Asrai

Asrai's roots lay in the 1980's. The band was formed in 1985 and changed their name in 1988 into Asrai. Several of its members played in various punk and new-wave bands. At that time their music already had a melancholic dark side.

Asrai released several demo-tapes from 1989 to 1994 ("the Blue tape", "So clear that you couldn't tell where the water ended and the air began", "Love is a Lie", "Live in a package"). Finally in 1997 they released their debut CD, "As Voices Speak". This CD was noticed and signed to the label Poison Ivy. On this label a German release of As voices speak was issued.

From 1997 Asrai took time to perfect their sound and to find the right line-up. The band stood tall through this difficult period. Their perseverance was rooted in a sincere love for music.

In the meantime, contracted by Transmission Records, Asrai recorded their second CD "Touch in the Dark". Roman Schoensee produced this CD while Sascha Paeth, the best guy for mixing Metal and Rock, made the finishing touch.

The CD was recorded in both Holland (Excess Studio) and Germany (Beautiful Lake Studio).

The result is an album full of hot-blooded rock wandering through the twilight zone between Gothic Rock and Metal. Let yourself get carried away by their music. Fall into the depth of your darkest and intense emotions by the exceptional and intense singing of Margriet.

May 26 the 2004 the album "Touch in the Dark" was been released in most European countries as well as in Asia and North and South America.

The single "Pale Light" was released may 6 the. The video-clip made for their single "Pale Light" was made by the versatile and talented duo Marcel de Jong and Jelle Swetter .

Their second single "In front of me"from the album "Touch in the Dark" was released September 23 the. And again the videoclip was made by Marcel de Jong and Jelle Swetter and Maud Mulder.

December 2006 Season of Mist is proud to announce the fresh signing of Dutch Gothic Rock act ASRAI. Their third full-length album is scheduled for late spring 2007 and will be followed by a European tour.

ASRAI comment "After a touch in the dark new songs were to be released and a new path to be explored to let loose our next album. Travelling through different seasons, the best was the misty one. Season of Mist appeared and the road became clear to us all. We are looking forward to combine both our visions. We can't wait to say; Season of Mist 'till death do us part'."

Season of Mist release the third full length by Dutch Goth Metallers ASRAI's, "Pearls in Dirt", next November 12th worldwide and November 20th in the US. Prior to the release of the album, the "Sour Ground" single will come out on November 5th. The title track will also be available on the limited edition of "Pearls in Dirt". Don't miss this deluxe packaging including a velvet o-ring and silver hot foil print!

ASRAI comment "While touring after the release of "Touch in the Dark", ideas came up for new material. "Sour Ground" was one of the first new songs we wrote and during jamming new songs saw a new daylight. Except "Pearls in Dirt", a song we never finished but inspired us for three new songs. For several reasons we couldn't avoid this title. So it had to become the title of the new album, and is symbolic to the period we were in.!

Ready to record a new album, we wanted Sascha Paeth as our producer. Not only because of his tremendous skills, but especially for his ability to bring our feeling to life. We also worked together with Amanda Somerville, who works close and well with Sascha. A good combination!

The first demo songs were recorded but due circumstances Transmissions Records unfortunately couldn't release our album. So we got in touch with Season of Mist. They were interested to release the album and signed us.

Another record company and a different approach reanimated "Pearls in Dirt". We got "carte blanche" for the recording and the artwork. We recorded "Pearls in Dirt" at the Excess Studio with Hans Pieters. For the finishing touch some parts were recorded at the Gate studio by Sascha Paeth. We did a photo shoot with Alex le Heux which was used for the artwork.

EYES OF EDEN

Line-up:
Franziska Huth (Vocals)
Waldemar Sorychta (Guitar)
Alla Fedynitch (Bass)
Tom Diener (Drums)

Hauntingly beautiful, bittersweet, mystical, dark, intense.

And it rocks.

A legend of a genre writes songs in his signature style for his brandnew band with an immensly talented young singer.

The result:

EYES OF EDEN – "Faith" featuring Waldemar Sorychta & Franziska Huth Drums by Gas Lipstick (HIM)

EYES OF EDEN started innocently enough: Guitarist/producer Waldemar Sorychta writes songs that come natural to him, assembles a great band and records the material with Gas Lipstick (HIM) on drums. After that they want to bring it to the people... but sometimes life doesn't work that smoothly.

