Shadowland

Nolan and Groom

Shadowland formed in 1992 around Clive Nolan, who has been Pendragon's keyboardist since 1986, and the guitarist Karl Groom. The first line-up added Nick Harradence on drums and Ian Salmon on bass and acoustic guitar; Salmon also played in Arena. Wikipedia places the band on the pop side of progressive rock, keeping melodic and emotional intensity. Note that a different, unrelated band called Shadowland has also been mentioned around Twelfth Night.

Ring of Roses (1992) and Through the Looking Glass (1994) came out on SI Music and were later reissued on Verglas, Nolan's own label, followed by Mad as a Hatter (1996). A fan review of the debut called it typical neo-progressive, well-crafted, with nice melodies, but also rather unadventurous. The band then went quiet for about thirteen years while Nolan played with Arena and wrote the rock opera She. They reformed in late 2008 with Mike Varty on keyboards and Mark Westwood on bass, toured in early 2009 and filmed a concert at the Wyspianski Theatre in Katowice, Poland, during the ProgRock 2009 festival, released as the DVD Edge of Night (Metal Mind Productions, 2009). A compilation, A Matter of Perspective, and the box set Cautionary Tales, with remastered early albums, appeared the same year.

On February 20, 2010 they shared a bill with Jadis at De Boerderij in Zoetermeer. Background Magazine's review of that night rated Shadowland's set of about 100 minutes the stronger of the two and called Groom's solos breathtaking; it opened with "The Hunger" and closed with an encore of "Ring of Roses".