FELINE MELINDA was founded in the 1980s by Rob Irbiz and Andy De Santis. Within a short time, the project took shape, and in 1988 the band released its legendary debut LP, The Felines Await You, which has since become a cult classic of 1980s Italian metal and is highly regarded and sought after by collectors.
Starting out with a faster and heavier sound, the band gradually developed towards a highly melodic metal-rock style, also thanks to the arrival of the young and ambitious drummer Chris Platzer in 1991. After many years of creative collaboration, Andy De Santis left the band in September 2004, but his successor, Gschnell, proved to be a stroke of luck. Complete once again, the band created a new repertoire of songs written by Rob Irbiz and arranged together with Chris Platzer.
FELINE MELINDA’s music defies easy categorisation within the hard and heavy genre. It is refreshing and positive, with catchy refrains and choirs, enriched by plenty of melody and orchestral keyboards, and complemented by life-affirming as well as partly dark and romantic lyrics. This combination gives the band a highly distinctive and recognisable sound.
Morning Dew, the trio’s 2008 release, is a perfect example of this approach and offers the listener a great deal of variety, ranging from an instrumental intro to mid-tempo and fast songs, metal ballads and even an acoustic mainstream ballad. The production also has an international character, with recordings made at Z.E.M. Studio in Bolzano, Italy, mixing by Bobby Altvater and Chris Platzer at Sky Studio in Taufkirchen, Germany, and final mastering by Mika Jussila at the legendary Finnvox Studios in Helsinki, Finland.
From May 2011 onwards, the band worked tirelessly on the production of a new album, Dance Of Fire And Rain. The album was recorded at Finnvox Studios in Helsinki, Finland, Sky Studio in Taufkirchen, Germany, and Artifact Studio in Trento, Italy. It was once again mixed by Bobby Altvater and Chris Platzer at Sky Studio in Taufkirchen, while the final mastering was carried out by Mika Jussila at Finnvox Studios in Helsinki. The album was released on September 12, 2014, and distributed worldwide by the German hard rock and heavy metal label 7Hard. The young and talented guitarist Mattia “HeadMatt” joined the band in 2013 and made a strong contribution to the album with his brilliant and fast guitar solos.
Now a quartet, the band celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2016 with a unique charity concert performed in a theatre together with a choir, dancers and guest musicians on keyboards and cello, as well as a female singer. The show featured some of the band’s best songs from three decades. Furthermore, the band released Just Ballads, a limited-edition digipack compilation containing all of the group’s ballads as well as a new song entitled Mary Magdalene, which was produced exclusively for the album.
In 2017, the band performed several national and international concerts, including shows supporting Freedom Call. On the occasion of the annual charity concert in autumn, FELINE MELINDA also released the first official live album of their long career. Entitled Three Decades – Live At The Kultursaal Theatre, the album was produced using audio recordings from the previous year’s anniversary show.
In 2019, the band realised a long-awaited project with the release of the EP Duets. Some of FELINE MELINDA’s best-known songs were newly produced as duet versions together with guest vocalist Doris Albenberger.
Due to the very positive response to the EP, the band released another duet with Doris Albenberger in 2021: the Christmas single Christmas Time.
In January 2024, Feline Melinda released their seventh studio album, Seven, marking another important chapter in the band’s long musical journey. The album features eleven tracks combining the band’s trademark melodic metal and hard rock sound with elements of AOR and pop-oriented melodies. Two songs on the album, Seventh Heaven and Before The Dawn, feature long-time guest vocalist Doris Albenberger. Seventh Heaven and She’s Like A Thunderstorm were also released as digital singles accompanied by official music videos.
At the same time, Feline Melinda began working on new material. The result was the new single Seven Sins Seven Lies, released on November 7, 2025. Conceived as a continuation of Seventh Heaven, the song once again features Doris Albenberger on vocals, together with guest guitarist Francesco Pinter.
The year 2026 marks another very special milestone: 40 years of Feline Melinda. Founded in South Tyrol, Italy, in 1986, the band has remained active for four decades, continuously developing its own distinctive blend of melodic metal, hard rock and AOR while staying true to its roots.
The band’s next major release will be the EP Duets II, scheduled for October 2, 2026. It will be released as an exclusive limited-edition digipack CD as well as digitally. The release will be accompanied by new video productions, including the lyric video for More Than Ever, scheduled for September 11, and the official music video for Morning Dew, which will premiere together with the EP on October 2, 2026.
FROM THE BEGINNING TO TODAY
