Celestial Sphere

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**Celestial Sphere** is a British symphonic metal band. The band was formed in 2013 by guitarist James Harrison originally as a solo project with the intention of having guest musicians, he recorded *The Day We'll Be Gone* with session musicians before transitioning to a symphonic metal band with school friends Andrew Collins, Jake Wyss and Jack Seagrave they recorded *Banish Your Illusion* with guest vocalists, with Marina La Torraca continuing as lead singer permanently.

Their first two albums was a commercial success debuting at number one in the UK, this continued with their third album *The Eyes of Sharbat Gula* released in 2015, following this Andrew Collins left the band and was replaced by Anna Sentina who continued through their next two albums, 2016's *Beyond the Matrix* and 2018's *Queen of Hearts Reborn*. Collins returned in 2018 and recorded *Quiet as the Snow* which was the last album with Marina La Torraca who was fired from the band in 2020 and replaced by Kazakh opera singer Maria Mudryak who recorded vocals for their seventh album *Sovereign of the Sun Spheres* that was released in 2021. Mudryak left in 2022 to focus on her opera career and was replaced by Ulli Perhonen.

## History

### Formation and early albums (2013–2014)

Celestial Sphere was originally formed by James Harrison in 2013 as a solo symphonic death metal project with the intention of bringing in different musicians for each album, he would record *The Day We'll Be Gone* in 2013 with guest musicians. In early 2014 Harrison decided against this idea and invited school friends Andrew Collins, Jack Seagrave and Jake Wyss to join the band with the intention of continuing as a symphonic metal band with a female singer.

In 2014 the band struggled to find a permanent female vocalist so they decided to record *Banish Your Illusion* their debut album with multiple guest vocalists, with the intention of one continuing as a touring vocalist. Soon after the album was completed Harrison came to the conclusion that Marina La Torraca was a perfect permanent vocalist, she accepted the offer.

### Mudryak's departure and arrival of Ulli Perhonen (2022–present)

In May 2022 Maria Mudryak announced that she was to depart the band following the completion of the bands tour, she stated that she had enjoyed her time in the band but wished to focus on her opera career. The band stated in a press release "that we thank Maria for everything over her short but fantastic tenure as lead singer and wish her well in the future and that a statement regarding a new singer would be release in due course".

Shortly after the announcement the band released a statement regarding rumours that Marina La Torraca would return, stating "There have been numerous rumours of an imminent return of Marina to the band, though we normally do not respond to rumour and heresay we felt it right to put an end to these rumours and confirm Marina will not be returning to the band at any point in the near future."

In September 2022 the band announced that Snow White Blood lead singer Ulli Perhonen had joined the band back in July to record their 2023 album and that they would find a long term singer at some point in the future but in November 2022 the band announced that Perhonen would join the band permanently after reaching an agreement in which she would continue with her other band as a side project.

## Discography

*Main article: Celestial Sphere discography*
* *The Day We'll Be Gone* (2013)
* *Banish Your Illusion* (2014)
* *The Eyes of Sharbat Gula* (2015)
* *Beyond the Matrix* (2016)
* *Queen of Hearts Reborn* (2018)
* *Quiet as the Snow* (2020)
* *Sovereign of the Sun Spheres* (2021)

## Members

*Main article: List of Celestial Sphere members*
Current members
* James Harrison – guitars, backing vocals (2013–present)
* Andrew Collins – bass (2014–2015, 2018–present)
* Jack Seagrave – drums (2014–present)
* Jake Wyss – keyboards (2014–present)
* Richard Neylon – uilleann pipes, tin whistle, low whistle, guitars, bouzouki, bodhrán, male vocals (2020–present; session / touring member: 2017–2020)
* Ulli Perhonen – lead vocals (2022–present)

Former live members
* Jesús M. Toribio – keyboards (2019–2020)

Former members
* Marina La Torraca – lead vocals (2014–2020)
* Anna Sentina – bass (2015–2018)
* Maria Mudryak – lead vocals (2020–2022)