Ephel Duath - Biography
Biography
Ephel Duath started out as a duo in 1998 thanks to the determination, of the then 18 year old Davide Tiso, to try his hand in a musical scene such as Black Metal that is closed to change.
The Duo (with Giuliano Mogicato) publishes its first and only demo in 1998 "Opera" and the distinctive traits of this project immediately emerge and even though their roots are solid, with an evident influence in the Black Metal Scandinavian scene (Emperor), they don't disdain bold solutions, dissonant matches and a strong will to propose something new.
The demo sells 2000 copies and also brings them a recording contract with the newly founded Italian label code666 (today the producers of Aborym, Aghora, Konkhra, Atrox, Void Of Silence, and many more) who, before all others sense the great potential of Ephel Duath, directing them towards the Fear Studios, with Paso at the console, to record their Debut-album. In the meantime Code666 decides to put the tracks of Opera on-line, to make their music more reachable and to prepare for the introduction of their new album: the move is successful as the feedback is enormous with the mp3.com site that puts the Ephel Duath in the top 10 Black Metal download charts, for over 4 consecutive months they stay on number one thanks to the 35.000 certified downloads. The anticipation for the new album becomes nerve racking and when "Phormula" comes to the shops in the summer of 2000, the feedback of the international press is absolutely enthusiastic from all areas?.. Infact, the record, with respect to the demo, is an enormous step ahead due to a larger musical spectrum, a higher production quality and a further improvement of the duo's technical ability, who in this album touch levels hardly ever reached before by similar bands??.. The Ephel Duath with "Phormula" drive themselves to the limit, of what up to then, was considered Black Metal, consciously deciding not to totally cross the limit and go too far, as they could have done, or maybe wanted to do, to possibly avoid turning their debut into a risky undertaking.
Just at the most promising moment, Giuliano decides to quit music, leaving Davide by himself and putting Ephel Duath's carrier at risk; they do however find new energy thanks to the management contract with code7 (a branch of code 666) which brings them, after only a short period of time, to the first important result: the prestigious British label Earache (Napalm Death, Carcass, Entombed, Morbid Angel?) offers Davide an important long term agreement, via their new sub-label Elitist, whose A & R, Lee Barrett, is non other than the founder of Candlelight, with which at the beginning of the nineties he discovered and launched some of the foremost metal scene bands (Emperor and Opeth the most important). The restored enthusiasm starts the search for a rightful line-up, as the will to abandon the duo status and the intent to become a proper band comes out strong again, just as at the beginning. In the meantime, in accordance with code666, Earache/Elitist, reprints Phormula with the addition of bonus tracks, giving birth in 2002 to "Rephormula". A CD which enables Davide to assemble the new line-up and to compose the new album from scratch.
After nearly a year of hard work, they return with "The Painter's Palette".
The new line-up is quite bizarre, apparently un-appropriate and incompatible, Davide Piovesan is called at the drums, a 47 year old percussion instrument and polyrhythmic teacher with a Jazz-Blues background, even though he is absolutely unacquainted with Metal (a determining factor for this choice was the will to assemble musicians with a new and unconditioned approach, one of the most important standards during the auditions); the next recruit is a highly prepared bass player of Prog-Fusion extraction, Fabio Fecchio, also quite lacking in Metal Extreme sounds, the melodic voice of the group is Davide Tolomei, an old friend of Davide Tiso, who in his free time loves to emulate Jeff Buckley?. the last seIection to be made is the Frontman, our choice here falls to Lucio Lorusso, the only member not from Padua, he is a real stage animal with a Hardcore-Noise Apocalyptic background, the complete band meets to try out the songs composed in the meantime by Davide Tiso (guitar and soul of the band and also composer of all lyrics).
The result of 3 months in the recording studio with the faithful producer Paso is the album "The Painter's Palette" which marks a turning point as the 9 tracks of this album may probably be defined as a whole new genre of music.
It becomes quite impossible to quote any reference bands because the sound of these songs is completely unique, or otherwise to classify them with standard parameters??.all types of music, past, present and future are quoted in a single sound format, that doesn't allow it to be isolated from the context?..in practice, the determination to experiment, present from the beginning in the band, remains strong.
However, the "imposition" at the time of the opening record, not to surpass the self-dictated types of music, gets paved over by a conscious delirium of contrasting emotions and the stunning individual musical technique, is put to work for the unpredictable and changeable human core.
Conceptually inspired from the connection between sounds and colours, "The Painter's Palette" is published as a strict artwork in black and white, to portray the intention of Ephel Duath to give colour through sounds or, if you prefer, to play the sound of colours, with every song depicted by a different chromatic shade, where the listeners mind becomes a painting, with infinite possibilities and matches of sounds and colours, music and tones, musical tonalities and chromatic shades.
The mp3 previews released set a new precedent (reaching once again 20.000 downloads of the single "The Passage"). Around the middle of February 2003 they will debut with a live concert at the Vidia of Cesena with the Lacuna Coil, creating great interest thanks to a memorable opening concert.
