MYSTIC-FORCE - The Eternal Quest CD HRR 978CD, slipcase Bobby Hicks - vocals Rich Davis - guitar Keith Menser (R.I.P. 2022) - bass/keyboards Chris Lembach - drums 01 Shipwrecked with the Wicked 02 Divinity Within 03 Another World 04 Broken Heroes 05 Temples of Exile 06 Premonitions 07 Vicious Obsessions 08 Answers of the Mystery 09 Reach for Tomorrow 10 Structures of Uncertainties 11 Dimensions 12 Eternal Quest 13 Blind Vision (bonustrack) AVAILABLE

Audio restoration and mastering by Patrick W. Engel at TEMPLE OF DISHARMONY in September 2024. Mystic Force were a progressive power metal band from Baltimore in Maryland. After recording a few demo tapes they went on to sign with German label Rising Sun Productions releasing two full-length albums: »The Eternal Quest« (1993) and »A Step Beyond« (1995). This was followed by »Man Vs. Machine« on the band’s own Siegen Records in 2001. After the demise of Mystic Force, drummer Chris Lembach and guitarist Rich Davis formed the band Shift and recorded two albums with them. After that Rich started his own solo project (playing all the instruments himself and even singing), before he once again got a band together and released the »Inside The Upside Down« CD (2024). Mystic Force were originally formed in 1984 by guitarists Rich Davis and Marc Rouchard together with bass player Keith Menser. The band went through several line-up changes early on before finding Chris Lembach (drums) and Bobby Hicks (vocals). In 1987, the band issued their first (self-titled) demo tape, which was followed by another tape release, »Blind Vision«, in 1988. Having sold huge quantities of their self-financed demos (the first four-track cassette was said to have shifted no less than 5,000 copies) it was time for Mystic Force to come up with their first vinyl release. This was realized in 1990 through C.M.F.T. Records in England. The original »Take Command« album featured the 1987 4-track demo on Side B and four brand new compositions on the A-Side: “Take Command”, “Awakened By The Dawn”, “Immortal Souls” and “Silent But Deadly” (all four to be found on this compilation). Later the same year, Mystic Force issued the 12” single “Shipwrecked With The Wicked”/”Eternal Quest” on their own Pro-duction label, a limited edition numbered vinyl. “We were always printing something,” smirks Rich Davis. “It went from tape to vinyl to CD. Whatever the technology was at the time, then that was what we were putting our music on. Constantly promoting. We were a promoting machine.” “Shipwrecked With The Wicked” surely was the best song Mystic Force had written up to that point in their career. It had “single” written all over it, a very energetic and extremely catchy piece of music. “’Shipwrecked With The Wicked’ was definitely one of our biggest songs,” agrees the guitarist. “I hold that song very dear to my heart because that was one song that I can so clearly remember playing on stage standing right beside Keith through the middle section of the song. It was the highlight of out set for sure. It makes me think of Keith [who died in 2022"> and Bobby [who left this world in 2013"> and of course William [who passed away in 2020">.” With the help of C.M.F.T. Records in England and Oliver Jung’s “Demolition” distribution network here in Germany, Mystic Force had been getting more and more popular in European underground metal circles, and it was just a question of time for label offers to start coming in. “We had several offers,” states Rich Davis, “but I can’t remember the names of the other labels that made offers to the band anymore. I do remember though as we were talking to Rising Sun Records, we would look at all the cool bands on their roster and just knew that’s where we fit the best.” So Mystic Force signed a deal with German label Rising Sun Productions. “Rising Sun was great to us,” continues the guitarist. “We actually had a couple tours all set up to play all throughout Europe and both times issues with Bobby made us have to cancel. I remember one of the tours was going to be us and the band Riot, who were also on Rising Sun at the time.” »The Eternal Quest« was the name of Mystic Force’s debut album for Rising Sun Productions. With songs such as “Shipwrecked With The Wicked”, “Another World” or “Answers Of The Mystery” it’s an overlooked gem of progressive power metal somewhere between Fates Warning and Hades. “The recording for that album was a lot of fun,” smirks Davis. “We recorded that at a studio called Oz Recording Studio in Baltimore. Beautiful studio. At that point we had already recorded the »Shipwrecked With The Wicked« EP and the »Another World« EP both with engineer Drew Mazurek. Drew was also an engineer at Oz, so the process was very comfortable and easy. He already knew our sound and what we were looking for. Funny story was the recording of the drums. I remember Chris Lembach recorded the entire album in one day. I think he drank like ten Red Bulls and I don’t know how many cups of coffee. He was jacked. We all just sat in the control room with our mouths open. He’s an absolute monster.” “The artwork of the album was done by Diane Burrier,” continues Rich. “I don’t remember what kind of direction we gave her, but as I remember it was just something about the choice or road between good and evil.” According to the guitarist, the songwriting process for »The Eternal Quest« had started sometime in early 1991: “That sounds about right. We never stopped writing. Once we knew we were close to having a full album worth of music, we started looking for a studio to start recording. At that point we were managed by Adin International and Ron Gregory from WEA (Warner Bros., Electra, Atlantic), who happened to be a manager for another well-known band earlier in his career: KISS. It was so cool going to his house. He would take us to his office and the walls were just covered in gold records. So cool as a kid to go through something like that.” “I think in the early 1990s was the best time for us as a band unit,” says Rich Davis today. “We were all getting along. We were either playing out or practicing. When we were just starting out, we would practice five days a week. And then all hang out on the off-days. We were such tight friends.” However, during their career Mystic Force never reached the goal of becoming professional full-time musicians: “No (LOL). We all had to have day jobs. We actually never individually made a penny doing the music thing. It all went right back into the band. It was either going to the production of our shows or for always pushing the band forward. If we took all the money we made, I wouldn’t be doing this interview right now. That’s for sure. The band had a mission. To reach as many people as we can, and remember this was before the internet was what not is now. It was a ton of money just spent sending mail out overseas. Not cheap.” MATTHIAS MADER