Landgraaf is a municipality in southeastern Limburg, Netherlands, forming part of the Parkstad Limburg agglomeration. Snow World is the largest indoor ski piste in Europe.
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.
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.
Saille is a Belgian black metal band formed in 2009. The band uses classical instruments as well as traditional black metal instruments. Saille has released five studio albums till to date.
Summer Breeze Open Air is an annual German heavy metal music festival. It was first held in 1997. The festival had been held in Abtsgmünd until 2006 when it was moved to its new location of Dinkelsbühl, Bavaria. The festival draws around 40,000 attendees annually.
Ragnarök Festival is a pagan metal festival held annually in Germany since 2004 founded by Ivo Raab. It started out as a small, one-night festival with only regional bands in the town hall of Hollfeld. In 2005 it was decided to go for a festival featuring mostly Viking and pagan metal with the booking of bands like Månegarm, Menhir, Eisregen and Equilibrium. From 2006 on the festival took place in the significantly bigger town hall of Lichtenfels, Bavaria.
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.
Ethereal Veiled Existence is the first EP by Dutch symphonic black metal band Carach Angren. All tracks are based on a haunting called Brown Lady of Raynham Hall, known from the worlds' most famous ghost-picture, taken in 1936. Recorded & produced at the Wijers residence in Well (Netherlands) during August/September 2005. It was limited to 300 copies.
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.
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.
Dennis "Seregor" Droomers is a vocalist, guitarist, artist, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist for Dutch symphonic black metal band, Carach Angren. The stage name "Seregor" comes from Tolkien's Silmarillion. It is a combination of the word sereg which means blood, and gor which means abhorrent. Before Carach Angren, Droomers played bass and was the vocalist for Inger Indolia from 1996 to 2001 and was the vocalist for Vaultage from 2003 to 2005 with fellow Carach Angren member Clemens "Ardek" Wijers on keyboards. Carach Angren began as his and Wijers' side project while they were playing in Vaultage, because the two connected over a shared love of horror and storytelling. Later, Vaultage was disbanded as Carach Angren became increasingly successful. It is known that he grew up close to Schildveldse Bossen near where the focus of Lammendam took place. It is also known that he was primarily raised by his grandparents and is close to his grandmother who appears on the album art of This Is No Fairytale as the hand of the witch. Typically, Droomers writes Carach Angren's lyrics and stories while bandmate Clemens "Ardek" Wijers writes the composition.
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.
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".
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.
Exitivm is the ninth studio album by Dutch death metal band Pestilence. It was released on 25 June 2021, after having been signed to Agonia Records. Because Septimiu Hărşan had to leave the band due to restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, he was replaced by Michiel van der Plicht who has since become a full-time member. It is also the band's first album with bassist Joost van der Graaf and guitarist Rutger van Noordenburg.
