Royal Hunt is a melodic hard rock / metal group from Denmark. They have a symphonic keyboard-driven sound and lots of progressive elements without actually sounding very progressive. They also have some AOR influences as the music isn't too egdy. Also their catchy choruses make their music quite easy-listenable. Their strength lies in the songwriting skills of the band chief André Andersen who plays the keyboards and occasionally other instruments (on the debut album he also handled the guitars.)

So far the band has released 8 studio albums, 2 official live albums, 5 EPs. The debut, Land of the Broken Hearts, came in 1992, and the newest one, Paper Blood, in 2005.

Royal Hunt's line-up has changed many times during the years. Most notable thing being that they have had three different vocalists: Henrik Brockmann(who later joined Evil Masquerade) on the first two albums, D.C. Cooper (Silent Force etc.) on the next two and John West (Artension) who came in 1999 and has stayed in the band until 17.03.2007.

The latest live release from Royal Hunt, which is called "2006", was released on November, 22. It was recorded and shot in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on November, 2 '05.

The current line-up is:
André Andersen - keyboards
Kenneth Olsen - drums
Marcus Jidell - guitars
Per Schelander - bass

The new vocalist will be announced shortly.

Discography:
(you can check the full discography of Royal Hunt here: http://www.royalhunt.org/releases.htm)

Links:
http://www.royalhunt.com - The Official Site
http://www.royalhunt.org - The Unofficial Site
http://www.royalhunt.nl - The Official Dutch Fanclub of Royal Hunt
http://www.royalhunt.ru - Russian Site