Dark Fortress
| Dark Fortress | |
|---|---|
 Singer Morean at the Party.San Open Air 2012 |
|
| General information | |
| origin | Landshut , Germany |
| Genre (s) | Black metal |
| founding | 1994 |
| Website | www.darkfortress.org |
| Founding members | |
| Asvargr | |
| Current occupation | |
| Morean (since 2007) | |
Electric guitar |
Asvargr |
Electric guitar |
V. Santura (since 2001) |
| Draug (since 2000) | |
| Seraph (since 2001) | |
| former members | |
singing |
Matthias "Azathoth" Jell (1994-2007) |
Electric bass |
Njord (1995-1998) |
Electric bass |
Alex "Zoltan" Stütz (1998–2000) |
Electric guitar, electric bass |
Crom (1997-2000) |
| Thamuz (1997-1998) | |
Keyboard |
Paymon (1998-2014) |
Drums |
Charon (1995-2000) |
| Live support and session musicians | |
Keyboard |
Phenex (live keyboard: 2012, 2014) |
Dark Fortress is a German black metal band from Landshut . Today the band is one of the better-known black metal bands in Germany.
history
The band was founded in 1994 by guitarist Asvargr after his band Carnage broke up due to musical differences. Shortly afterwards, singer Matthias “Azathoth” Jell joined them. In 1995 the band had completed a few songs, stylistically reminiscent of the early works of Satyricon . In the same year Charon and Njord Dark Fortress joined, a year later the demo Rebirth of the Dark Age appeared in an edition of 250 copies. In 1997 Crom and Thamuz joined the band, whose music became more melodic through the use of the added second guitar. On February 22, 1997 the band played their first concert together with Path of Debris, Crack Up and Blackend in Landshut, followed in the same year with concerts with, among others, Desaster , Lunar Aurora and Nagelfar .
In October 1997 three songs were recorded, two of which appeared on the split CD Towards Immortality with the NSBM band Barad Dûr. According to interview statements by members of Dark Fortress, they were still fairly new to the scene and were looking for a band for a split EP. Barad Dûr had been suggested to them by Lord Asgaqlun, the owner of the record label Fog of the Apocalypse Records (also Ex- Dunkelgrafen , Ex-Caedes, now with Camulos ); they had never heard of the band, but decided to publish it, also for financial reasons, as they did not have the money for such a publication; with Lord Asgaqlun's statement that the band would publish "a pretty blatant text", the members of Dark Fortress would have thought of an extremely anti-Christian text; The band only saw the actual text when the EP was published and then distanced themselves from Barad Dûr's attitude afterwards. According to their own statements, they do not follow the development of NSBM in the scene. In addition, the song Into My Deepest Desire appeared on the compilation Encyclopedia Pestilentia of the French label Velvet Music International, in 1998 the exclusive title Emperor of the Majestic Nights, recorded in October 1997, on The Second Vision…… From the Mystic Forest . In 1998 Thamuz and Njord left the band due to musical differences and were replaced by Zoltan and Paymon from the band Nebulah Horde. For the first album, Tales from Eternal Dusk , a contract was signed with CCP Records in November 1998 , but canceled three days before the planned studio date. Dark Fortress joined the German Black Metal Horde founded in 1998, to which u. a. the bands Obsidian, The True Frost, Sadorass, Seeds of Hate, Empaligon and Deathgate Arkanum as well as the fanzines Flagellation and Donnerschlag belonged.
After the end of the contract with CCP Records, the band continued to work on their debut album. In June 2000 Zoltan left Dark Fortress to devote himself to his own project Cremation, which was based on American Death Metal. In August 2000 the first album was released in the Klangschmiede Studio E in Mellrichstadt under the direction of Markus Stock , who worked as a musician a. a. has worked with Empyrium and The Vision Bleak ; Since the new bassist Draug only became a member of Dark Fortress shortly before the recordings, Crom played both the guitar and the bass. In November 2000, guitarist Crom left the band due to personal differences, and a few weeks later drummer Charon “on the grounds that he wanted to take a completely different musical direction”. In January 2001 these were replaced by Seraph and Santura, shortly afterwards a contract for two albums with Red Stream Records was released, where the debut album Tales from Eternal Dusk was finally released. On July 14, 2001, the band performed live for the first time in almost two years at a concert in Regensburg with Seeds of Hate and Encrusted. The second album Profane Genocidal Creations was recorded in May 2002 in the Norwegian Grieghallen studio within two weeks. A concert with Cirith Gorgor and Sear Bliss was planned for the delayed release on February 15, 2003, but the Dark Fortress performance was canceled on the day of the performance due to the singer's health problems; as a replacement, a concert with Desaster and Zemial was given in June 2003 . In retrospect, some of the members were dissatisfied with the sound of the album.
