms.

Debut releases and first shows

Elliot Jackson leaves after the recording of the debut EP in September 2010. Kaine continues as a three-piece for the rest of the year and plays its first show that same month. That performance includes revised versions of the early songs along with new material such as Champion and Valnir, and it is the only time the band plays in D standard tuning.

After losing its lead guitarist, the band continues writing material for its first full-length album while auditioning replacements. Orrin Fairhead eventually joins and makes his live debut at a Metal 2 the Masses show in Nuneaton, where the song Waking Dead is also played live for the first time.

Falling Through Freedom and later line-up changes

Kaine enters the studio in late July 2011 to record its first album. The first songs to emerge from those sessions are Lies of the Forsaken and Violent Metal, which are not included on the album, followed by a remastered version of Helpless Salvation. The band tours Essex through the remainder of 2011 and debuts several other songs live, including The Lost Sages Tower, Riding Volition, Quality of Madness and Storm of the Devoted. During this period it ends its deal with Specky Records and receives its first American radio airplay.

Orrin Fairhead leaves in January 2012 and Anthony Murch takes over lead guitar, first appearing with the band at a London show in February 2012. Kaine returns to the studio to re-record lead guitar parts and solos with him. The group continues touring the Essex and Suffolk area, including an opening slot for Remus Down Boulevard, a band that features former Iron Maiden and Praying Mantis guitarist Dennis Stratton. It also performs as a five-piece for the first time at a show in Great Leigh’s, where Adam Wood joins the encore for Lies of the Forsaken, Violent Metal and Helpless Salvation.

Falling Through Freedom is released in 2012. Later that year Kaine records the split Killotine EP with Osmium Guillotine. Drummer Josh Moreton leaves in November 2012 after his last show supporting Kemakill and Absolva, and Chris MacKinnon replaces him.

Discography

The band’s releases include the self-titled Kaine EP, the live release Breaking The Surface - Live in London, Falling Through Freedom and the split Killotine EP with Osmium Guillotine.