Celtic Legacy is an Irish Heavy Metal band formed in 1998.
The band which grew out of a 90s covers outfit called Stomp, during which 2 members of the band began writing and demoing original material. After 6 months the idea to form a brand new band was discussed and Celtic Legacy was formed early in 1998.
The band utilised its resources to fund and record 3 albums in a 10-year period from 1998 to 2008. Of the albums the band released during its initial run, Resurrection – the second album, is widely regarded as the band’s high water mark. It was voted album of the year on several sites in 2003/2004 and the title track has become the band’s signature tune. The album received incredible reviews upon release and is still regarded with huge affection by both die hard fans and casual listeners.
The band line-up changed several times from 1997-2009 with the only constant members being Dave Morrissey and Dave Boylan. A year after the release of the Guardian of Eternity album, Legacy announced that they were splitting due to financial problems that would prevent them from recording any new material in the foreseeable future.In 2011, Dave Morrissey started work on a solo album. Ciarán Ennis joined the project in 2013, and as things developed the name Celtic Legacy was once again reactivated, albeit only as a studio only project. The resultant album The Lie of the Land was released early in 2015
2020 saw the line-up changing once more with Old Season‘s John Bonham taking over on vocals and fellow founding member Dave ‘Slim’ Boylan returning to the fold. This line-up released the album Redux on October 31 2022.
In 2023, Legacy looked to augment the band with new members for live shows. In February 2023, Dave Shorten joined the band on a temporary basis, finally deciding in September to stick around for the long haul. The final piece of the jigsaw was the arrival of John’s Old Season bandmate, Fuzzy on guitar in February 2024.
This current line-up got off to a flying start in Germany in April 2024 with a show stealing performance at the Taunus Metal Festival XIV – the band’s first appearance since headlining the inaugural Taunus Festival back in 2008.
The band is currently composing new songs for an upcoming album planned for release in late 2024 or early 2025.