Ahráyeph
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Ahráyeph is a Belgian Goth Rock band, founded in 2001 by Raf, one of the former lead guitar players in Belgian Black Metal band Ancient Rites. Influenced by such seminal bands perceived at one time or another as Goth like Fields of the Nephilim, The Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus, The Cure, Joy Division, but also more offbeat - in a Goth sense - bands like The God Machine, The Velvet Underground, Depeche Mode, Eurythmics, Mazzy Star, Pink Floyd and composer Angelo Badalamenti's work on several David Lynch films, this one man project eventually grew into a fully fledged five piece band with and impending debut album, "Marooned On Samsara" and several cover songs from some of the aforementioned bands to its credit.
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[edit] Band history
Crucifire (1996 - 2001)
Ahráyeph was originally called Crucifire, a band Raf started in May 1996, shortly prior to his first stint with Ancient Rites which lasted for about six months. Its line-up consitsted of Raf on guitar and vocals, Geert De Feyter on drums, Jo Smekens on bass, P. Verheyden on lead guitar and Raf Corten and David Swinnen on keyboards and electronic percussion. This band had its roots firmly into the 80's Goth sound, but was also more influenced by the Doom and Goth Metal Scene of the 90's (Paradise Lost, Type O Negative, My Dying Bride etc...) and thus sounded a bit harder than Ahráyeph does today. Unable to sustain a stable line-up, this band recorded one five track demo of questionable quality, due to lack of Raf's production skills and the other band members' inexperience with recording before imploding after nine months. This demo, though, set a pattern : most instruments were played and recorded by Raf and all the songs would be written, recorded and produced by him as well. He is known to cite Prince and the DIY movement in music as an influence in this matter and also the fact that he was, until late 2006, never able to retain a stable line-up, which necessitated this way of production. None of the Crucifire songs have crossed over into Ahráyeph, although portions of certain songs can be heard in a reworked version in a few songs on "Marooned On Samsara". It is uncertain whether the Crucifire songs will ever resurface in their original form.
After the dissolution of the band, a core of three members, Raf, Verheyden and Swinnen, remained and jammed on several songs over the next two years, but due to lack of ambition by Verheyden and Swinnen and consistent drug abuse by all members, the group eventually folded and the Crucifire name was shelved until the turn of the century, when Raf chose to start using the name again and carry on in the same musical style after an unsuccessful attempt at gaining a more alternative rock sound under the guise of 'Sole'. The latter name already hinted at the DIY song writing and production ethic Raf assumed after Crucifire's breakup, although it could be argued that this was the case from the band's onset. He re-recorded several old demos from the early Crucifire days, but reworked them to more fit the sound he had had in his head. The earliest known example of this sound was a cover of The Cure's 'A Forest' Raf, Verheyden and Swinnen recorded shortly before the band's demise in 1998.
Ahráyeph (2001 - Present)
One year after resurrecting Crucifire, Raf decided on a name change, as he felt the name would have people mistake the project for a metal band. Having ousted most of the metal sound of Crucifire's first incarnation, Raf settled on Ahráyeph, a phonetic wordplay on his own name. This, too, was done because of the DIY nature of the project. With technology having advanced the means of home recording, Raf now recorded and programmed all the instruments himself, as well as taking care of the rest of the production process. He wrote and recorded several demo songs until he was asked to rejoin Ancient Rites, who were in need of a song writer for their next album 'Rvbicon', in late 2004. Consequently, Ahráyeph took a step back, as song writing for the next Ancient Rites album had priority. In all, Raf wrote five songs and cowrote one other song with Domingo Smets over the course of the next year, all of which ended up on the band's 'Rvbicon' album. After the recording of this album in late 2005, Raf then toured again with Ancient Rites while at the same time resuming the writing process for Ahráyeph, which resulted in the recording of the 'Marooned On Samsara' album in the final months of 2006 at his Rose Creek home recording studio. Raf then left Ancient Rites to concentrate his efforts on Ahráyeph, which had by now become a full band.
Right at the conclusion of the recording of the MoS songs, Damien Lecompte, Raf's roadie while on tour with Ancient Rites, expressed and interest in joining Ahráyeph. Also expressing interest was bass player Alex Wijns, who plays with Lecompte in the Belgian prog/thrash metal band Eject. Raf then recruited Cris Tits, an old friend of his, to play keyboards and together they finished the latter stages of the album's recordings in January 2007. It was decided the band would work without a drummer and use a drum sampler instead, in The Sisters of Mercy fashion. But with the mix and mastering well under way in the following month, the band received a request from drummer Steve Vanderperren to join them. Knowing Steve's drum skills and personality, this proved too good an offer to let slide, so the band became a quintet and the 'Dr. Avalanche' plans were buried, even though the band still uses rhythm samples alongside Steve's acoustic drumming.
After mixing and mastering MoS, the band started their rehearsal regimen for the remainder of 2007 and which resulted in a debut show, opening for UK's NFD on September 22nd, 2007. This is, so far, the only time the band will have played live in its full line-up, as Wijns will be working out of the country for the next two years. It was decided not to replace him for the time being, but rather use his recorded basslines. He will rejoin the band fulltime after completing his work and will continue to play with them whenever he is able to do so in the mean time. In November 2007, Ahráyeph signed a record deal with French D-Monic Records for the international release of 'Marooned On Samsara'. The album will be released in May 2008 but is already available from April 15th in preorder and at the band's concerts.
Cover Songs
With a catalogue of nine original songs - and an intro - to their name, Ahráyeph also recorded several cover songs; the oldest being the aforementioned Cure cover 'A Forest'. "The idea behind it was to put into music the feeling I get when listening to the original song" (Raf) Raf also stated that covers need to sound different from their originals, save for a few exceptions. One such exception is the band's cover version of never released The Sisters of Mercy song 'Summer', a staple of this band's live repertoire, but never released in a studio format. When asked about the reasons behind recording this song, Raf said that he was tired of listening to this great song on dodgy bootleg recordings and wanted a proper studio version, but if TSOM weren't going to record it, he would. Originally recorded only to satisfy his private need to have a decent recording of the song, it did find its way to the community of TSOM fans, where Ahráyeph's version of 'Summer' became something of a cult hit. Although staying close to the original in melody and rhythm - other than 'A Forest', which is entirely different, it does differ from the original on several levels.
Another reworked cover is the Eurythmics' 'Here Comes The Rain Again', which is similar in it musical and rhythmic vein and reworking ethic to 'A Forest'. Live, Ahráyeph also cover a Fields of the Nephilim song, 'Blue Water'. It is considered the band's tip of the hat to this band and for this reason is played as close to the original as possible. More cover songs are believed to be under way, but it isn't known yet which songs will be covered.
[edit] Band Members
- Raf - Vocals, Guitar
- Damien Lecompte - Lead Guitar
- Alex Wijns - Bass
- Cris Tits - keyboards & Samples
- Steve Vanderperren - Drums
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
| Year | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| May 2008 | Marooned On Samsara | D-Monic |
