May 2011... In a smoke filled bar in Lohja (southern Finland), a quiet meeting took place. The reason for the meeting was a demo of a song called "The Drifter", which drummer Tom Wallen had sent to singer Ian E.Highhill to lay down some vocal tracks on. Ian and Tom had met earlier in a band project that ended quickly. But they still kept in touch with each other every once in a while to talk about music and future dreams. The demo song made by guitarist Hank J. Newman was (without Hank knowing about it) sent to Ian, and the vocal melodies and arrangements were added, then sent back to Hank who was very surprised and pleased with what he heard. What at first was meant to be only a project turned slowly as the meeting proceeded into the forming of a proper band. It seemed like everybody knew someone who could fill up the gaps in a supposed line up. Hank and Tom had already played together in a former project and was familiar with each others skills. Ian suggested his former band mate and bass player Dr. Krister Lundell from "Olympos Mons" and various projects before. The only missing link was now the keyboard player but as it turned out, fate would take care of that. Keyboardist Thomas Henry and Ian were at the time playing together in the same group, which unfortunately split up soon after because of several reasons (not to be mentioned here). Ian decided to give Thomas a call to see if he would be interested in joining the new group. Another meeting took place where Krister and Thomas were involved. Hank told them about his vision of a band playing real Power Metal of the kind that started out with certain German acts in the early 90s. As the discussion went on and a few more beers had been hoisted, everybody in the room shared Hank's opinion that they like that particular kind of metal more than the over-produced fantasy metal of today's acts. Their influences were also in pointing the direction of 80s AOR and straight hard rock as well as in the one of Power Metal. Thomas and Krister joined the band, the line up was finally completed, and ASTRALION was born. While more songs were born in a breakneck speed from the writing cooperation between Hank and Ian, the band also started rehearsing for coming live performances. The rehearsals went extremely well. Right from the beginning, there was a certain magic in the air and as Ian recalls later on: 'It felt like I was finally home again. I haven't had that feeling since the beginning of "Olympos Mons" back in 2004! The band released their first demo "Roadside Rose" in december 2011. It was partly recorded in Hank's studio in Virkby and partly at Ian's studio in Lappvik where it also was mixed. The mastering was done at D.E.R studios in Oak Island. December was a busy time for Ian and Hank who part from mixing and producing the demo also put up the band's web site and arranged with photo shoots and cover artworks. Meanwhile the other members were busy booking the first gigs for the band. The three track demo they made got a very good response and ended eventually up on the shelfs of the music store: S.A. MUSIC in Japan. But as always the crooked finger of fate would be there to stir things up for our friends. After the new year of 2012 Tom Wallen announced his resignation as the band's drummer. A replacement had to be found and fast so the band contacted an old friend Arnold Hackman who had played with Hank, Ian and Thomas in several former projects. Arnold's a very experienced drummer and he learned the songs very fast. "I think we were ready to go after only three or four rehearsals" recalls Ian. The band's ordeal by fire took place at a small club in southern Finland were they proved that their music works live just as well as it do on record. The search for a permanent replacement for Tom had also begun and after several auditions Mr. Voltage showed up. He was an old friend and bandmate of Hank's from a former project (called Aki's Heroes). The guys started jamming and It didn't take long before they all were convinced that he was just the guy they were looking for. The guys then started rehearsing new songs and gigging around southern Finland to promote their planned debut album. They also started shooting a music video during the fall of 2012. But just as everything seemed to go so well, some unholy presence started to work on them again. In November (2012), after a gig, Mr. Voltage announced that he didn't want to continue in the band, instead he wanted to pursue a sports career. So once again Arnold Hackman was brought in to play the remaining dates of the year. Night after night Arnold delivered killer performances in fact, everything went so well that the band asked him to join as a permanent member, which he accepted. Now with Arnold in the group they could finally start working on their debut album which they did, starting with the drum sessions in July 2013. The music video - At The Edge Of The World was also finally released during that month. So now with and upcoming album under progress and a video online it looks like Lady Luck is smiling (at least faintly) on Astralion again. The self titled album was finally completed in December 2013. Astralion had now to find a label who would be interested in releasing it. So when Limb Music's Limb/Ralph Schnoor contacted Ian about a re-release of one of his former band's records, Ian didn't hesitate to tell him about this new band he had. After seeing the video "At the edge of the world" Limb obviously saw some potential and immediately offered the band a record deal. With members from bands like Olympos Mons, The Addication and HumanGod (just to mention a few) we now have a band not only with years of experience as recording artists, songwriters and performers but also with experience of the artist life in general. They've all had their fair share of success and glory as well as misfortune, tragedies and even lawsuits. Still they have never even considered to give up the life and music they love so much. Forget the dragon, forget the sword here's true power from the chord!