The band - comprised of vocalist/keyboardist Laura Weibe, guitarist Dwayne Pretty, drummer Jason Head, and bassist Trevor Rees - have released two demos, 1995's _Embrace_, and 1996's _Promo 96_, and have recently independently released their debut album called _Coven the Eternal_.

Speaking with Laura Weibe at home in Kitchener, we begin talking about the mood and atmosphere that surrounds the lyrics and sounds of the band. "We are strong believers in fantasy," begins Weibe. "When we started, a lot of the band members were into vampire stuff and the guitarist was into Celtic music and ideals, so I guess we set out to make a mood that was not so much reality-based. Kind of an escape for us and people to comprehend."

The album's nine tracks are ethereal, mesmerizing, haunting, and eloquent poetic writings and scriptures that are aided by dark riffs and epic song structures. Most of _CtE_'s material made up a majority of the material on the band's two previous demos, yet the band has re-recorded and changed some of those songs to what they appear now on the debut LP. "We really haven't written any other songs other than those on the album, except maybe for two. We kept working on them and changing them into what we wanted them to sound like. We wanted them on the CD release, but as it was, we weren't happy with the way they were or the sound quality so we spent time mixing them better or improving them." She adds, "We spent a lot of time with these songs. A lot of the material is our feelings, a bit of everyone in the band, but if you look at or read the lyrics it is moreso about imagery and metaphor, rather than spurting out our true feelings for people to discover. Let them discover what they want out of our music. Let them find their own interpretations."

Finding the sound of the band was something they had to search out and discover. "It took a while for the band to get to the sound they have now," explains Weibe. "When we started we were trying to be a death metal band with male vocals and me singing in the background. Then we ended up not finding a vocalist that we wanted so I ended up doing the vocals. At that time we had a second guitarist and we had a lot of difficulty bringing it together to work. We then cut down to four members and it worked out pretty well from that point on. As a band we listen to lots of different things," reveals Weibe about their influences, "but I have to say that we all have an interest with bands like My Dying Bride and Type O Negative, and some older Paradise Lost and goth-style music. We like music with feelings and moodiness. I guess that is why we play the music we create, right? Because we enjoy it."

A lot of bands nowadays, especially in the metal genre, are edging towards breaking away from the mold of being just a typical metal band by trying to add different elements and features into their music, in attempting to making their music unique in some form or another. What does Weibe think is the uniqueness about them? "I think it is the combination of both the female vocals, the melody and the keyboard parts combined with the really heavy guitar and bass sound. I think that is what makes us different. Sure there are some bands that play music that way, but we do it our own way, with an Embrace sound."

While independent, and working hard to promote the band in their area (Southern Ontario), Embrace is slowly trying to get some label interest in them. Weibe doesn't push away the notion of wanting to be scooped up by a label, as some young acts would want to be indie for sometime before signing. Rather, Weibe and her band have their arms open to any kind of support. "We would love to get signed," notes Weibe. "It would just be great for exposure and a great experience. We would really like to get some exposure in Europe, as I think this music would do well for us over there 'cause there is an audience for the music we play. We'll see what happens."