Dark Horizon were born in the September 1996, as a power metal cover band. Only a year later they succeeded to have a complete line-up:
Pietro Gandolfi: voice;
Daniele Mandelli: guitars;
Alessandro Battini: keyboards;
Claudio Gallini: bass;
Luca Capelli: drums.

After several local live-exhibitions, in 1997 the band wanted to write their own songs and began to create riffs and lyrics for a fantasy concept-album which contained eight songs. Four of these were recorded in May 1998 into the demo-tape “Legend in opera”, that received good reviews and approval from the specialized press and the underground. In 1999 there was a big change into the core of the band, which lost three of its original elements and revolutionized radically the initial line-up:
Luigi Maione: voice;
Daniele Mandelli: guitars;
Alessandro Battini: keyboards;
Andrea Galli: bass;
Marco Polledri: drums.

With this new line-up, the five Dark Horizon members recorded the new demo-cd “Unnamed”, which was the key to obtain a contract with Underground Symphony. The album was recorded between December 1999 and January 2000 at Elfo Studio, but it took a long time to see the light and so the band without loosing time increased the live-activity joining many power metal festivals with important bands playing in several importants pubs. In June 2000, at the ZENITH STUDIO in Lucca, the band recorded, under the supervision of Frank Andiver, the Warlord’s cover of the track “Aliens” for a tribute created by the Underground Symphony. The album, in the meantime, remained in the drawer for more than a year and after Northwind records, published it in November 2001. “Son Of Gods” (the new title of the album) was remastered by Luigi Stefanini at the New Sin studio in Treviso: height power metal songs with strong symphonic shades. In May 2001, at the new Elfo Studio in Piacenza, Dark Horizon recorded Manowar’s cover of “Heart of steel” for a tribute created by Steelborn Records with Majesty, Dark Avenger,
Roberto Quassolo: Voice;
Daniele Mandelli: Guitars;
Alessandro Battini: Keyboards;
Davide Marino: Bass;
Luca Capelli: Drums.

The second album, “Dark Light’s shades”, has been recorded at Elfo-studio in Tavernago (Piacenza) by Daniele Mandelli between October 2003 and May 2004 and mastered in the great Gate & Pathway studios of Wolfsburg (Germany) by Sascha Paeth, producer of Rhapsody, Angra, Edguy, Aina, Shaman. “Dark light’s shades” is a ten tracks melodic heavy metal album, with power/symphonic and prog rock 70’s / 80’s influences. A quartet of strings has participated to the recording and the arrangements have been made with the collaboration of the famous Italian arranger Massimo Braghieri. The lyrics have epic & historic themes such as the trilogy of Hannibal, the carthaginian hero. In May 2005 Dark Horizon did the first tour in Germany and in October 2005 the band played in Italy with Royal Hunt.
In March 2006 the band was in Germany for a new tour, between which a famous festival the Headbangers Night III (with Rebellion and Chinchilla). The third album has been recorded in September 2007 at famous Finnvox Studios (Helsinki, Finland) by Daniele Mandelli and Arto Tuunela (HIM’s producer). “Angel Secret Masquerade” contains ten songs of melodic heavy metal, like Masterplan and Angra, whit a collaboration of a quartet of strings and mastered by Mika Jussila at Finnvox Studio. The new album will be released by the Italian label Underground Symphony in july 2010.