Taken from Ephel Duath Ofiicial website
The Duo (with Giuliano Mogicato) publishes its first and only demo in 1998 "Opera" and the distinctive traits of this project immediately emerge and even though their roots are solid, with an evident influence in the Black Metal Scandinavian scene (Emperor), they don't disdain bold solutions, dissonant matches and a strong will to propose something new.
The demo sells 2000 copies and also brings them a recording contract with the newly founded Italian label code666 (today the producers of Aborym, Aghora, Konkhra, Atrox, Void Of Silence, and many more) who, before all others sense the great potential of Ephel Duath, directing them towards the Fear Studios, with Paso at the console, to record their Debut-album. In the meantime Code666 decides to put the tracks of Opera on-line, to make their music more reachable and to prepare for the introduction of their new album: the move is successful as the feedback is enormous with the mp3.com site that puts the Ephel Duath in the top 10 Black Metal download charts, for over 4 consecutive months they stay on number one thanks to the 35.000 certified downloads. The anticipation for the new album becomes nerve racking and when "Phormula" comes to the shops in the summer of 2000, the feedback of the international press is absolutely enthusiastic from all areas?.. Infact, the record, with respect to the demo, is an enormous step ahead due to a larger musical spectrum, a higher production quality and a further improvement of the duo's technical ability, who in this album touch levels hardly ever reached before by similar bands??.. The Ephel Duath with "Phormula" drive themselves to the limit, of what up to then, was considered Black Metal, consciously deciding not to totally cross the limit and go too far, as they could have done, or maybe wanted to do, to possibly avoid turning their debut into a risky undertaking.
Just at the most promising moment, Giuliano decides to quit music, leaving Davide by himself and putting Ephel Duath's carrier at risk; they do however find new energy thanks to the management contract with code7 (a branch of code 666) which brings them, after only a short period of time, to the first important result: the prestigious British label Earache (Napalm Death, Carcass, Entombed, Morbid Angel?) offers Davide an important long term agreement, via their new sub-label Elitist, whose A & R, Lee Barrett, is non other than the founder of Candlelight, with which at the beginning of the nineties he discovered and launched some of the foremost metal scene bands (Emperor and Opeth the most important). The restored enthusiasm starts the search for a rightful line-up, as the will to abandon the duo status and the intent to become a proper band comes out strong again, just as at the beginning. In the meantime, in accordance with code666, Earache/Elitist, reprints Phormula with the addition of bonus tracks, giving birth in 2002 to "Rephormula". A CD which enables Davide to assemble the new line-up and to compose the new album from scratch.
After nearly a year of hard work, they return with "The Painter's Palette".
The new line-up is quite bizarre, apparently un-appropriate and incompatible, Davide Piovesan is called at the drums, a 47 year old percussion instrument and polyrhythmic teacher with a Jazz-Blues background, even though he is absolutely unacquainted with Metal (a determining factor for this choice was the will to assemble musicians with a new and unconditioned approach, one of the most important standards during the auditions); the next recruit is a highly prepared bass player of Prog-Fusion extraction, Fabio Fecchio, also quite lacking in Metal Extreme sounds, the melodic voice of the group is Davide Tolomei, an old friend of Davide Tiso, who in his free time loves to emulate Jeff Buckley?. the last seIection to be made is the Frontman, our choice here falls to Lucio Lorusso, the only member not from Padua, he is a real stage animal with a Hardcore-Noise Apocalyptic background, the complete band meets to try out the songs composed in the meantime by Davide Tiso (guitar and soul of the band and also composer of all lyrics).
The result of 3 months in the recording studio with the faithful producer Paso is the album "The Painter's Palette" which marks a turning point as the 9 tracks of this album may probably be defined as a whole new genre of music.
It becomes quite impossible to quote any reference bands because the sound of these songs is completely unique, or otherwise to classify them with standard parameters??.all types of music, past, present and future are quoted in a single sound format, that doesn't allow it to be isolated from the context?..in practice, the determination to experiment, present from the beginning in the band, remains strong.
However, the "imposition" at the time of the opening record, not to surpass the self-dictated types of music, gets paved over by a conscious delirium of contrasting emotions and the stunning individual musical technique, is put to work for the unpredictable and changeable human core.
Conceptually inspired from the connection between sounds and colours, "The Painter's Palette" is published as a strict artwork in black and white, to portray the intention of Ephel Duath to give colour through sounds or, if you prefer, to play the sound of colours, with every song depicted by a different chromatic shade, where the listeners mind becomes a painting, with infinite possibilities and matches of sounds and colours, music and tones, musical tonalities and chromatic shades.
The mp3 previews released set a new precedent (reaching once again 20.000 downloads of the single "The Passage"). Around the middle of February 2003 they will debut with a live concert at the Vidia of Cesena with the Lacuna Coil, creating great interest thanks to a memorable opening concert.
Taken from Ephel Duath Ofiicial website