In 1983 bassist Carl Cadden-James and vocalist Mike Baker were part of the heavy metal band "Sorcerer." Chris Ingles was enlisted as an additional guitar player. In April 1993, Gary Wehrkamp completed the line-up adding additional guitar and keyboards. Drummer Kurt Hutchinson and Chris Ingles left the band in 1987 and soon after Brendt Allman was brought in to replace Chris on guitar. John Cooney became the new drummer and Chris re-joined in 1988 as a keyboardist.



The band took a more progressive approach when guitarist Ron Evans left to pursue a more straight forward metal approach. In 1985 guitarist Chris Ingles was added to the fold, only to take over keyboard duties when soon after, Brendt Allman, new to the Eastern Pennsylvania area also came to join.It was around this time the band took a hiatus from the club scene and put it's efforts into crafting guitar orientated metal original music. Chris Ingles left to pursue higher Education, studying theology and music.



Drummer John Cooney sent a demo tape to Mike Varney who was interested in hearing more. As the bands original material progressed, incorporating more thought out arrangements, Varney's interest continued. Brendt Allman and Carl Cadden-James continued to work on a piece called 'The Queen of the City of Ice' which showcased a long, involved more progressive direction. This piece fit perfectly into what Varney and business manager Pete Morticelli's new record label was looking for. In 1991 the band changed their name to Shadow Gallery and signed to the Magna Carta Record label, whose objective was to bring a fresh breath of progressive rock to an audience who was subdued by larger record companies quest for typical commercial music.



Shadow Gallery had been rehearsing the new material that was to become Carved in Stone in 1993 in preparation for the recording of the new record. In early 1994, the band started tracking drums at their own studio for the project when they hit a few bumps in the road. The Drummer they were then recording became unavailable to complete the recording due to a few technical issues, and other options were considered to keep the project moving along. The record label strongly urged the band to consider calling Kevin Soffera, a studio session drummer, who ironically only lived about 10 miles from the band's studio.