Gales of Avalon began as a one man project. Mark Dillon had set out to write and record a black metal concept album drenched in Celtic folklore, but with an underlying theme of real life difficulties and consciences. After demoing several songs Mark was prompted by friends to play this music live, and so began the process of putting together a band. Jamie Gallo’s ferocious double kick and seemingly unending energy made him an obvious choice for the job as Gales of Avalon’s drummer. James Neill has an infectious enthusiasm for metal, as well as an unmatched guttural growl, the bass/backing vocals position was undoubtedly his. Dylan Hansen has one mandate, to shred. He is equally at home on six strings or piano keys. Lead guitar and keyboards were now filled. With Mark handling rhythm guitar and vocals, Gales of Avalon was now officially a band. The advent of 3 more personalities caused GOA's sound to morph. Adding elements of death metal, thrash, and traditional metal has made Gales of Avalon a much stronger entity than it had ever been before. They soon settled in to regular rehearsals and in February '08 they began to record their debut EP: a 5 song CD including the songs “Black Ocean/Black Island” “Blasphemy Incarnate” “Led Astray” “Cold Dark Valleys” and “The Final Gale”.