Everything started back in 2000 in Athens, Greece when Dimitris Marinis (piano/keyboards) and Nick Papanikolaou (Guitars), knowing each other from previous bands decided to form a band of their own. Petros Hatzibiros (guitar), Lazaros Damanis (vocals) and Antonis Petridis (drums) completed the lineup with which the first demp “Perfect Lies” was recorded. The result didn’t satisfy them and the band broke up but only for a little while. Some months later Dimitris and Nick reformed it, under the name Shadow Play with Petros Hatzibiros reentering the band and Michael Apostolakis (vocals) and Tolis Makrantonakis (drums) being the new members.A bass palyer soon was found (Kostas Liapis) and Shadow Play began playing live and creating songs. Soon the band recorded its debut album , as it came up, “Poison Eyes”. Recordings took place in Athens, Greece and “Power Studio” under the guidance and supervision of George Stratakis (Rust). But things didn’t go as planned.Kostas (bass) had already left the band due to musical reasons just before the beginning of the recording sessions and Tolis (drums) did the same after he finished recording the drum parts. Petros (guitar) also leaves the band some time later and the recordings stop due to financial reasons. In October 2003 recordings start againwith Nick handling all guitars and bass and finally in 2004 the album was ready. Another problem occured: The name Shadow Play was copyrighted. That time X-Piral were born
Thanos Tzanetopoulos (guitar, Inactive Messiah) and Fragiskos Samoilis (drums) enter the band and after a while the long awaited contract becomes reality. Burning Star Records believed in X-Piral and decided to release the debut “Poison Eyes” in February 2005. Reviews were diverse, but the main point was achieved. X-Piral made an entry to the metal scene with ther Power/Heavy Metal music.
Makis Petritsis (ex-Wheelrunner, bass) enters the band and the new line up of X-Piral seems stronger than ever. 3 new musicians bringing their influences and the change was unavoidable. The band begun working on new songs immediately and the result was ready only a year and a half later, In the meantime Thanos leaves X-Piral due to many obligations with his other band.
15 new songs were ready and X-Piral had to choose 11 for their second album...”Hunters”. The choice was made and recordings started in “Esoteron Studios” in Greece in mid June 2006. In August Nick , Dimitris and Fragiskos traveled in Germany and “Bazement Studios” to work with the well known Markus Teske (Vanden Plas, Mob Rules, Red Circuit, Symphony X)for the mix and master of their album and the result is killer! There are also some special guests in the album. Mina Giannonpoulou (Kinetic) has done some female vocals in “Duat – The land of The Dead” and “Hear Me Calling” , Fabiano Romagnoli (guitar, Lunarsea) plays a solo in “Dead Within”, George Maroulis (guitar, Fragile Vastness/4bitten) plays a solo in “.com-fusion” and Markus Teske (keys, Red Circuit”a solo in “.com-fusion” too. In March 2007 “Hunters” will be unleashed all over the world and it shows X-Piral in great shape. Musically the album is different than the debut album. Power, Heavy, Scandinavian scene, American scene, Rock, Thrash...all of these genres are influences that one can here in this CD. And the result is 68 minutes of heavy metal music that will satisfy metalheads from different genres.
