Symphonic black metal is a subgenre of black metal that emerged in the 1990s and incorporates symphonic and orchestral elements.
Carach Angren is a Dutch symphonic black metal band, founded in 2003 by two members of the now-defunct bands Inger Indolia and Vaultage. Their style is characterized by prominent usage of orchestral arrangements, black metal vocals, and guitar riffs. Their studio albums are concept albums with lyrics based on ghost stories and folklore, such as the Flying Dutchman. The band sets itself apart from other symphonic black metal artists with the usage of multiple languages such as English, French, German, and Dutch. Most songs are based on English, with transitions into other languages during chorus and bridge sections.
Marduk is a Swedish black metal band formed in Norrköping in 1990. The band released their debut full-length album, Dark Endless, in 1992 on No Fashion Records. Their name is derived from the Ancient Babylonian deity, Marduk.
Season of Mist is an independent record label and record distributor with subsidiaries in France and the United States. The record label was founded in 1996 by Michael S. Berberian in Marseille, France. From the start releasing black metal, pagan metal, and death metal records, the label moved on to releasing albums of avant-garde metal, gothic metal and punk bands as well. The label has two offices, one in Marseille, France and one in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Alf Peter Tägtgren is a Swedish musician and record producer. He is the founder, main songwriter, lead vocalist, and guitarist of death metal band Hypocrisy as well as the industrial metal band Pain in which he is the only member. He is also the owner of The Abyss recording studio and the co-founder of Lindemann, a music project between Tägtgren and Rammstein vocalist Till Lindemann. Tägtgren left Lindemann in 2020.
Barry Graham Purkis, more commonly known as Thunderstick, is an English drummer who wore various masks and used to perform on-stage closed in a cage. He was in the cult-band Samson, with whom his name is most associated.
Portal is an Australian extreme metal band whose style is an unorthodox fusion of death metal, black metal, dark ambient and experimental music. The band's hybrid musical style is characterised by heavily distorted guitar riffs, down-tuned rhythms, and vocals ranging from "menacing, echoing" sound effects to death grunts.
Lammendam is the debut studio album by Dutch symphonic black metal band Carach Angren. Released in 2008, it is a concept album about Lammendam, the remains of a castle that are haunted by a "ghost lady in a white dress". Dennis "Seregor" Droomers claims that he was inspired to write the album by a local legend that he has been familiar with since childhood. The legend centers around series of events that supposedly occurred in Schinveldse Bossen, a forest area northeast of the Dutch region of South Limburg and of the town of Schinveld, near the German border.
Death Came Through a Phantom Ship is the second studio album by Dutch symphonic black metal band Carach Angren, It was released in 2010.
Where the Corpses Sink Forever is the third studio album by Dutch symphonic black metal band Carach Angren. It was released on 18 May 2012 via Season of Mist. The concept of this album is not about a Dutch urban legend or ghost stories, like the previous two albums, but it deals with war. The album contains references to World Wars I and II, as well as the Vietnam War. The first track is a tape recording of a soldier who was ordered to shoot seven prisoners of war, and each shot can be heard. The soldier explains the strange and wicked sensations he felt as he shot each of the prisoners; they were grinning happily as he tried to kill them, and it seemed like the shots went through them, but they were actually demons who captured the soldier's soul in a time loop, making him suffer for eternity. Many of the songs in this album describe the deeds of each of the seven fiends; death, war, suffering.
Einar Selvik, also known by his stage name Kvitrafn, is a Norwegian musician known for being the drummer of black metal band Gorgoroth from 2000 to 2004, and for fronting the Nordic folk project Wardruna, founded in 2002. Selvik and Wardruna earned international prominence for contributing to the soundtrack and score of the television show Vikings. Selvik is a founder of By Norse, a platform to support Norse and Norse-related art, music, literature, film and culture.
This Is No Fairytale is the fourth studio album by Dutch symphonic black metal band Carach Angren. It was released on 23 February 2015 via Season of Mist. The witch's hand on the cover art of the album is actually the hand of Dennis "Seregor" Droomers' grandmother.
The Chase Vault Tragedy is the first demo by Dutch symphonic black metal band Carach Angren. The CD was released on 1 September 2004; it is a concept album about the mystery of the burial vault of Chase Vault in Barbados. Pro-printed CD-R comes without back cover artwork. It was limited to 100 copies.
Dance and Laugh Amongst the Rotten is the fifth studio album by Dutch symphonic black metal band Carach Angren. It was released on 16 June 2017 via Season of Mist. Although the album doesn't follow a linear story as their previous albums did, it is still a concept album. Clemens "Ardek" Wijers describes the album's concept as visitations from multiple ghosts of the dead; including the "Blood Queen" and Charles Francis Coghlan. The full album is focused on a nameless girl who plays with a Ouija board causing her to raise a variety of spirits and ends up getting possessed. The album ends by informing the listener that the box the CD came in is haunted by these same spirits, and that by opening the album, the listener has also released them.
Amsterdam Metalfest is a biannual metalfestival that takes place in the Netherlands' capital city, Amsterdam. As from 2015, it is held in the much acclaimed venue Melkweg and organised by Metal Amsterdam. Amsterdam Metalfest endeavors to provide a stage for local and (inter)national metalbands and, in doing so, re-establishing the Amsterdam metalscene. It was originally organized in The Sugarfactory, featuring Dutch bands like Cilice, The New Dominion, Red Eyes, Illucinoma and others. The May 2018 edition line-up is Fleshgod Apocalypse, Obscura, The Charm The Fury, Hideous Divinity, For I Am King, Onegodless.
Clemens "Ardek" Wijers is a Dutch keyboardist, pianist, and composer best known as the keyboardist of Dutch symphonic black metal band Carach Angren. Prior to forming Carach Angren with his brother Ivo "Namtar" Wijers and Dennis "Seregor" Droomers, he played with Dark Mutation and Vaultage. Wijers has written songs for Rammstein singer Till Lindemann's side project Lindemann and solo album, in addition to contributing orchestration and orchestral arrangements for Lindemann, Pain, Ex Deo and Joe Lynn Turner. He has also composed several soundtrack albums and provided soundtracks for short films.
Andrew Lawrence Fortier is an American musician, guitarist, filmmaker, actor, and author. He is best known for his work with The Lucid; which he cofounded alongside Vinnie Dombroski (Sponge), David Ellefson, and Mike Heller. He was guitarist for the now late Chuck Mosley. He has directed and edited the documentary Attack of Life: The Bang Tango Movie as well as the David Ellefson produced horror film Dwellers which Fortier also wrote and stars in. He is the author of Dark, Depressing, and Hilarious which is an autobiography on his career thus far.
Franckensteina Strataemontanus is the sixth studio album by Dutch symphonic black metal band Carach Angren. Released on 26 June 2020 through Season of Mist, it is a concept album inspired by the life of late 17th-century/early 18th-century German occultist Johann Konrad Dippel, whose controversial experiments with corpses allegedly inspired Mary Shelley's influential 1818 Gothic novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus; its title is a reference to a Latin epithet adopted by Dippel later in life. It is also their final release with long-time drummer and founding member Ivo "Namtar" Wijers, who left the band as soon as the recording sessions ended citing "dissatisfactions with the music industry".
Hinayana is an American melodic death metal/doom metal band from Austin, Texas.
Phenomy is a metal band from Lebanon formed by Loïc El Haddad (guitarist) and Rudy Bejjani (drummer). To date, Phenomy has released three full length albums, each with its own touring cycle.