The singer Sandra Schleret has serious health issues to take care of (she's fine now!), so the album has to be recorded a second time with a new vocalist. That's why "Faith" took more than two years in the making, a true labor of love. But the band gets lucky: Franziska Huth might only be 20 years old, but years of vocal training and numerous concerts made her the perfect fit for EYES OF EDEN. Having the looks, of course doesn't hurt either.

In the world of darkly tinged Rock and Metal, Waldemar Sorychta could be considered somewhat of a legend, the godfather of a genre:

He produced every Lacuna Coil record and is responsible for the biggest albums by Moonspell (the latest being their smashing comeback "Memorial") and Tiamat ("Wildhoney" anyone?). He also shaped the sound and feel of Samael, The Gathering, Sentenced, Samael and countless others by giving their material the sonic environment it needs, even co-writing some of the music.

So it's fair to say that Waldemar Sorychta defined a sound. And now he's doing what he always did before and while producing all those bands: Writing and playing himself.

It's only natural then that EYES OF EDEN has his signature style and sound all over – and then some. In fact, if you consider that Waldemar Sorychta has played high class thrash with Grip Inc. and Despair, you can be sure that "Faith" has plenty of hard rocking guitar. You can listen to the album in candlelight, but you can also scream along to the heavier tracks. Just step in...

After Forever

Biography

After Forever. That is simply the title of the fifth album from Dutch metal band, After Forever. Why ? Because all their musical ingredients have been consolidated on this record. This makes After Forever, their debut for German/American label Nuclear Blast, a Seminole album in their catalog.

With After Forever, the band revisits all the styles they have showcased on their previous work while simultaneously hinting at things to come. “This album is a great summation of everything we have done,” says guitarist Sander Gommans. “You can hear the energy of Prison of Desire, the melancholy of Decipher, the progressive approach of Invisible Circles and the more catchy elements of Remagine. You can’t get more After Forever than that.” Gommans is also referring here to their patented metal sound which incorporates a real orchestra. There are also some prominent guest appearances on the record - Jeff Waters (Annihilator) and singer Doro Pesch (ex-Warlock). “We asked Doro to participate partially to show people that in the 80’s there were already female artists making this style of music.”

Whereas the music from this sextet is loosely based on these influences - with Floor Jansen, After Forever have their own shining front-woman – the band has never pinned itself strictly on any given style. They have the obvious combination of metal and classical themes, but can just as easily implement rock, pop, industrial and progressive styles into their songs.

That these genres naturally flow together on the album is a coincidence according to Gommas. “Yet at the same time very typical for a band like us. After Forever is the perfect document of who we are. From 1995 on we have created a style that we color in different ways. Not very different than you would expect from a metal band. Floor adds her unique flavor to the mix, but the rhythm section is also critical to our specific sound.” On After Forever, this sound is again very recognizable. This is mainly due to the fact that the recording process was similar to the previous albums, with one exception – the role of producer Gordon Groothedde. Gommans calls Groothedde “an a-typical metal producer”, who met each other through fellow band member Joost van den Broek.

The collaboration proved to be magical. “Gordon was our seventh band member for a while,” Gommans adds. “We never release a song that we are not happy with, but on this album I am also in love with the production as well as the order of the songs. The challenge is often to make an album that is better than before, while also keeping certain style characteristics in tact. In that we have succeeded.”

Having said all that, the record also provides a hint of things to come. That their future will be promising is already evident by their rigorous tour schedule that will take them through Latin America, USA, France, England, Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium and of course their home Holland. They are hereby following the successful road paved by their previous album, Remagine, where new musical boundaries were explored. While the production of that record had its speed bumps – drummer Andre Borgmans was operated on to remove a tumor – 2005 turned out to be their most successful year to date. Especially in South America, they turned on a whole new group of rabid fans. They played sold out shows in Chili, Colombia, Brazil and Mexico. Gommans looks for an explanation for this: “People experience music slightly diffently there, “ he speculates. “In general they have less there, and I suppose they are able to find added comfort with bands and their music.” Although he will not become jaded by these Beatle like events. “It’s great to be received like that, but we also enjoy it when its time to go home to Holland.” It was there that they had another highlight – performing with a philharmonic orchestra in the famous 013 club in Tilburg. After that, another successful European tour rounded out 2006.

