Kells was a

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-genre style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitars ...

band out of

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, formed in 2001 by vocalist Virginie Goncalves, guitarist Patrick Garcia, and keyboardist Fabrice Desire. Since then Fabrice has left the band while Julien Nicolas and Laurent Lesina were added as the band's

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

and

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

respectively. They have played at the Metal Female Voices Festival and been main support for

Epica Epica or EPICA may refer to: * Epica (band), a Dutch symphonic metal band * ''Epica'' (Kamelot album), 2003 * ''Epica'' (Audiomachine album), 2012 * The European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) * The Epica Awards (International Adver ...

and Tarja. They have released three albums. Their first album, ''Gaia'', was produced by AVFP Production and released in 2005, and their second album, Lueurs, was produced by

Season of Mist Season of Mist is an independent record label and record distributor with subsidiaries in France and the United States. The record label was founded in 1996 by Michael S. Berberian in Marseille, France. From the start releasing black metal, pa ...

and released in 2009. Their third album, ''Anachromie'', was released in 2012. In April 2015, Virginie, Patrick (legitimate founders of the project) and Kevin (the last drummer) were forced out of the band.

History

The band was formed in 2001 by Virginie Gonclaves and Fabrice Desire. In 2004 they were given an offer to record an album with AVFP. In 2005 their first album ''Gaia'' was released. In order to go on tour with this album they added Jeremie Vinet as bassist and Guillaume Dagnaud as drummer. Because Jeremie was working at the time they also added Laurent Lesina as Jeremie's spare. In 2007 founding member Fabrice left the band because he was about to be a father. Guillaume left later that year for the same reason. Laurent became the full-time bassist and the band replaced Guillame with Julien 'Jano' Nicolas as drummer. In 2009 Season of Mist produced and released their second album ''Lueurs''. They remained with Season of Mist for their third studio album, ''Anachromie'', which was released in 2012.

Touring

In 2008 Kells was invited to be support for Epica's French tour. After the release of ''Lueurs'' in 2009 they went on tour throughout Europe as a headliner, with Epica and Tarja Turunen as main supports respectively. In May 2011, Tarja invited Kells to join her and Leaves' Eyes in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. In 2012, they went on tour opening for Tristania along with Sarah Jezebel Deva and Sound Storm.

Musical style and influences

Kells was a symphonic nu-metal band. They were influenced by nu-metal bands like

Korn Korn (stylized as KoЯn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, originally formed in 1993 by James Shaffer, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald Arvizu, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu and David Silveria, who were members of the band ...

Deftones Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by frontman Chino Moreno, lead guitarist Stephen Carpenter and drummer Abe Cunningham, with bassist Chi Cheng and keyboardist and tu ...

, and

Limp Bizkit Limp Bizkit is an American nu metal band from Jacksonville, Florida. Its lineup consists of lead vocalist Fred Durst, drummer John Otto (drummer), John Otto, guitarist Wes Borland, turntablist DJ Lethal and bassist Sam Rivers (bassist), Sam ...

while adding symphonic elements to the music similar to the ones used by

Evanescence Evanescence is an American Rock music, rock band founded in 1994 by singer and keyboardist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody in Little Rock, Arkansas. After releasing independent extended play, EPs and a Origin (Evanescence demo album), demo ...

and

Within Temptation Within Temptation is a Dutch symphonic metal band founded in April 1996 by vocalist Sharon den Adel and guitarist Robert Westerholt. They have been classified by critics as gothic metal and symphonic metal, although each album contains other infl ...

. They collaborated with French

metalcore Metalcore is a broadly defined fusion genre combining elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk, originating in the 1990s United States and becoming popular in the 2000s. Metalcore typically has aggressive verses and melodic choruses, combined ...

band Eths on multiple occasions. Eths' lead singer Candice Clot was brought in as a guest vocalist for Kells' song La sphère, from Lueurs. In September 2011 Kells tweeted that Virginie was working on recording two songs with Eths that would be released abroad.Kells Official Twitter
/ref> All of Kells' songs are in French.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Gaia'' (2005) * ''Lueurs'' (2009) * ''Anachromie'' (2012)

Members

Current members

* Virginie Goncalves - vocals * Patrick Garcia - guitar * Laurent Lesina - bass * Kevin Plutta - drums

Former members

* Fabrice Desire - keyboards (2001-2007) * Guillaume Dagnaud - drums (2004-2007) * Jeremie Vinet - bass (2004-2007) * Jean Padovan - drums (2007-2010) * Julien Nicolas - drums (2010-2012)

References

Website

www.Kellsband.com {{Authority control French symphonic metal musical groups French nu metal musical groups Musical groups from Lyon French musical quartets