Paul Formosa is a drummer originating from the island of Gozo, who has been active in the local underground scene since 2012.  He picked up the drumsticks at the age of 16 after being enchanted by the performance of Metallica’s Lars Ulrich in their San Diego gig in 1992, on the DVD ‘Live Sh*t: Binge & Purge’. 

Ascendor: (2012 – present)

Paul was the founder of the Gozitan Metal band Ascendor. Guitarists Andy Fava and Joe Costa, bassist Blasio Muscat and vocalist Steve Muscat completed the line-up and performed several gigs across both islands. They had the honour of sharing the stage with massive bands such as Angel Witch and Evil Invaders as well as making it to the finals of the Hard Rock Rising Battle of the bands in 2013.

Between 2012 and 2018, Ascendor released three studio albums; ‘Becoming’, ‘Drive my Demons Away’ and ‘Disturb the Dust’, all of which were heavily influenced by thrash metal. They released their most recent record ‘Circle of Violence’ in 2020 and the latter is considered as a pure old school thrash metal album from start to end.

Upper Lip: (2018 - 2019)

In the summer of 2018, Upper Lip’s founding member, lead guitarist Joseph Azzopardi asked Paul to temporarily fill in as the band’s drummer until they find a permanent replacement. During his time with the Gozitan rock band, Paul played numerous gigs as well as recording six of the ten tracks on Upper Lip’s debut album ‘Deep Within’.

Angelcrypt: (2018 - 2019)

Paul occupied the drum stool of local Melodeath titans Angelcrypt in 2018 and during the following year, he played at the annual editions of ‘Metal Over Malta’  and ‘Metal United Worldwide’ as well as touring with the band in Croatia, Czech Republic, Switzerland and Germany. The pinnacle of this experience was when Paul got the opportunity to contribute to and record the drums for Angelcrypt’s album ‘Dawn of the Emperor’. Paul had to reluctantly part ways with Angelcrypt solely due to the hectic and demanding nature of their touring schedule.

Sonic Storm: (2020 - present)

While working on Ascendor’s 2020 release ‘Circle of Violence’, Paul was asked to join Karl Friggieri and Francesco Degabriele in Sonic Storm. He has played a number of gigs with Sonic Storm while contemporarily working on the release of their debut album ‘Keys to Your Ruin’, which should be released in 2023.

Zabbeth: (Session)

In 2022 Sean Attard (Chaos) produced and released a Bathory worship album called ‘Zabbeth’ and asked Paul to contribute his drumming to the record.