Final Conflict

Final Conflict is a neo-progressive band in the vein of Saga, later Marillion and Galahad. Song oriented, the group fuses together art rock with hard rock and pop stylings. Final Conflict formed in Stoke on Trent, England, in 1985 by two vocalists/guitarists Andy Lawton and Brain Donkin, Mark Price (keyboards), Tony Moore (bass), and Arnie Wheatley (drums). The band released their first two albums — Channel 8 (1987) and The Time Has Arrived (1989) — on cassette. Their first CD was Redress the Balance in 1991, which saw Moore becoming the band’s second keyboardist while a new member, David Bridgett, joined on bass. Wheatley also left around this time to be replaced by Darren Bland. With response strong, the group recorded their most successful work in terms of popularity, the concept album Quest. Prior to recording the record, Steve Lipiec replaced Price on keyboards, while Moore left the band. Chris Moyden joined the band on drums. Although the future looked bright, the band signed to the Dutch label SI Music, which soon went belly-up and the band were left adrift. Finally the group signed to Angular records in Germany and released their album Stand Up in 1997. Well-recieved by critics and fans, Stand Up was not picked up by Angular’s main distributor and the album was not as successful as hoped. In 1999, Bridgett left the group to be replaced by Chris Chalk. ~ Geoff Orens