The band were active in the progressive rock revival spearheaded by the likes of
Marillion,
Pallas,
Solstice and
Twelfth Night in the early 1980s, and indeed (like their peers
IQ) often appeared as support acts to Marillion and other major neo-prog bands, both on tours and at the Marquee venue which hosted many regular prog evenings. In spring 1984 the band took part in a 'battle of the bands' contest at Goldiggers club, in Chippenham, televised by the local HTV television station. This was named 'Best Bands West' and Pendragon performed O Devineo (spelling as credited on TV). A Bristol-based covers duo eventually won the contest. After their debut album
The Jewel, the band pursued a more commercial direction, documented in the
Kowtow album and the
Red Shoes and
Saved By You EPs, but despite these efforts failed to break through to a mainstream audience. The group appeared at the 1983
Reading Festival and were signed to Elusive Records. On 21 April 2009, Pendragon released a live album and DVD,
Concerto Maximo, shot in Katowice on 13 October 2008. It was filmed and edited by
Metal Mind. It was released in several versions – a 2-CD release that features just the audio from the show, a DVD featuring the full show, and a DVD-and-2-CD special edition, which was limited to 1000 copies. In October 2010, the band recorded the follow-up to
Pure, the album
Passion which was released in the spring of 2011. This was followed by
Men Who Climb Mountains in 2014. Both albums continued the darker, heavier, more
progressive metal-influenced direction of the band.
Since 2014 In April 2014, the band announced that they had parted ways with drummer Scott Higham for "personal reasons". He was then replaced by Craig Blundell. In June 2015, Blundell was replaced by Jan-Vincent Velazco. In September 2019 the band released a 40th Anniversary boxed set containing five compact discs. The first three represent a complete live concert recording made in London during 2018. The remaining two discs are re-mixed and remastered versions of the albums
The World and
Men Who Climb Mountains. In February 2020, a new album called
Love Over Fear was released. == Members ==