After this album the line-up of Azathoth (vocals), Asvargr (guitar), Santura (guitar), Draug (bass), Paymon (keyboards) and Seraph (drums) stabilized. In the same year work on the next album Stab Wounds was announced, as was an LP version of Tales from Eternal Dusk with the songs from the split CD, which, like the latter, was to appear on Fog of the Apocalypse. Stab Wounds was released on the Black Attakk label , the LP version of the debut album, however, only in 2005 with a new recording of Into My Deepest Desire and the unanimated cover Eye of the Greyhound . The international music press also responded positively to the album. The choice of label led to harsh criticism from the underground , and she was advised to leave the German Black Metal horde.
After the casting problems in the past had made live performances difficult, the band began to perform more and more from 2004, mostly at festivals.
In 2005 the band signed a new record deal with Century Media and worked on a new album. In addition, Dark Fortress made occasional appearances at festivals such as Up from the Ground and individual concerts. The album Séance , "a rather harsh break with the conventional roots of Black Metal", was finally released in January 2006. Then, in April of that year, Dark Fortress accompanied the Swedish band Lord Belial on their Nocturnal Beast tour. The band also performed at the With Full Force Festival and performed individual concerts with u. a. Celtic Frost and Satyricon. Santura also became a live guitarist for Celtic Frost.
In May 2007 singer Azathoth left the band for personal reasons. He then founded the band Eudaimony with Marcus von Naglfar , Bewitched , Havayoth, Ancient Wisdom and Throne of Ahaz . Dark Fortress replaced Azathoth with Morean, the guitarist of the progressive death / thrash metal band Noneuclid, in which V. Santura and Seraph from Dark Fortress are also active. Morean had already worked as a composer for the song Incide from the album Séance and made arrangements for While They Sleep . Together with him, the work on the new album was completed in October 2007. The album, first called Scum , is now called Eidolon and was released on February 22, 2008.
In March of the same year, Dark Fortress completed their first headlining tour through Europe, the Dark Essence Alliance Tour 2008, together with Helheim and Vulture Industries.
In late 2009 the band toured Europe with Satyricon, Shining and Posthum.
In January 2010 the album Ylem was released and Dark Fortress again completed a headlining tour through Europe together with Serpentcult, Farsot and Sardonis.
In 2014 Venereal Dawn was released .
style
Dark Fortress' music is clearly influenced by Black Metal of the 1990s; their first songs, completed in 1995, were somewhat reminiscent of the early works of Satyricon . Besides Satyricon, Emperor and Mayhem are the main influences. Their debut album, recorded six years after their founding, was described by the band itself as the result of a “crossover of different styles, mainly Black and Death Metal ”, and “roughly comparable to a mixture of DISSECTION , UNANIMATED , AT THE GATES and SATYRICON” by Fog of the Apocalypse it is advertised as melodic black metal in the Swedish style. The announcement of their third album, Stab Wounds, in turn, implies traditional Black Metal ( "Expect the most hateful and coldest material Dark Fortress have ever written in their history. JUST BLACK METAL THE WAY IT WAS MEANT TO BE !!!" ). However, the band found their own style, which is characterized by the fact that the musicians "achieve a rather morbid and rotten Black Metal atmosphere, even with elements that are adventurous or unfamiliar with the style, and despite the rawness and gloom of content, they make sophisticated music". Main influences of the current singer Moreau are Morbid Angel , Emperor, Opeth , Meshuggah , Strapping Young Lad and Slayer , composers like Igor Fedorovich Stravinsky , Béla Bartók , György Ligeti , Shostakovich Shostakovich and Witold Lutoslawski , but also artists such as Paco de Lucía , Massive Attack , Portishead or Nils Petter Molvær .
While Dark Fortress used to be “one of the most capable (even if most clichéd) underground black metal bands”, it is now much more varied, so that “you can expect everything from Dark Fortress except standardized 08/15 Black Metal”; there were even comparisons to Paradise Lost . Martin Loga from powermetal.de described the range of stylistic elements on Ylem as "impressive". According to V. Santura, this is “also a demarcation against stereotyped thinking”, as he is of the opinion “that Black Metal is rebellion and a very liberal music. 'Do what thou wilt, shall be the only law' - and that's exactly what we do. ”He“ doesn't feel like sticking to any rules that some fucked up kids set in Norway almost 20 years ago ”. In addition, the rejection of development is "exactly the opposite of what Black Metal originally was"; Innovation is "even inevitable if the genre is not like z. B. Punk or Rock'n'Roll wants to choke on themselves ”.
“Black Metal is a great piece of music, but you shouldn't limit yourself. That way you miss such great things, it can't be. And without other influences, an album like “Séance” wouldn't be possible at all. And back then when “ De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas ” by MAYHEM came out, which is one of the most important albums that the scene refers to, it was something very blatant, revolutionary and new, something that had never happened before. Totally innovative and rebellious. And it is precisely these people who want to tell you that it all sounds like this and that there must be no innovation, rebellion and development. "
When writing new songs, V. Santura tries to "largely [...] free himself from influences [...] - even if the music that one likes to hear oneself naturally leaves traces". As a musician, he has been shaped by his collaboration with Celtic Frost. For him, Black Metal defines itself “primarily through the atmosphere and the feeling of the music”, which also includes “a very dark, mystical , occult aura ”. But you can "create your own new worlds without repeating clichés heard a thousand times - even if that is extremely difficult". He does not feel connected to theistic Satanism , since he "simply cannot believe in the devil as a real existing entity", so that for him "only symbolic, atheistic Satanism comes into question"; he cannot “identify with it to a large extent”, for example he “ dislikes the social Darwinian aspects of Anton Szandor LaVey […]”. The band members see themselves as free spirits. The material on Eidolon was also inspired by authors such as Peter Carroll and Aleister Crowley , and As the World Keels Over from the album Ylem is based on a Crowley ritual .