At their inception in 1995, After Forever made waves with their mix of death metal and classical music. With the inclusion of Floor Jansen 2 years later, the music took on a more diverse theme without ever losing its roots in the classical influences. After 2 demos the band released Prison of Desire in 2000, followed by Decipher (2001). Along with their mini album Exordium, the full-lengths Invisible Circles and Remagine, all these records were released world-wide. Fueled by the raving reviews from many press pundits, the band dared to evolve more, while laying the groundwork by touring Europe and South America. In Holland, the band has played every stage there is, also together with the Finnish bands Nightwish and Charon. Meanwhile they were showcased at many major festivals, including Pinkpop, Lowlands, Dynamo and Ozzfest.

Now, in 2007, After Forever is ready to make their latest breakthrough. A new album, new production team, new label and a world-wide tour will make their upcoming 10 year anniversary a true milestone.
- March 2007

Members :

floor jansen . sander commans . joost van den broek . luuk van cerven . bas maas . andre borgman

EPICA

• Simone Simons (Vocals)
• Mark Jansen (Guitars, grunts & screams)
• Ad Sluijter (Guitars)
• Coen Janssen (Synths and piano)
• Yves Huts (Bass guitar)

Ever since EPICA emerged on the scene, the band has been caught in a whirlwind of studio recordings, interviews, screaming fans, world wide live performances and the rock 'n roll lifestyle. The loss of both a record company and a drummer in 2006 seemed to have stopped the band on their rise to the top. But all is not what it seems. EPICA is back with a mighty new album called 'The Divine Conspiracy', an exiting new chapter in the history of the band. The Dutch female fronted symphonic metal band EPICA was founded in 2002. Mark Jansen had left After Forever to pursue his own dreams and found that guitar player Ad Sluijter, bass player Yves Huts and keyboard and piano player Coen Janssen shared his vision. Drummer Jeroen Simons and singer Simone Simons completed the band. The band name is derived from an album of Kamelot of whom several band members are big fans and musically EPICA stands out by not only taking influences from the world of rock and (symphonic) metal, but also from film music as composed by the likes of Danny Elfman and Hans Zimmer. Within a few months EPICA had the material to record the stunning debut album 'The Phantom Agony'. The album was released worldwide in 2003 and was followed by a lengthy tour. EPICA's efforts were rewarded in 2004 with an Essent Award (an important Dutch award for talented young bands). While touring continued throughout the year, EPICA recorded and released their second full length album 'Consign To Oblivion' in 2005. The album made it to #12 in the Dutch charts and remained in the Top 100 for 7 weeks. This release also features a guest appearance by Kamelot frontman Roy Khan. With the creative juices flowing, that same year the album 'The Score: An Epic Journey' also saw the light of day. The album consists of the music EPICA wrote for the Dutch movie 'Joyride'. This album is marked by the absence of guitars, drums or even vocals and contains mainly instrumental symphonic songs. After four years of hard work, the band took the time to reflect on the impressive career that took the world by storm. So in 2006 the photo-sound book 'The Road To Paradiso' saw the light of day. It's a detailed description of the band’s history in words and images and contains lots of pictures taken by the band members, professional photographers and even hundreds of fans that contributed their best pictures and words. This book comes together with a unique bonus-cd that features unreleased songs, live material and demo recordings. The year that started on a high ended in a low when drummer Jeroen Simons decided to quit the band. But it's not in the band's nature to be taken aback. After hundreds of shows in dozens of countries all over the world (including the US, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, most European countries, Israel, Tunisia…) this band had become a well oiled metal machine that is unstoppable. In 2007 EPICA signed a new record deal with Nuclear Blast and the year will see the release of EPICA’s third full length album 'The Divine Conspiracy'. “More” is the best word to define this album. More choirs, guitars, grunts, speed and songs. 'The Divine Conspiracy' will be more guitar oriented. This time four guitar tracks were recorded instead of the usual two. Thanks to the skills of talented God Dethroned drummer Ariën van Weesenbeek EPICA was able to make faster and more complex songs. As with all of their releases, the music on this album was brought to a higher level by the dream team at the Gate Studio: Sascha Paeth, Amanda Somerville and Miro Rodenberg. This new opus is more than 75 minutes long and is EPICA's first concept album. It deals with the theory that, as a test, God created all kinds of different religions and released those upon humanity to see if they would be able to find the true nature of them. The question is whether mankind can realize that all religions are basically the same. But there’s more to it. The album also concludes the 'Embrace That Smothers' concept that could already be found on 'The Phantom Agony', but started on the After Forever-album 'Prison Of Desire'. It seems only fitting that the conclusion of the concept features a guest appearance by After Forever grunter Sander Gommans. The circle has closed, the journey continues…

