Hydra - Biography
Biography
Hydra was created in 1995 as project by A. "Titan" Xanthopoulos on guitars, playing oldschool primitive downtuned death-black metal. Due to some lazy members in the band, Hydra was laid on ice for a couple of years and during this time some reherseal tapes was recorded by Titan...
In 1999, Titan recruited the multi-talented musician Flame (guitars/bass) and the raw vocalist Erebus. Later on Tornado was taken in on drums. With this line-up Hydra recorded four demo cds: "Polemos", "Cursed Battlegrounds", "To Aima Emon" and "Tantalus". The music style had evolved to grim hellenic pagan metal and suited the band perfectly.
In 2002 the band kicked Tornado (R.I.P.) and recruited Karl Thunder on drums instead, and Maugrim on bass so that Flame could concentrate on his guitar playing. With this ultimate line-up Hydra signed a deal with the newly started Off-Beat Records for a split-Lp with the cult-band Unholy Archangel which should have been released in the Autumn of 2002. However this didn´t happen due to problems inside the record-company. From this recording of 4 songs entitled "To Aima Emon", the first song, Phaedra, became the title-song for Hydras debutalbum.
Early 2003 Hydra signs a deal with portugese label Heretic Sound for a full-length album called "Phaedra". This recording took place in early 2003 and was finished right before the summer. It was released in 2004 by Heretic Sound. Once again Hydra faced major record-company-troubles, as it turned out, Heretic Sound was run very unproffesionally and the album never made it's way to the recordshops in Europe as promised.
In the summer of 2004 Hydra is booked for the first mini-festival Breaker at Tantogården in Stockholm city. Hydra opened the festival in front of a great crowd, the place was packed and the show was great. The gig was captured on tape and became "Tantalus Reincarnated - Live at Breaker 2004". After Hydras show the crowd had the opportunity to see a young and hungry Crash Diet who later became Swedens finest sleazeband. Flame, Titan and Lord Khazad also played in the death metal band Dimness in the mid-90:s with guitar-player Martin Sweet from Crash Diet.
After the succesful show Hydra continues working on new material and records a pre-production with 2 songs for the next album. This recording made it´s way to Temple of Darkness Records who showed interest in the band and Hydra once again signs a new deal.
In 2005 singer Erebus deicides to leave the band. Hydra has no plans to call it a quits and starts recording for the new album the very last days in december 2005. The drums takes a week to record and guitar and bass are recorded in the spring of 2006. Still in the back of the heads of the remaining members is the fact that they don't have a singer anymore and this along with a million other reasons the energy starts to fade from Hydra. The recording is layed on ice.
In january 2007 the studio that Hydra has done all their recordings suffers from a break-in, Flames guitar, bass and bassamp is stolen along with Titans guitaramp and of course the studio looses their gear. This incident makes it even harder for Hydra to find energy to start up the recording and start delivering.
2008: Flame buys a new computer, studio-monitors and a new apartment with an extra room that he transforms into a mini-studio. The broken pieces of the recording are put back together and a goal is set: RELEASE THE ALBUM!!
Now the future will tell if they´re capable of releasing their second album. Temple of Darkness Records are intending to re-release Phaedre, hopefully in 2009. Hydra has written and made a pre-production of a new album that, if everything works as it should, would be their third album. A new website is constructed and the future looks a bit brighter for Hydra... time will tell.
Source: http://www.offbeatstudio.se/hydra/#
In 1999, Titan recruited the multi-talented musician Flame (guitars/bass) and the raw vocalist Erebus. Later on Tornado was taken in on drums. With this line-up Hydra recorded four demo cds: "Polemos", "Cursed Battlegrounds", "To Aima Emon" and "Tantalus". The music style had evolved to grim hellenic pagan metal and suited the band perfectly.
In 2002 the band kicked Tornado (R.I.P.) and recruited Karl Thunder on drums instead, and Maugrim on bass so that Flame could concentrate on his guitar playing. With this ultimate line-up Hydra signed a deal with the newly started Off-Beat Records for a split-Lp with the cult-band Unholy Archangel which should have been released in the Autumn of 2002. However this didn´t happen due to problems inside the record-company. From this recording of 4 songs entitled "To Aima Emon", the first song, Phaedra, became the title-song for Hydras debutalbum.
Early 2003 Hydra signs a deal with portugese label Heretic Sound for a full-length album called "Phaedra". This recording took place in early 2003 and was finished right before the summer. It was released in 2004 by Heretic Sound. Once again Hydra faced major record-company-troubles, as it turned out, Heretic Sound was run very unproffesionally and the album never made it's way to the recordshops in Europe as promised.
In the summer of 2004 Hydra is booked for the first mini-festival Breaker at Tantogården in Stockholm city. Hydra opened the festival in front of a great crowd, the place was packed and the show was great. The gig was captured on tape and became "Tantalus Reincarnated - Live at Breaker 2004". After Hydras show the crowd had the opportunity to see a young and hungry Crash Diet who later became Swedens finest sleazeband. Flame, Titan and Lord Khazad also played in the death metal band Dimness in the mid-90:s with guitar-player Martin Sweet from Crash Diet.
After the succesful show Hydra continues working on new material and records a pre-production with 2 songs for the next album. This recording made it´s way to Temple of Darkness Records who showed interest in the band and Hydra once again signs a new deal.
In 2005 singer Erebus deicides to leave the band. Hydra has no plans to call it a quits and starts recording for the new album the very last days in december 2005. The drums takes a week to record and guitar and bass are recorded in the spring of 2006. Still in the back of the heads of the remaining members is the fact that they don't have a singer anymore and this along with a million other reasons the energy starts to fade from Hydra. The recording is layed on ice.
In january 2007 the studio that Hydra has done all their recordings suffers from a break-in, Flames guitar, bass and bassamp is stolen along with Titans guitaramp and of course the studio looses their gear. This incident makes it even harder for Hydra to find energy to start up the recording and start delivering.
2008: Flame buys a new computer, studio-monitors and a new apartment with an extra room that he transforms into a mini-studio. The broken pieces of the recording are put back together and a goal is set: RELEASE THE ALBUM!!
Now the future will tell if they´re capable of releasing their second album. Temple of Darkness Records are intending to re-release Phaedre, hopefully in 2009. Hydra has written and made a pre-production of a new album that, if everything works as it should, would be their third album. A new website is constructed and the future looks a bit brighter for Hydra... time will tell.
Source: http://www.offbeatstudio.se/hydra/#