HDK | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Reuver, Netherlands |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 2005–present |
| Labels | Season of Mist |
| Members | Sander Gommans |
HDK (Hate, Death, Kill) is a musical project of Dutch guitarist Sander Gommans, best known as member, vocalist and one of the main composers of the now dissolved symphonic metal band After Forever.
Sander Gommans founded the band as a side project of his career as guitarist and vocalist in the Dutch band After Forever in 2005, along with bass player Peter Vink and drummer Arien van Weesenbeek, who is now the drummer for Epica. Gommans' purpose was to produce music more extreme than After Forever's usual symphonic metal, which needed a different output. Gommans' activities as art teacher and member of After Forever and his poor health condition slowed down the creative process of the band, until 2008. With the interruption of After Forever activities, HDK was able to finally produce its first full-length album System Overload , which was released on 23 February 2009 on the label Season of Mist. [1] The album featured many guest singers and instrumentalists. [2]
In 2014, HDK released their second album called Serenades of the Netherworld , with a fixed line-up composed of Gommans on guitar and bass, Amanda Somerville and Geert Kroes on vocals, Koen Herfst on drums and Uri Dijk and Erik van Ittersum on keyboards, along with some guest instrumentalists. [3]
The music style is aggressive and amalgamates elements of classic metal, melodic death metal, and modern thrash metal, as well as other stylistic influences given by female vocals and progressive rock elements. [4]
After Forever was a Dutch symphonic metal band with strong progressive metal influences. The band relied on the use of both soprano vocals and death growls.
God Dethroned is a Dutch extreme metal band from Beilen, originally formed in 1990.
Invisible Circles is the third studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band After Forever. It was released on 25 March 2004, by the small Dutch label Transmission Records. It is After Forever's first full-length album since the dismissal of guitarist and composer Mark Jansen, whose musical tastes had strongly influenced the sound of their first work Prison of Desire (2000) and their successful second offering Decipher (2001). In this work After Forever choose a new musical direction, mostly revolving around elements of progressive metal instead of the gothic and symphonic metal of previous albums. The creative process for Invisible Circles took more than a year and required the use of three recording studios in the Netherlands and Germany. A long tour to support the album brought the band to some of the most important European rock festivals and to Central and South America.
Sander Gommans is a Dutch musician and songwriter. He founded the symphonic metal band Apocalypse with Mark Jansen in 1995, which later changed its name to After Forever. He played guitar and performed the vocal grunting parts in the band. He managed the band and was the main writer of After Forever's music.
Prison of Desire is the debut album by Dutch symphonic metal band After Forever. It was released on 21 April 2000 by Transmission Records. The album contains the first four installments of The Embrace That Smothers, a collection of songs by Mark Jansen which deals with the influence and distortion of religion in human society. This theme was carried over to the Epica albums The Phantom Agony and The Divine Conspiracy.
Amanda Somerville is an American singer-songwriter and vocal coach who resides in Wolfsburg, Germany. She is known primarily for her work with many European symphonic metal bands.
After Forever is the fifth and final studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band After Forever. It was released in the United States on 28 September 2007. The album reached No. 6 on the Dutch album charts.
The Divine Conspiracy is the third studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Epica as well as their first concept album. It was released through Nuclear Blast in Japan on 22 August 2007, in the US on 28 August, in Europe on 7 September, and in the UK on 10 September. The concept that guides the songs is that God created many different religions for humanity to figure out and overcome them so as to discover that, in nature and essence, they were all in fact the same one. Aside from the concept of such a conspiracy, The Divine Conspiracy finalizes The Embrace That Smothers, which began in After Forever's Prison of Desire and continued in Epica's The Phantom Agony. In short, The Embrace That Smothers is a collection of 10 songs, which talks about the dangers of organized religion.
The Classical Conspiracy is the second live album by Dutch symphonic metal band Epica. The recorded live show took part in Miskolc, Hungary on 14 June 2008 in the framework of the Miskolc Opera Festival, where the Swedish symphonic metal band Therion had done a similar show a year before. Epica performed on stage with a 40-piece orchestra and a 30-piece choir, entirely composed of Hungarian musicians conducted by Zsolt Regos. The expanded ensemble played classical music, excerpts from operas and movie soundtracks, as well as Epica's songs. The album was released on 8 May 2009 through Nuclear Blast Records.
System Overload is the first album released by Dutch After Forever guitarist Sander Gommans's side project HDK. The music of this album is heavier and more extreme than the usual style of After Forever and Gommans created HDK in order to release the album by himself. The album was released on 23 February 2009 on the Label Season of Mist. The many guest musicians involved in the making of this album produced and recorded their parts separately in various recording studios, following basic tracks provided by Gommans.
Design Your Universe is the fourth studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Epica, released on 16 October 2009. It was the first album to feature officially new band members Isaac Delahaye on guitar and Ariën van Weesenbeek on drums.
ReVamp was a Dutch progressive metal band formed by singer Floor Jansen after her previous band After Forever disbanded in 2009.
Kiske/Somerville is the debut album of the melodic rock / heavy metal duet project Kiske/Somerville. The album features the collaboration of vocalist Michael Kiske with American singer Amanda Somerville. The album was released on 24 September 2010 with cover art credited to Stanis W. Decker.
Kiske/Somerville is a melodic heavy metal duet project, put together in late 2009 by Frontiers Records. The project features German singer Michael Kiske collaborating with American singer Amanda Somerville.
Mayan is a Dutch symphonic death metal band founded by vocalist Mark Jansen, guitarist Frank Schiphorst, and keyboardist Jack Driessen. The band features many different vocalists in a mix of clean vocals, growled vocals, and screams, supported by an instrumentation combining both heavy metal and symphonic metal elements.
Quarterpast is the debut album by Dutch metal supergroup MaYaN. It was released on 20 May 2011 in Europe. The title Quarterpast was suggested by a fan as part of a competition to decide the band's name, but was eventually used as the album title when the band decided to name themselves MaYaN.
Alloy is the debut album by heavy metal act Trillium. It was released in 2011 by the Italian record label Frontiers Records in Europe.
Serenades of the Netherworld is the second album released by Dutch guitarist Sander Gommans's project HDK. "Revelation" and "Return from Tomorrow" were released as single tracks, while the entire album itself entered stores on 1 September 2014.
City of Heroes is the second studio album by the melodic rock / heavy metal duet project Kiske/Somerville. The album features the collaboration between vocalist Michael Kiske and American singer Amanda Somerville. It was released on 17 April 2015 in Europe and on 21 April 2015 in North America.
Chapter One is the first album by project Level 10 featuring Symphony X and Adrenaline Mob vocalist Russell Allen and bassist/producer Mat Sinner. It was released via Frontiers Records on January 23, 2015 with Cry No More single lyric video and it was anticipated by single Blasphemy on December 15, 2014.
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