Plaguewielder - Biography
Biography
In August 2012, two friends, Maxime Weber and Nicholas O'Connell - who had previously played together in the Luxembourgish Crust Punk band Discordant System - had the idea of founding a Funeral Doom band in the vein of Evoken, Skepticism, Funeral and other notable bands of said genre. The motivation behind the new project was the relative lack of Doom Metal bands in Luxembourg and the founders profound interest for the genre - as such they decided to enter the local music scene with their new band Plaguewielder.
Immediately they asked their friend Christophe - who was at the time guitarist for Technical Death Metal band Decipher - if he was willing to participate. He agreed soon after, and so the first line-up was complete - Nicholas O'Connell as vocalist, Christophe as guitarist and Maxime on the synthesizer. They soon began writing lyrics to their first songs, and planned to have their first rehearsal in September 2012.
During this first rehearsal - which took place at the MDJ Clausen in Luxembourg-City, where Decipher and Discordant System had already rehearsed - their friend Camille Mainz, a friend of the band, temporarily helped them out with the drums, as they were struggling to find a drummer. During that session, they laid down the foundation for their first song, "The Funeral March", which was subsequently recorded in a first raw version and uploaded shortly thereafter on their Facebook page.
Between their first and second rehearsal, Luis Muñoz and Chris Boever joined the band, as drummer and bassist respectively, to complete the line-up.
During the first days of October 2012, rehearsals moved to Mamer, where their friends from Order Of The Oceans were rehearsing and who had given them the idea. At the end of the month however, they returned to the original rehearsal room in Luxembourg-City, and started working on a new song, "Casket Of Dying Flesh", after having perfected the previous one. This new song incorporated a wider array of musical influences.
In December 2012, bassist Chris Boever left the band due to musical differences, and Nicholas filled in the role of a vocalist and a bassist, thus making Plaguewielder a quartet. This would be the final line-up for the band until now.
Soon, they began to further expand their sound, incorporating influences from various Post-Rock acts. The 13-minute song "Drowned" is proof to this development and demonstrated how they no longer resided within the set limits of Doom Metal, instead incorporating influences from multiple different genres. A concept for an instrumental song was outlined, but was soon dropped.
Songwriting progressed and soon two new songs were completed - "Father Suicide", a song that blends aforementioned influences of Doom - and Post-Metal, and "Existence Is Our Exile", a more straight-forward and simply-woven song.
In March 2013, a logo was designed in a joint effort between Vanessa and Flo, two friend of the band.
Their first gig bore the name Doomed To Be Grinded (in relation to the Doom Metal and Grindcore acts that were playing that night) and took place at the Café Nicolas in Fennange on the 15th of March 2013, where they played along with their friends from Constant Vulse, Incise and Dystopian Fear.
Each song was accompanied by an individual video projection, and the band decided to continue this, as they felt that this combination of live music and video projection transmitted the lyrical themes most effectively.
On the 19th of June 2013, they played their second concert at the same café with their friends from Order Of The Oceans and Hawser.
In May 2013, Plaguewielder started planning their eponymous EP - which featured "Drowned", "Casket Of Dying Flesh" and "The Funeral March" - together with Xavier Hofmann from Muschel Records.
On the 7th of July 2013, they played at the Soulkitchen in the capital, along with their guitarist's other band Decipher, Dystopian Fear and Fusion Bomb. The following day, they played in Rodange.
On the 12th of August 2013, they played their first international gig in Germany at the La Tête Du Coq festival, They shared the stage with Ill Neglect, Captain Caveman and Malfiore.
The following day, they headed to Kaiserslautern, where they recorded the foundations for their EP. On the 18th of August, the vocals were recorded and on the 25th of September 2013, the EP was released on Bandcamp.
Currently, they are preparing the release of their first album Chambers Of Death.
Immediately they asked their friend Christophe - who was at the time guitarist for Technical Death Metal band Decipher - if he was willing to participate. He agreed soon after, and so the first line-up was complete - Nicholas O'Connell as vocalist, Christophe as guitarist and Maxime on the synthesizer. They soon began writing lyrics to their first songs, and planned to have their first rehearsal in September 2012.
During this first rehearsal - which took place at the MDJ Clausen in Luxembourg-City, where Decipher and Discordant System had already rehearsed - their friend Camille Mainz, a friend of the band, temporarily helped them out with the drums, as they were struggling to find a drummer. During that session, they laid down the foundation for their first song, "The Funeral March", which was subsequently recorded in a first raw version and uploaded shortly thereafter on their Facebook page.
Between their first and second rehearsal, Luis Muñoz and Chris Boever joined the band, as drummer and bassist respectively, to complete the line-up.
During the first days of October 2012, rehearsals moved to Mamer, where their friends from Order Of The Oceans were rehearsing and who had given them the idea. At the end of the month however, they returned to the original rehearsal room in Luxembourg-City, and started working on a new song, "Casket Of Dying Flesh", after having perfected the previous one. This new song incorporated a wider array of musical influences.
In December 2012, bassist Chris Boever left the band due to musical differences, and Nicholas filled in the role of a vocalist and a bassist, thus making Plaguewielder a quartet. This would be the final line-up for the band until now.
Soon, they began to further expand their sound, incorporating influences from various Post-Rock acts. The 13-minute song "Drowned" is proof to this development and demonstrated how they no longer resided within the set limits of Doom Metal, instead incorporating influences from multiple different genres. A concept for an instrumental song was outlined, but was soon dropped.
Songwriting progressed and soon two new songs were completed - "Father Suicide", a song that blends aforementioned influences of Doom - and Post-Metal, and "Existence Is Our Exile", a more straight-forward and simply-woven song.
In March 2013, a logo was designed in a joint effort between Vanessa and Flo, two friend of the band.
Their first gig bore the name Doomed To Be Grinded (in relation to the Doom Metal and Grindcore acts that were playing that night) and took place at the Café Nicolas in Fennange on the 15th of March 2013, where they played along with their friends from Constant Vulse, Incise and Dystopian Fear.
Each song was accompanied by an individual video projection, and the band decided to continue this, as they felt that this combination of live music and video projection transmitted the lyrical themes most effectively.
On the 19th of June 2013, they played their second concert at the same café with their friends from Order Of The Oceans and Hawser.
In May 2013, Plaguewielder started planning their eponymous EP - which featured "Drowned", "Casket Of Dying Flesh" and "The Funeral March" - together with Xavier Hofmann from Muschel Records.
On the 7th of July 2013, they played at the Soulkitchen in the capital, along with their guitarist's other band Decipher, Dystopian Fear and Fusion Bomb. The following day, they played in Rodange.
On the 12th of August 2013, they played their first international gig in Germany at the La Tête Du Coq festival, They shared the stage with Ill Neglect, Captain Caveman and Malfiore.
The following day, they headed to Kaiserslautern, where they recorded the foundations for their EP. On the 18th of August, the vocals were recorded and on the 25th of September 2013, the EP was released on Bandcamp.
Currently, they are preparing the release of their first album Chambers Of Death.