Grabak
| Grabak | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| origin |
Leipzig , Germany
|
| Genre (s) | Black metal |
| founding | 1995 |
| Website | www.grabak.com |
| Founding members | |
| Jan Klepel | |
| Andre Recklies | |
| D. Glaser (until 1996) | |
| Dirk Lakowitz (until 2004) | |
| Current occupation | |
singing |
Jan Klepel |
Electric guitar |
Christian Leopold (since 2014) |
Electric guitar |
Christian Badtke (since 2001) |
Electric bass |
Steffen Ellebood (since 2007) |
Drums |
Benjamin Stephan (since 2016) |
| former members | |
| Kristin Müller (1996-2000) | |
Electric guitar |
Andre Feder (1996-2000) |
Electric bass |
Gabor Antok (1996-2007) |
Electric bass |
Andre Recklies |
Drums |
Sebastian Schmidt (2004-2010) |
Drums |
C. Coenen (2010-2011) |
Drums |
Erebor |
Grabak is a black metal band from Leipzig .
Band history
After the death of their singer Mike P. in 1995, the band FFF (consisting of Dirk, André and D. Glaser) was looking for a replacement, where they came across Jan from the band Hecatomb; this initially saw FFF only as his side project, but dissolved Hecatomb in 1996 in favor of FFF. With this line-up, the first new songs were created, and "[u] m to manifest the new beginning by name", the band renamed itself to Grabak, according to the older biography. The newer one, however, states that the band was founded in 1995 by members of both bands.
In the spring of 1996 Gabor Antok joined the band as second bass player and Kristin Müller as keyboard player . In the same year D. Glaser left the band because he “could no longer identify with the band's philosophy and ideology”. He was replaced by A. Feder. This "influenced the already existing song material very strongly, so that the existing tracks were either improved or completely discarded in order to present the best possible result in the end."
In 1997 Grabak played the first concert. In winter, a demo was recorded in a Leipzig studio and distributed on CD without a title. The only criticism of this demo recording known to the band was published in Ablaze and "was quite good, contrary to expectations". In 1998 Grabak played a few concerts and recorded other pieces. With this material, the band applied to many record labels and finally signed a contract with CCP Records in 1998 or 1999 . In 1999 her debut album The Prophet of Chaos was released. It was around this time that the band also began work on their second album. In 2000 or 2001 Kristin Müller and A. Feder left the band because they did not agree with the musical development and the values of the band. The band had booked a studio and needed a replacement; Attempts with other keyboardists failed, and finding a suitable guitarist turned out to be even more difficult. The band Valgaldrar offered Grabak their support with the recordings, but the studio appointment fell through. When the band met Christian "Baddy" Badtke, they took him on as a permanent guitarist and decided to forego keyboards in the future. The existing songs have therefore been rearranged. In December 2001, Encyclopedia Infernalis was published .
In 2002 Gabor Antok moved to Berlin, but he remained a permanent member of the band. In 2003 Dirk Lakowitz left Leipzig for professional reasons and moved to Halle. In April 2003, the band recorded The Serpent Within Paradise , their third album. In 2004 Dirk Lakowitz was replaced by Sebastian Schmidt.
At the beginning of 2005, Grabak's manager Kristian Arzig retired from the music business; he was replaced by J. Rose. The 10th anniversary of the band was not celebrated. In August 2006 the band played a demo recording to get a new record deal and signed with Black Blood Records. In March 2007 the band recorded their fourth album. which appeared under the title Agash Daeva and participated in the Nornagest by Enthroned and Tobias G. von Mortjuri as a guest singer. In the summer of 2007, Gabor Antok left the band. Steffen Ellebood, who also plays with the Halle band Bloodlegion, takes his place today. Sebastian Schmidt left the band in 2010. He was replaced by C. Coenen (ex-Valgaldrar), who left in 2011 and was replaced by Haradwaith drummer Erebor.
Style and ideology
Due to the “wide-ranging” musical taste of the musicians, Grabak “showed a wide variety of influences from the start. But above all the individual elements was clearly Black Metal, which was clearly evident both in the lyrics and musically. ”The band's use of two basses in addition to the electric guitar is characteristic. Her bassist Recke had “[i] n the lack of a second guitar in his band at the time” tried to distort his bass in such a way “that his sound was in no way inferior to that of a normal guitar, and even more cutting. Initially only intended as an emergency solution, this variant ultimately established itself and has become his trademark. He himself thinks that he can no longer physically play the guitar because he has gotten so used to his bass. ”Since guitarist Christian“ Baddy ”Badtke started, the bands have done without keyboards. In 2007 Grabak's music became more brutal and faster.
In Germanic mythology, Grabak refers to a large snake to the roots of Yggdrasil , which is mentioned in the song Grímnismál in the Edda . Recke and Dirk had a strong interest in Nordic mythology , Jan reinterpreted the Nordic snake as the primordial snake. When asked about the meaning of Satanism for him, Jan replied that he lived his satanic philosophy privately and did not specifically attract attention with it; Satanism is part of the dark side, in a sense occult , i.e. hidden. However, he could only speak for himself; each member had his own opinion on it. In their online biography, the band expressed their disinterest in a pagan trend in metal. The members of Grabak, however, could not turn a blind eye to the musical and ideological development in the scene. Ideologically, the band will remain “as black as possible”, ie satanic without “political blindness”. The lyrics are partly based on mythology, partly on blasphemy , and some are based on texts by John Milton , Dante Alighieri or HP Lovecraft . On the album Encyclopaedia Infernalis , the lyrics “can clearly be traced back to the prehistory of 'Prophet des Chaos'. That means that the prophet as a new topic, without prior knowledge from the texts of the prophet, is difficult to understand or to put into a contextual framework. ”From the beginning, the album was intended as a“ conceptual successor to the debut ”. The lyrics for this album were also provided in English translation.
Discography
- 1997: Demo (in-house production)
- 1999: The Prophet of Chaos ( CCP Records )
- 2001: Encyclopaedia Infernalis (CCP Records)
- 2003: The Serpent Within Paradise (CCP Records)
- 2007: Agash Daeva (Black Blood Records)
- 2011: SIN (Twilight Sales)
- 2016: SIN Re-Release (Black Blood Records)
- 2017: Bloodline Divine (Massacre Records)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s History. (No longer available online.) Grabak, archived from the original on February 5, 2003 ; Retrieved December 9, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Chronicle. (No longer available online.) Grabak, archived from the original on June 19, 2008 ; accessed on December 9, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c d e Welcome to the Serpent's Lair. (No longer available online.) Grabak, archived from the original on June 12, 2008 ; accessed on December 9, 2017 (English / German).
- ↑ a b Miscellaneous. (No longer available online.) Grabak, archived from the original on February 5, 2003 ; Retrieved December 9, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c d Mrik: Grabak ( Memento of the original from December 5, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Originally published in the Foedus Aeternus .
- ↑ downloads. (No longer available online.) Grabak, archived from the original on May 12, 2003 ; Retrieved December 9, 2017 .
