Heavenward
Heavenward is a German rock band with roots in heavy metal . The name comes from English and means "towards heaven" or "heavenward".
History of the formation of the band
Heavenward was founded in 1986. The original line-up consisted of Oliver Müller (bass), Achim Schneider (guitar), Wolfgang Jansen (vocals) and Thomen Stauch (drums). Thomen Stauch was with Blind Guardian for over 20 years , then played with Coldseed and Savage Circus and is now with Serious Black . He was replaced at Heavenward by Thomas Kelleners, founder and current drummer of the German progressive melodic rock band Blacklands.
In 1991, after the release of the first album Within These Dreams, the line-up was changed again. At that time, Stefan Kessel was the only founding member. The newcomers were Andreas Rippelmeier (guitar), Marc Schulz (bass) and Guido Gallus (drums).
The second album A Future Worth Talking About was released in 1992 and was particularly successful in Japan .
After that, not much happened because every musician went his own way. Stefan Kessel and Guido Gallus landed with the German metal formation Centaur , with whom two albums were produced: Perception and God Complex . After the desired success was not achieved there, Heavenward decided to try again. This time with the party: Marco Grasshoff (also ex-Centaur) on the keyboards.
Since 2001 Heavenward have been writing new material again.
The band currently consists of Stefan Kessel (vocals), Oliver Müller (bass), Guido Gallus (drums), Marco Grasshoff (keyboard) and Andreas Rippelmeier (guitar).