Intense released their first full length album Second Sight in mid 2004 on Italy’s Underground Symphony label; ’SS’
was also licensed to NTS Records for France only, Century Media handled distro in the US.
2004 saw Intense’s first venture overseas with 2 club shows in Germany before playing the Metal Bash near Hamburg.
Highlight of the 2004 tour was the bands opening of the main stage at Bloodstock on the Saturday, warming the crowd
up for bands such as Primal Fear, Evergrey, Sonata Arctica and Children of Bodom among others. Despite an 11.55am
start the band packed out the venue and gained much critical acclaim for their live performance.
The band’s first video, (for the song "War of Angels") saw inclusion on the Bloodstock Compilation DVD, "The New
Blood of British Metal". The Video gained TV airplay being shown regularly on Scuzz TV. Following on from the success
of Bloodstock, the band won an online poll of bands that Bloodstock fans would like to see play Bloodstock Open Air
2005; Intense came through a group stage, a semi and the Final, beating the 11 other bands in the process.
2005 Saw Intense continue playing further shows in support of their Second Sight album with Festival appearances like
the first ever 13th Day Festival in Birmingham UK, playing alongside, Sonata Arctica, Finntroll, Norther, Epica and
Dragonland among others. They also played the first ever Dominion Festival in Hull alongside Skyclad, Human Fortress
and a host of UK talent, as well as Germany’s Dong Open Air Festival with Skyclad, Elvenking etc.
To the bands surprise they became the UK’s entrant in the Heavy Metal Eurovision song contest and from 41 entries
were placed 7th. Despite limited promotion Second Sight gained critical acclaim from all over the planet and most
reviews can be found on the bands website.
2006 Saw the band again enter Thin Ice Studios to record album no. 2 with Karl Groom of Threshold producing; Karl’s
band mate Richard West was also enlisted this time round to handle vocal production and also provide keyboards. The
album was mastered at Fine Tune studios in Holland and artwork was this time provided by the world renowned Mattias
Norén who has worked with Evergrey, Jag Panzer, Kamelot, Epica and more.
The band got to play the pre-show party for the first ever Prog Power UK, along with friends Power Quest and
Israel’s Orphaned Land. After a short tour of Germany, Holland and Belgium in Nov 06 the band began talks with Napalm
Records and signed a multi album deal with the label in Jan 2007, making them Napalms first UK signing.
"As Our Army Grows" shows how the bands playing and writing abilities have matured since Second Sight and was
released March / April worldwide. A video for "Fear is Not Enough" was shot early in 2007 and has been featured on
various covermounts including Rock Hard in Germany, as well as all good Metal channels. Napalm’s promotion campaign
saw the band handle over 100 interviews with magazines and media across the world. Though 2007 proved to be fairly
quiet on the live front and saw the band lose out on a highly anticipated support slot, they still had shows with
Dream Evil, Onslaught, Leatherwolf and Skyclad among other and also played the Headbanger’s Open Air Festival in Germany.
The band plan to continue with more live shows through 2008 and writing has now begun for album no. 3.
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