Final Conflict are a British

neo-prog Neo-progressive rock (commonly abbreviated neo-prog) is a subgenre of progressive rock that developed in the UK in the early 1980s. The genre's most popular band, Marillion, achieved mainstream success in the decade. Several bands from the ge ...

band based in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

Band members

Current line-up (as of November 2015) *Brian Donkin – Vocals, guitars *Andy Lawton – Vocals, guitars *Steve Lipiec – Keyboards, saxophone, backing vocals *Barry Elwood – Bass, guitars, backing vocals

History

Final Conflict were formed in 1985, by Andy Lawton and Brian Donkin. After the release of two cassette albums the band was signed by Gaia Records and the band's first CD album ''Redress the Balance'' (1991) was released, based around an

ecological Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

theme and featuring a number of guest musicians. The band's second album, ''Quest'' (1992), was inspired by

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compiler

Leonard Dawe Leonard Sydney Dawe (3 November 1889 – 12 January 1963) was an English amateur footballer who played in the Southern League for Southampton between 1912 and 1913, and made one appearance for the England national amateur football team in 1912 ...

, who in 1944 inadvertently leaked

code word Code word may refer to: * Code word (communication), an element of a standardized code or protocol * Code word (figure of speech), designed to convey a predetermined meaning to a receptive audience, while remaining inconspicuous to others ** Proce ...

s from

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The ope ...

in a crossword for ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' newspaper. The album is about an ordinary man like Dawe imagining he is on trial for the failings in his life. The third album, ''Stand Up'', delayed by the withdrawal of funding by the band's original

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

, finally appeared in 1997. Again the album was based on a loose concept, this time the stresses of modern living, culminating in the 15-minute epic, "Stop", about

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and the rise of violent crime. The band released a fourth album, ''Hindsight'', in 2003. This album benefited from advances in recording technology, which allowed the band to produce a professional quality recording in its own Gaolhouse

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and Audio mixing, mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home proje ...

. Their fifth album, ''Simple'' was released in 2006. Recorded to celebrate 21 years of involvement in music, the album comprised new recordings of songs from their early cassette albums and the first two CD albums, along with new material. Final Conflict's success was acknowledged in 2007, when they were nominated in 5 categories at The Classic Rock Society's Band of the Year awards. They were voted second best band and Henry Rogers was second best drummer. In 2008, at the same awards, they were presented with the MD's award by Steve Hackett of Genesis. February 2009 saw the release of Final Conflict's first live DVD and CD. They are grateful to Metal Mind Productions for providing them with this fantastic opportunity. The DVD & CD are entitled "Another Moment in Time". Metal Mind also released a special limited edition remaster of the band's classic album "Stand Up" which includes previously unreleased bonus tracks. In December 2012 the band released their sixth studio album "Return of the Artisan", to extensive critical acclaim. Return of the Artisan is the first part of the Artisan trilogy. The band released part two of the Artisan trilogy "The Rise of the Artisan" in 2020, along with a fully remastered version of Return of the Artisan. The band are currently working on the third and final album of the Artisan trilogy, provisionally entitled "The Artisan Legacy".

References

External links

Official site
*https://www.facebook.com/finalconflict {{DEFAULTSORT:Fc English rock music groups British progressive rock groups Musical groups established in 1985 1985 establishments in England