Martin Powell is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 musician. In 1991, Powell auditioned for the position of bass

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

-playing in the band My Dying Bride

My Dying Bride

My Dying Bride are an English doom metal band formed in 1990. To date, My Dying Bride have released eleven full-length studio albums, three EPs, one demo, one box set, four compilation albums, one live album, and one live CD/DVD release. The band released their tenth studio album, For Lies I Sire,...

, but was turned down as the band had just filled the position. Upon informing the band he was also a violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

 and keyboard

Electronic keyboard

An electronic keyboard is an electronic or digital keyboard instrument.The major components of a typical modern electronic keyboard are:...

 player, he was hired as a session musician, before becoming the band's permanent violinist and keyboardist.

Around 1998, Powell and My Dying Bride parted ways and he joined Anathema

Anathema (band)

Anathema are an English band from Liverpool primarily known for their ever evolving sound. Beginning as pioneers of the death/doom metal sub-genre, their later albums have been associated with genres such as alternative rock, progressive rock, art rock, new prog, and post-rock.-History:Anathema...

, in the role of live keyboardist, only to depart two years later. In 2000, Powell joined the British heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 band Cradle of Filth

Cradle of Filth

Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band, formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band's musical style evolved from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic black metal, and other extreme metal styles, while their lyrical themes and imagery are heavily...

 along with drummer Adrian Erlandsson

Adrian Erlandsson

Adrian Erlandsson is a prolific Swedish heavy metal drummer, who currently plays in Brujeria, Netherbird, with his wife in Nemhain and in Yorkshire doom metal band Paradise Lost...

 and guitarist Paul Allender

Paul Allender

Paul Allender is the lead guitarist of the British extreme metal band Cradle of Filth.-Early life:...

 after the departure of Les 'Lecter' Smith

Les Smith

Les 'Lecter' Smith is an English keyboard player. He originally did session work on keyboards for the British band Anathema on their 1996 album Eternity before joining extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. During his time in Cradle of Filth , his stage persona consisted of wearing a custom Vicar...

. The band then went to record the album Midian

Midian (album)

Midian is the fourth studio album by Cradle of Filth, released on Halloween 2000. The album marks the return of Paul Allender and Gian Pyres to the band and the introduction of Adrian Erlandsson and Martin Powell...

. The following year, the band released their transitional mini-album Bitter Suites to Succubi

Bitter Suites to Succubi

Cradle of Filth's Bitter Suites to Succubi is essentially an EP—or "transitional mini album" as the band's singer Dani Filth would have it; bridging the gap between Midian and Damnation and a Day while the band negotiated their label change from Music for Nations to Sony...

. In 2003 They released the album Damnation and a Day

Damnation and a Day

Damnation and a Day is the fifth studio album by Cradle of Filth. It features the 40-piece Budapest Film Orchestra and 32-piece Budapest Film Choir, is partly based on John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost, and was Cradle's only full-length release for the major label Sony before they transferred...

using a small orchestra and choral section for which Powell wrote the score. Powell wrote several songs for both that album and was also a songwriter for the band's 2004 album Nymphetamine

Nymphetamine

Nymphetamine is the sixth album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth, released on September 28, 2004. Nymphetamine marks the first recorded appearance of guitarist James McIlroy on a Cradle of Filth album. He would later record guitar for the band's 2010 release Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa...

on which he played guitars on several tracks as well as keyboard duties. In 2005, Powell and CoF parted ways.

Since his departure from Cradle of Filth, Powell returned to university where he earned a first class degree in music (and won The Phillip John Lord Composition Prize) and is now studying for a PhD in music composition.

Powell is still friends with several (ex-)members of Cradle of Filth.

Powell is featured on the Type O Negative

Type O Negative

Type O Negative was a gothic metal band from Brooklyn, New York City. The band also incorporated elements of doom metal and thrash metal. Their dramatic lyrical emphasis on themes of romance, depression, and death resulted in the nickname "The Drab Four"...

 DVD Symphony for the Devil

Symphony for the Devil (Type O Negative)

Symphony for the Devil is a live DVD by Type O Negative released on March 14, 2006. The release features video of a live concert at the Bizarre Festival in 1999...

.