UK independent power metal project JAMES LEGENDFORGE will release its debut album, "The Witchfinder's Flame", on September 20, 2026. The record's title track is out now as the project's first single and the opening move in a staggered release campaign running through the summer.
"The Witchfinder's Flame" sets out the territory immediately: dark fantasy, dramatic orchestration and a story of ancient fears, judgement and defiance. Soaring vocal melodies and heavy riffing sit inside a deliberately cinematic frame, pitched somewhere between symphonic power metal grandeur and the drive of melodic hard rock.
James Spreadbury, the creative force behind the project, is candid about how that scale was achieved. "The Witchfinder's Flame is the first spark of the JAMES LEGENDFORGE world, a dark, cinematic power metal track about fear, judgement and defiance," he said. "It brings together my own lyrics and original vocal source recordings with AI-assisted production to create something that feels huge, cinematic, theatrical and completely true to the story I wanted to tell."
That combination — original songwriting and vocal source material worked through AI-assisted production — is the defining feature of the project rather than a footnote to it, and Spreadbury puts it front and centre in the way JAMES LEGENDFORGE presents itself. The stated goal is a soundscape that keeps a one-man operation's personal fingerprint while reaching for orchestral weight that independent budgets rarely stretch to.
The campaign around the album is already under way. "Alter Ego – The Beast Within" arrived on August 2, and "The Grip Of Insanity" follows on August 23, ahead of the full ten-track debut in September. The material draws on fantasy, folklore and personal reflection, and the project points listeners toward DIONYSUS, RHAPSODY and AVANTASIA as reference points — big hooks, epic arrangements and songs built to carry a narrative.
"The Witchfinder's Flame" is available now on streaming platforms.
JAMES LEGENDFORGE: James Spreadbury — songwriting, vocals, production