Not to be confused with the 1960s group the Defenders, Defender is a heavy metal project of European bassist/guitarist Philip Von Segebaden. The project got underway in 1994, which was the year in which a band that Von Segebaden had been a part of, Afflicted, broke up. Formed in the early 1990s, Afflicted started out playing underground death metal but, in 1992, shifted gears and started embracing a more melodic style of fantasy metal along the lines of Iron Maiden, Queensryche and Manowar. After its second album, 1994's Dawn of Glory on Massacre, Afflicted broke up--thus giving Von Segebaden time to pursue a project of his own. Though he started writing songs for Defender in 1994, it wasn't until 1999's They Came Over The High Pass on Necropolis that Defender finally got around to recording a CD. For that album, Von Segebaden recruited drummer Peter Nagy and former Afflicted vocalist Michael van de Graaf. Defender isn't a full-time project for Von Segebaden--the 1990s also found the versatile metalhead playing bass with the speed metal band Cranium. ~ Alex Henderson