The Legendary British Band Returns To The Forefront | Stairway Releases “Phantom Machine”
If there’s one band that’s both long-standing and 100 percent tenacious, it’s undoubtedly Stairway. We’ll never stop mentioning the fact that this British band must be one of the historic pioneers of so-called White Metal, and yet, we believe they don’t receive the recognition they truly deserve. Active since 1978, Stairway has successfully captured its sound on several albums released over the years.
Following some health issues affecting both Andy Edwards, the band’s drummer, and Graeme Leslie, the vocalist and bassist, Stairway is back in action with the release of the track “Phantom Machine.”
Their last album release had been “Metal Rising” in 2025—an album we reviewed not long ago—which is essentially a compilation of the most notable tracks from each of Stairway’s albums, serving as a journey through their long history.
And it’s striking, to say the least, that Stairway isn’t better known given its long history in metal. In fact, at the time, Graeme Leslie explained this with the following words: “Difficult to say really. American Christian metal bands more or less dominated in the early days, and there were record labels in the US which signed and supported the bands. Stairway being from the UK with a much smaller scene and no labels, and the UK not being known that well for Christian metal, maybe that is a factor, together with the fact, as I’ve said, the US scene dominated in the early days, which is why we’ve released albums independently…”
Recently, health issues have affected both drummer Andy Edwards and Graeme Leslie himself, who battled lung cancer, undergoing surgery, a long recovery, and chemotherapy sessions. Thank God that’s all behind them now, and Stairway continues to fight the good fight.
So the British band is taking its first step and releasing “Phantom Machine”, a track that—as one would expect—is right in line with their usual style: traditional Heavy Metal with that old-school fury that takes us back to the N.W.O.B.H.M., with a powerful start that launches us into a heavy riff at a moderate tempo. Excellent, as always.
We’d already gotten a small preview of the new material Stairway is working on when the band released the single “Tricky Nicky” on social media; apparently, both this latest track and “Phantom Machine” are the spearhead for an upcoming album the band plans to release.
Some time ago, Graeme Leslie himself—Stairway’s vocalist and bassist—told this publication, “We plan to release a new album. Some of the songs are more or less finished, but we’re still working on others. We don’t have a release date yet.” Apparently, as Leslie himself told us, the release of this new material will have to wait for now, although everything indicates that we’re close to hearing more news on that front.
In the meantime, “Phantom Machine” shows us the path Stairway continues to follow, always firmly rooted in heavy metal. We’re sharing that single here so you can listen to it and enjoy it as much as we do, and of course, we’re including their social media links so you can follow them and stay up to date on Stairway’s latest news…
https://www.facebook.com/stairwaytheband
