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Artist
Kings of Mercia
12+ albums
heavy metalhard rockProgressive metalmetalPower metal
about
Best known as the founding guitarist of Fates Warning, but with countless other projects under his belt including Arch/Matheos and most recently Tuesday The Sky, Jim Matheos is unable to stifle his creativity. In early 2021, he began work on the songs that would become Kings Of Mercia’s self-titled debut album, bringing his distinctive style to the table but doing something a little different. While producing songs, Matheos’ next concern was finding the musicians who would help him realise the material, with his first priority being a vocalist. Putting together a shortlist of 30-40 contenders, he contacted a handful, but none of them worked out for various reasons, and it was his friend Jeff Wagner who suggested FM’s Steve Overland, and another friend, rock journalist Dave Ling, who put them together. “Jim had asked Dave for my contact details, we talked about his idea of blending the two styles – his heavier background, with my melodic/bluesier direction,” says Overland. “We decided to try a collaboration on a song and see how it worked, we came up with the song “Humankind” and we both loved it.” Behind the kit for the record is the legendary Simon Phillips (ex-Toto, Derek Sherinian), one of Matheos’ favorite drummers. “I decided to reach out to him on a whim, not really expecting him to be available or interested in this project. But, to my surprise, he liked the music and was able to fit some recording into his schedule. It’s an honor to share a credit with him and I cou
