Fortress Fortress

Fortress are a new traditional heavy metal band from Whittier, California that was formed in 2016 by guitarist Fili Bibiano after his old band Auxilery broke up: "I wanted to start a new group of my own and had a clear vision of where it was going musically. Our first EP was made up of Chris Nunez (vocals), Fili Bibiano (guitar), Uli Serrano (bass) and Rob Duran (drums)".

"The influences of the different band members vary", Fili Bibiano continues, "but there are actually a couple of bands we can all agree on. We are all fans of the hardrock/heavy metal sound of the seventies and eighties: Rainbow, Yngwie Malmsteen, Scorpions, Ozzy, Loudness, Judas Priest, Helloween, Racer X, KISS, Deep Purple, Dio, Queensryche, Dokken and of course Iron Maiden. Although I wouldn't say that Fortress' music is primarily influenced by Iron Maiden."

For a song like "Bloodmoon" that's true, because the number would have been on "Piece Of Mind" made a good figure. Fili Bibiano explains: "Many people say that Chris' voice after Bruce Dickinson sounds like a big compliment to me. I admit that 'Bloodmoon' sounds a bit like Maiden, but the song results from a combination of the most different Influences. Chris himself is very much of Ian Gillan, Rob Halford, Ronnie James Dio and even some Soul/R&B inspired by singers. Rob Halford in particular is a great role model for him."

"The four tracks of our debut EP are short stories," Fili Bibiano explains the lyrical concept of the material. "The songs deal with superstition, paranoia and death. It's best to listen to each song individually, because they're all different."