Ten

Ten is a British hard rock and melodic rock group from the United Kingdom. The band works in a style that sits within AOR and hard rock, and it builds its reputation around strong melodies, powerful arrangements and a large-scale, atmospheric sound.

Career

The group releases its debut album in May 1996. It is crafted by the late producer Mike Stone and sells around 20,000 copies in Japan, where the band quickly develops a strong following. A second album, In The Name Of The Rose, follows later the same year, and work begins on a third album in 1997.

After a year-ending tour of Japan, the band’s Japanese label, Zero Corporation, issues a double live release in early 1998. The third studio album, The Robe, marks a major advance in the band’s sound, moving further towards epic and majestic textures. Tracks including the title song, “Arcadia” and “Ten Fathoms Deep” become among the group’s best-known examples of British hard rock in the 1990s.

The band’s wider commercial breakthrough comes with Spellbound in 1999. That record combines melody, power and dramatic atmosphere, drawing on British hard rock traditions associated with bands such as Rainbow, Thin Lizzy and UFO. Line-up changes do not alter the core style, and the group continues to gain attention with Babylon, a concept album about a futuristic computer programmer and a tragic love affair.

Far Beyond the World follows in 2001, and Return to Evermore appears in 2004, introducing guitarist Chris Francis in place of Vinny Burns. These releases further establish the band’s reputation for melodic hard rock and detailed arrangements. To mark the band’s 10th anniversary, The Essential Collection is issued in January 2006 as a two-disc set of re-recorded rock songs and ballads performed in the band’s then-current style.

Later releases include The Twilight Chronicles, which mixes rock and ballads with a strong atmospheric mood and lyrics concerned with love, lust, death, glory, revenge and darkness. Stormwarning follows in 2011 and is the band’s ninth original studio album. It is issued first in Japan and then in Europe and the US, and it returns to themes of glory, war, death and love.

Line-up and recognition

The band’s line-up changes over time, with Steve McKenna and Don Airey among the notable additions on bass and keyboards respectively, and Paul Hodson also appearing on keyboards. In 2011 the group’s line-up includes Gary Hughes on vocals and guitars, John Halliwell on guitars and acoustic guitars, Neil Fraser on guitars and lead guitars, Paul Hodson on keyboards and synthesisers and programming, Mark Sumner on bass guitars, and Mark Zonder on drums and percussion.

Ten earns reader-chart success in BURRN magazine, Japan’s leading hard rock and heavy metal publication, and appears in sales charts in both Germany and Japan. It also appears at the Atarfe Vega Rock Festival in Spain, where it shares the bill with W.A.S.P., Twisted Sister and Stryper.