Dark Age - Biography
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Biography
"It seems like such a long hard road, that there are times in which you forget all the things left behind, but that is not completely the case with the Hamburg's Dark Age, since they are already 10 years old and still on the fight for recognition, sometimes playing in tiny stinky bar, and others playing in venues such as Wacken Open Air". - Leviathan-magazine.com
A decade of sold out and almost empty shows, demanding and glorious touring, 4 albums and nearly 50 songs later Dark Age are back with a new long-player. For they decided to not let their dream of making music go away - for the band, for the fans and for all those that helped to make Dark Age a phenomenon of the German Metal scene. "A band you probably have never heard of, but that you should, not just because of their hardworking ways, or their obsession with music, but because they are good, and that's why you should aim for them". 4 years past by since their last self titled record ?Dark Age" was released and a lot of things happened during this time. Immediately after the release the band went on the "Wacken Road Show", a European tour with Primal Fear, Freedom Call and Metalium. For the first time Dark Age were able to present their music to a very large audience all over the continent. The press reactions were great and the band gained a lot of respect and praise for their "best album to date". Especially in France people went nuts about the release and "Dark Age" went No. 1 in the sound check of France´ Hard Rock magazine.
Because of this success they add another European tour in 2005, this time together with label mates Torment and Paragon. The show in Hamburg's famous metal hall "Markthalle" was recorded for the first Live DVD of Dark Age, which was released just in time of the 10th anniversary of the band in the summer of 2006. Besides the live recordings it includes a very fine documentation of tons of backstage material and other footage like recording sessions of the previous albums.
- The higher you climb, the farther you fall. - A thing Dark Age had to learn after they acclaimed the biggest success in the bands history. In 2006 Torsten Eggert the long time bass player of the band left the crew. Even so he could be replaced very fast by Alex Frank of PHILIAE, the incident was a really painful cut for everyone and left a scar in the bands story that took some time to digest. On top of this, lead singer and main songwriter Eike Freese, who also is responsible for the production of the records since "Dark Age", decided to move with his studio. The decision to go for a professional studio that allows the owner to make his living out of it took time, hard work and money and delayed the process of "Minus Exitus" again. All in all these things leaded to the hardest time in the bands history that was filled with doubt and frustration.
Since the release of "Dark Age" the band always had been an "underground tip". This status and the pressure arising from the new role change on the spot when this album came out. Although there had been successes in the past, with the band performing the Wacken Open Air twice in 2001 and 2003 each time after the release of the predecessors "The Silent Republic" and "Insurrection", in 2004 there were only a few that haven't heard of Dark Age. They wanted to come up with a next record as soon as possible and got stuck in the middle of this unexpected crisis.
In the December of 2007 "Minus Exitus" finally was finished and the fact that this record evolved to carry the ultimate "Dark Age sound", made the band believe that they still had a way to go. The mixture of hardness, melody and catchy hooks, which the band is so much admired for by their fans, reaches a level of perfection on this record that is hard to describe. You can say one thing: "Minus Exitus" is the future of Dark Age made out of their own past". The most personal and versatile work to date. You'll know what that means after the release in Februar 2008.
Source: http://www.dark-age.de
A decade of sold out and almost empty shows, demanding and glorious touring, 4 albums and nearly 50 songs later Dark Age are back with a new long-player. For they decided to not let their dream of making music go away - for the band, for the fans and for all those that helped to make Dark Age a phenomenon of the German Metal scene. "A band you probably have never heard of, but that you should, not just because of their hardworking ways, or their obsession with music, but because they are good, and that's why you should aim for them". 4 years past by since their last self titled record ?Dark Age" was released and a lot of things happened during this time. Immediately after the release the band went on the "Wacken Road Show", a European tour with Primal Fear, Freedom Call and Metalium. For the first time Dark Age were able to present their music to a very large audience all over the continent. The press reactions were great and the band gained a lot of respect and praise for their "best album to date". Especially in France people went nuts about the release and "Dark Age" went No. 1 in the sound check of France´ Hard Rock magazine.
Because of this success they add another European tour in 2005, this time together with label mates Torment and Paragon. The show in Hamburg's famous metal hall "Markthalle" was recorded for the first Live DVD of Dark Age, which was released just in time of the 10th anniversary of the band in the summer of 2006. Besides the live recordings it includes a very fine documentation of tons of backstage material and other footage like recording sessions of the previous albums.
- The higher you climb, the farther you fall. - A thing Dark Age had to learn after they acclaimed the biggest success in the bands history. In 2006 Torsten Eggert the long time bass player of the band left the crew. Even so he could be replaced very fast by Alex Frank of PHILIAE, the incident was a really painful cut for everyone and left a scar in the bands story that took some time to digest. On top of this, lead singer and main songwriter Eike Freese, who also is responsible for the production of the records since "Dark Age", decided to move with his studio. The decision to go for a professional studio that allows the owner to make his living out of it took time, hard work and money and delayed the process of "Minus Exitus" again. All in all these things leaded to the hardest time in the bands history that was filled with doubt and frustration.
Since the release of "Dark Age" the band always had been an "underground tip". This status and the pressure arising from the new role change on the spot when this album came out. Although there had been successes in the past, with the band performing the Wacken Open Air twice in 2001 and 2003 each time after the release of the predecessors "The Silent Republic" and "Insurrection", in 2004 there were only a few that haven't heard of Dark Age. They wanted to come up with a next record as soon as possible and got stuck in the middle of this unexpected crisis.
In the December of 2007 "Minus Exitus" finally was finished and the fact that this record evolved to carry the ultimate "Dark Age sound", made the band believe that they still had a way to go. The mixture of hardness, melody and catchy hooks, which the band is so much admired for by their fans, reaches a level of perfection on this record that is hard to describe. You can say one thing: "Minus Exitus" is the future of Dark Age made out of their own past". The most personal and versatile work to date. You'll know what that means after the release in Februar 2008.
Source: http://www.dark-age.de