Release:

Manitou Music / Thundering Records / Twilight Vertrieb

Info:

ARKHAN was created at the end of the year 2001 by Seb (bass), Greg (vocal) and Chris (guitar). These 3 Swiss musicians were previously playing together in the black metal band IPSUM. But despite the good reviews received by their first album and all the concerts which followed its release, musical and personal divergences induced a separation.
The band remained inactive during a few months… Things started during summer 2002, when the band found a rehearsal room in Monthey,. Soon afterwards, Steph incorporated the band as lead guitarist, keyboard player and -as a drummer filling the desires of the musicians was still not found- programmer of the drum computer! Together they worked on many original compositions and defined the stylistic line of their music.
At that time, ARKHAN' songs were a mixture of various styles of extreme metal. Typically death metal parts were mixed with some more melodic or symphonic parts influenced by black metal. The first intention of the musicians was to play a varied and emotional music. Some compositions were relatively melodic and had a lot of keyboard parts while others were much more brutal.


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In July 2003, ARKHAN recorded autonomously 5 tracks for their first MCD: Dead End. This demo had only two goals: presenting the music to the metal medias and allowing the band to play as many gigs as possible. The response was even better than waited: the record received a lot of really good and encouraging reviews. The band was ready to hit the road...
At the end of 2003 and during 2004, ARKHAN went all around Switzerland (and even in France) to play live. The stage is the place where the band feels better... for the musicians, only three words count on stage: being brutal, festive and head banging! Meanwhile, the band took part in two international music compilations: Swiss Carnage (from the Transit Association), distributed free all around Switzerland, France & Germany and The Reaper Comes IV, distributed mainly around Germany.


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At the beginning of 2005, Seb, who hadn't enough time to spend with the band, left ARKHAN. Soon afterwards, Stephane (from the grind metal band Gorsungazaga) replaced him as a temporary live bass player and played some gigs with the band. Greg, Steph & Chris then concentrated on a new and more professional record. They composed 9 new songs that took a new musical evolution: more powerful, brutal, groovy and structured… in one word, more death metal! Many influences were however still present, as the keyboards, which brought an atypical side for death.
The new album, called M.A.C.H.I.N.E. has been recorded, mixed and mastered during summer 2005 by Chris himself at the Toxic Studio. The CD will be released in february-march 2006 by the french metal label Thundering Records. For the promotion of this album, one brand new musician has just joined the band; the bass player Loic (from the death metal band Your Own Decay). To discover on stage...

Tracklist:

1. Execute
2. M.A.C.H.I.N.E.
3. Texas Lesbian Barbecue
4. 1001 Reasons To Kill
5. Nemesis
6. The Prisoner
7. Bloodbath
8. Little Stinky Monkey
9. Tromassacre