Cloven Hoof burst onto the NWOBHM scene with quite some flair, featuring outlandish stage costumes (heavy Kiss- style makeup, futuristic-looking clothing), and bearing the stage names of Air (Lee Payne), Water (David Potter), Fire (Steve Rounds), and Earth (Kevin Poutney). The music (on their debut EP) was actually pretty good, bearing a heavy, dark NWOBHM sound with a slightly spacey feel to it. Despite the initial good press and music, the buzz surrounding the band faded relatively quickly, though they stuck around long enough to record several albums, the latter ones with an largely revamped lineup.
Years later, in 2003, came the announcement of a new lineup and possible album. At one point the entire Sultan’s Ransom lineup was involved, but after a time a new lineup materialized surrounding sole original member Lee Payne. A new album, until recently entitled Power Corrupts but now called Eye Of The Sun, was in the works for a couple of years and, after several delays, was released in June 2006.
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