Last Update at: 12-04-2006

Xandria

Biography

What Xandria created with their 2003 debut "Kill the Sun" seems to be the beginning of a long-term career, after the band already had caused a sensation in the underground scene with their demo songs made public in the internet. Right away, the band attracted as many fans as to make the debut album enter the German Media Control charts. Afterwards, Xandria toured Germany. The second album "Ravenheart" hit the German charts on number 36 in 2004, remained there for several weeks and by far surpassed the success of the first piece of work. The "Ravenheart" video was played on music television and the press fell over themselves with enthusiasm. In summer 2004 the band for example played the main stages of "Summer Breeze Festival" and "Busan International Rock Festival" in South Korea - the biggest festival in South East Asia - and filled 30,000 spectators with enthusiasm. Then followed the bombastic album “India” in 2005, that came up with the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg and many guest musicians, showed the band matured a lot, and brought the band to position 30 in the German charts and to Russia, England, Mexico…

What does make up the immense fascination of the band? Lisa, Marco, Gerit, Philip and Nils unify modern rock with mystic soundscapes into a soundtrack of a different, really characteristic world of its own. In Xandria's world, everyone is allowed to be as vulnerable as strong, to show feelings and to live all beautiful dreams which seem forbidden in the cold reality.

Courage is needed to do so, also the courage to let fall veils, to show yourself like you really are. This is the topic of the title track to Xandria´s new album “Salomé – The Seventh Veil”, and also the band shows this courage – behind orchestral arrangements, exotic features and soundtracklike atmosphere they are above all one thing: A rock band.

And so the new album sounds more direct, a bit rougher and is bursting of vitality. Of course all the typical atmospheric trademarks are there, but better fit into the best production sound a Xandria album ever had.

Xandria are going further on their way on an adventure trip to new musical worlds and they will take you along, if only you want to.

Members

• Lisa Middelhauve – Vocals, Piano
• Marco Heubaum – Guitar
• Philip Restemeier – Guitar
• Nils Middelhauve – Bass
• Gerit Lamm – Drums

SONATA ARCTICA'S

SONATA ARCTICA'S HISTORY

Sonata Arctica was born in 1996 on the edge of the world, in the northern Finnish town of Kemi. The very first incarnation of the band was named Tricky Beans. As Tricky Beans, the group produced three demos (Friend till the End, Agre Pamppers and PeaceMaker) and played twice in Jyrki Sähkösirkus, a live tour version of a then famous TV pop show.

After some personnel changes in 1997, the outfit changed their name to Tricky Means. Let it be known to the Metal community that initially the band experimented in musical styles far from heavy metal.

Turning the page in 1999, Tricky Means recorded a new demo "FullMoon" in Tico Tico Studios located in their hometown, Kemi. At the time of recording the line-up consisted of: Tony (vocals/keys), Jani (guitars), Tommy (drums), and Janne (bass). This new demo was the first exploration for the band in heavy metal waters. The band's trademark sound of fast, melodic and keyboard oriented heavy metal with clear and high vocals was born. As fate would have it, and with help from Ahti Kortelainen of Tico Tico Studios, the "FullMoon" demo found its way to the premier metal label of Finland, Spinefarm. At the same time Tricky Means became Sonata Arctica.

Summer of 1999 brought us the first single from Sonata Arctica, "UnOpened". The title song was instantaneously included in Metalliliitto 1999 compilation CD. Two furious tracks from the single, UnOpened and Mary-Lou marked the arrival of SA to the power metal community. Of course, not everything went smoothly. During the first mix/pressing of the UnOpened single, Track 1, UnOpened, was unintentionally slowed down. The mistake was discovered shortly after the first batch of disks was sent to music stores. The entire first pressing was recalled. Approximately 200 copies from that first run were sold and are now considered rare collector's items.