Biography

The Bulgarian Symphonic Progressive Black Metal band CLAYMORE is formed in the summer of 1999 in the city of Ruse.
Founding members are Kamen (drums), Martin (guitar). Choosing the keyboard was complex and after three months of auditions we chose Tsvetelin (keyboards) - He became one of the pillars of Claymore. After a number of changes over the years, the current staff is: Martin Manev - guitar; Kamen Manev - drums; Tsvetelin Baltov - keyboards, Emil Kehajov – vocals & bass;
CLAYMORE quickly became popular among Bulgarian fans with unique and pure style of melodic death/black metal combining aggression and melody in one, with influences from other styles like progressive, heavy, thrash, death, black metal, grind, as well as a good amount of classical music.
Their first ever performance was in September 1999 to start a long tour in many cities across Bulgaria, captivating audiences everywhere. This earned them a place at the biggest Bulgarian Underground Music Festival (Bourgas 2000). But this was just the beginning.
At the end of 2000 CLAYMORE recorded their first demo tracks, quickly followed by a demo CD called "Warriors of Claymore", which was posted on many web magazines and played on radio shows in Bulgaria and abroad.
During 2002 CLAYMORE worked hard on the sound quality for the recording of the actual demo "Released" consisting of 5 songs. These songs represent their style and part of their live shows.
CLAYMORE 's remarkable popularity and success earned them a places in:
• "Trash till Death",
• "Heatework festival",
• "Heart Rock festival",
• "Chaos fest",
• "Massacre Fest",
• "Legacy Open Air Fest",
• "Barock Fest",
• "Nightmare Fest",
• "Ost festival",
• "Sea Black Festival",
• ”Urpin Fest”
etc., where they played alongside with well known international
bands like Destruction,Dimmu Borgir , Primordial , Mystic Circle , Napalm Death , Sinister , Lord Belial , Graveworm , Eastern Front , Exumer , Negura Bunget , Izegrim , Spoil Engine , Zombie INC , etc.
CLAYMORE recorded their first full-lenght album "Prolonged Active Antagonism" and took part in "Black Curse Over Europe" tour (2008) with Lord Belial , Graveworm , Eastern Front . The album is out on D.O.P. (Bulgaria). Official mp3 distributors are Forces of Satan (Norway), Toxicity Records – Vodafone Live (Bulgaria).
They want to spread their music among the Underground circles all over the world. That actually happens - completion of the second album "Vengeance is Near" led to a deal with the Japanese label Red Rivet Records great step in the progress of the band . Included is the song "Centuries of chaos part II" compilation magazine TERRORIZER issue 247
After much effort, the band realized another dream: In 2014, CLAYMORE make his first European tour “Vengenace is Near” which passes through Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria. The second tour “Between Two Worlds” (2015) covers more countries - Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Germany. Both events are made possible with the help of the Municipal Foundation "Ruse-city free spirit." Currently, the band recorded their third album, which will probably come out in late 2017, early 2018