Discography
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- 1996: Rebirth of the Dark Age (Demo)
- 1997: Towards Immortality (split with Barad Dûr; Fog of the Apocalypse)
- 1998: Emperor of the Majestic Nights on The Second Vision…… From the Mystic Forest (Moonrise Production)
- 2001: Tales from Eternal Dusk (Red Stream)
- 2003: Profane Genocidal Creations (Red Stream)
- 2004: Stab Wounds ( Black Attakk )
- 2006: Séance ( Century Media )
- 2008: Eidolon (Century Media)
- 2010: Ylem (Century Media)
- 2014: Venereal Dawn (Century Media)
- 2020: Specters from the Old World (Century Media)
Videos
- 2008: Edge of Night (clip)
- 2010: Hirundineans (clip)
- 2010: The Valley (live clip)
- 2010: Ylem (clip)
Web links
- Official website
- Dark Fortress at Century Media
- Dark Fortress at Discogs (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Dark Fortress - Biography ( Memento from December 9, 2004 in the Internet Archive ).
- ↑ a b c Past Gigs. Archived from the original on April 1, 2008 ; accessed on February 12, 2010 (English).
- ↑ Interview in Sheol Mag
- ↑ Thomas Gschwendner: Interview with V Santura from Dark Fortress. February 2, 2006, accessed January 19, 2010 .
- ↑ Dark Fortress - A New Beginning with Depression. In: Schwermetall.ch. Retrieved January 5, 2010 .
- ^ Christian Dornbusch , Hans-Peter Killguss: Unheilige Alliances . Black Metal between Satanism, Paganism and Neo-Nazism. Unrast Verlag , Münster 2005, ISBN 3-89771-817-0 , p. 64 .
- ↑ Brett VanPut: Talking with. . . Dark Fortress. March 18, 2003, accessed February 17, 2010 .
- ↑ a b Dark Fortress - Enter The Other Side ( Memento from December 2, 2003 in the Internet Archive ).
- ↑ a b c Fafnir: Dark Fortress (V. Santura) Interview from 02/06/2006. February 6, 2006, accessed February 12, 2010 .
- ↑ Oliver Schreyer: Dark Fortress: Ylem (review / criticism) - album review (Black Metal). January 10, 2010, accessed February 12, 2010 .
- ↑ a b c d Dark Fortress . ( Memento from March 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Vera: Eudaimony. Lords of Metal ezine, accessed October 24, 2014 .
- ↑ Dark Fortress. Archived from the original on March 6, 2008 ; accessed on February 12, 2010 (English).
- ^ Peter Hauser: V. Santura (Dark Fortress, March 28, 2008). In: Stormbringer Interview. March 28, 2008, accessed February 15, 2010 .
- ↑ Releases .
- ↑ a b Christian Rosenau: Dark Fortress - Ylem. Bloodchamber.de, January 25, 2010, accessed February 12, 2010 .
- ↑ Thomas Kleinertz: Interview with Morean from Dark Fortress. February 13, 2008, accessed February 17, 2010 .
- ↑ Steffen Götze: - Dark Fortress & Barad Dur - Towards Immortality. Evilized Webzine, October 9, 2004, archived from the original on October 12, 2006 ; Retrieved February 12, 2010 .
- ^ Robert Fröwein: Dark Fortress - Ylem (CD). In: Stormbringer Review. January 13, 2010, accessed February 12, 2010 .
- ↑ Antal: Dark Fortress - Ylem. (No longer available online.) Whiskey-soda.de, archived from the original on October 24, 2013 ; Retrieved February 12, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Martin Loga: Dark Fortress / Ylem. Powermetal.de , January 15, 2010, accessed on February 12, 2010 .
- ↑ Diana Glöckner: Outlaws . In: Metal Hammer . Berlin February 2010, p. 82 .
- ↑ Vargtid: Dark Fortress - A look in the mirror that you won't forget very quickly. Bloodchamber.de, February 29, 2008, accessed February 15, 2010 .
- ↑ a b c d e Götz Kühnemund : Satan's smarter sons . In: Rock Hard . No. 274 , March 2010, p. 65 .
- ↑ Erika Becker: Dark Fortress: Interview with V. Santura .
- ↑ Captain Chaos: Dark Fortress: Free from Subsidies and Scandals .
- ↑ Chart sources: Germany Switzerland
