Reapers was an Italian heavy metal band from Padua, Veneto, Italy. Musically active from 2002 to 2007, it released 2 albums, 1 demo and was part of several compilations and soundtracks
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2001 - The beginning
The band Reapers was formed in August 2001 when Luca Calegaro (vocals and guitar) and Francesco Lilla (bass guitar) met the drummer Dario Pittarello and lead guitar Carmine De Franco; they started playing as a Metallica cover band. Two months later Carmine left the band and the cover project was abandoned. Reapers started composing their own music and for the end of 2001 the first 5 songs for the demo were ready.
2002 - Demo days
With the new year and spending most of the time playing in local venues, the band got in contact with “No Brain Studios” (Venezia) and the first demo “Metalness” was recorded in only two days, on December 16 and 17.
2003 - Metalness
Shortly after the demo was done, Luca got in touch with Stefano Crivellari, a lead guitar coming from a Steve Vai tribute band. More songs were written and from January to April other six songs were made. Together with the previous songs from the demo now the band had all the material to record their first album. It was recorded in may at “No Brain Studios” and shortly after the band signed with Dead Sun Records to release their first official work: “Metalness”.
2004
“Metalness” was released in February 2004 and it was followed by several shows during the first part of the year. In march Reapers signed with Skateboard Marketing Ltd, an independent American radio Company that brought the CD in 500 stations for three months, giving Reapers the chance to enter into the US national chart of most played albums and thus gaining the 34th place.
2005
The first six months of the new year were dedicated to the new material for the second album but with a change in the line-up. Luca left the guitar and concentrated only on vocals leaving the six strings to Dario; the new drummer became Giacomo Sandon. The debut concert happened in Tolmin, Slovenia, by participating to Metal Camp Festival, sharing the stage with some of the greatest bands. On September 16 and 17, Reapers also played for the first time in Belgium.
2006
The first months of the year were used to finish all the material for the album. Dario decided to leave the band to follow other musical project and Reapers remained in four. In March they entered their own studio and started the recording of what will become “World in chains”; during the two months of recording, Reapers also went back to Belgium again for other two great shows.
2007 - World in chains
This was the most active year for the band. “World in chains” was released and a following list of shows begun: the band went to Bulgaria, Belgium once again and finally in Australia for a 3 weeks tour between July and August together with some of the best local bands.
2008
After a great year, 2008 was totally the opposite. Stefano Crivellari left the band just after the Aussie escape and after months looking for a new guitarist, also Francesco Lilla and Giacomo Sandon left Reapers. Luca was now the only one remaining.
2009/2010 - Parallel projects
Luca Calegaro decided to go on with other projects whilst Reapers were unable to continue on their work. He always continued to promote the band and its music; in fact, the song “Angels of metal” from the first album was chosen as part of the soundtrack of the Xbox game “Fret Nice” that was released in February 2010 by Tecmo Games.
Ex-members
The song Angels of Metal from the album Metalness was choses as the soundtrack for the upcoming Xbox and PlayStation game Fret Nice by Tecmo Games and Pieces Interactive. The game will be released in early 2010.