Until Death Overtakes Me

In May 1999 Stijn Van Cauter Founded A Project Named Macabre Destiny. The Music Could Be Described As A Mixture Between Cold Black Metal And Melodic Doom Only Consisting Of Electric And Acousitc Guitars And Programmed Drums. Later On The Music Developped To A Slower Form Of Doom Completely Leaving Out The Black-Influences. In February 2000 The Name Of The Solo-Project Was Changed Into Until Death Overtakes Me Taken From The Song Black God By The Doom-Gods My Dying Bride Who Had A Lot Of Influence On The Music In Those Days . From Then On The Compositions Kept On Slowing Down And The Influences Of Other Bands Completely Dissapeared. In August 2000 Elke De Smedt Joined The Project Acoustic Guitar And Keyboards And In September Of The Same Year Jo Renette Guitar Bass And Keyboards Joined To Band. At That Time We Had Some Songs And Thought About Recording A Demo Some Of Our Songs Were Slow And Heavy Doom While Others Were Very Experimental With Electronics Dark Ambient And Guitar-FX. In November 2000 Pamela Turrell Flute And Recorder Joined Our Doom-Collective. Early 2001 S Started Recording The Demo Deep Dark Red His Music Being A Mix Of Very Slow And Heavy Doom Gothic Ambient And Some Influences Of Classical Music By That Time S Also Decided To Leave Out The Drums Completly And Replace Them By Timpani Thus Adding To The Heaviness Of The Compositions. He Decided Not To Release The Demo Because Most Of The Work Originated From The Solo-Period And Was Thus Written Only By S Who Also Played All Instruments On The Demo Except For The Saxophone So This First Symphony Was No Exact Representation Of The Band At That Time. After That Demo The Music Still Was Evolving Going Back To The Ideas Of The Earlier Days Of The Project Originating From 1997. So After Years Of Experience I Now Come Up With Lyrics Based Upon My Own Way Of Life On My Rather Negative View On The World And Its Society Nowadays And With My Music I Don't Follow Any Commercial Trends My Only Source Of Inspiration Comes From My Feelings Dreams …trying To Honour True Music In My Own Simple Ways…
During The Recording Of The Second Demo Absence Of Life Both Pamela And Elke Left The Band Because Of Lack Of Time For The Recording And The Band. As Soon As The Mix Of The Album Was Finished Jo Also Left The Band To Concentrate His Time And Work On His Black Metal-Project 'Duystere Kercker'. The Second Chapter Of UDOM Starts With A New Full-Length Demo Released On The 30th Of November A Serious Line-Up Change And The Rerelease Of The First Demo Symphony I - Deep Dark Red On The 7th Of February. From Then On I Started Exploring Other Musical Styles Which Resulted In A Number Of New Solo-Projects. The First One Was An Ambient/electronic Project Called I Dream No More IDNM Which Was Founded Even Before The First UDOM Release. The First Track Of This Project Was Released On A Split With Several Unfinished Tracks By UDOM. IDNM's Music Evolved And On The Fade - Die Album Released In April 2002 It Shows Both Pure Electronic Tracks As Well As Experimental Ambient. While I Was Working On The Music For Fade - Die I Started Experimenting With A Heavy Droning Sound Made On Bass Guitar After Discovery Of The 'Drone' Genre. These Experiments Resulted In A New Solo-Project Fall Of The Grey-Winged One FOTGWO . The First 3 Tracks Were A Combination Of This Drone Sound With Some Ambient And Industrial Elements And Formed This Project's First Album Aeons Of Dreams. In May And June Of 2002 - A Very Productive Period Of Time Since I Quit School Then - I Founded 3 More Solo-Projects. The First One The Ethereal Created Very Negative And Rather Minimalistic Funeral Doom. Compared To UDOM This Music Had No Keyboards And Sounded Very Cold And Harsh. Within 6 Months After I Founded This Project I Released The From Funeral Skies Album Containing 4 Tracks. Much To My Surprise This Release Received A Lot Of Positive Reactions From The Doom Scene. The Church Organ Has Always Played An Important Role In Most Of The Music I Had Written Thus Far And I Decided To Start A Project Where I Would Only Use This Instrument. I Named The Project Organium And It's Highly-Experimental Sound Which Ranged From Harsh Distortion To Ghostly Ambient Resulted In Some Unusal And Very Fast Tracks. It Took Me More Than 2 Years To Complete This Project's Only Album The Rage. Organium Was Intended As A 'one-Release' Project But That Doesn't Mean I Stopped Experimenting With The Organ Sound. In The Same Month I Also Founded Dreams Of Dying Stars DODS Which Was Created From An UDOM-Track Intended To Become The Intro Of The Next UDOM Album. At First This Project Sounded Very Similar To UDOM In Fact It Was UDOM But Without The Guitars And Vocals. In A Very Short Period Of Time I Wrote Enough Material For 2 Full-Lengths And The Music Evolved Away From The UDOM Sound And Gained It's Own Unique Character. DODS' Music Is Some Of The Most Atmospheric And Dream-Like I Had Written So Far The First Album StarDance Was Influenced By The Beautifull Grandeur Of The Universe Which Resulted In Long Slow And Epic Soundscapes Released In April 2003. In The Summer Of That Year I Joined Pantheist As Live Musician. Pantheist Is A Funeral Doom Band Influenced By Classical Music. The Band Had A Very Clear Goal Despite The Small Scene Compared To Other Metal Genres They Wanted To Play As Much Gigs As Possible To Promote Their Unique And Original Music. I Stayed With The Band For About 10 Months And Each Of The Gigs From The First One At The Baroeg To The Tour With UDOM And Skepticism Was A Succes. Pantheist Released Their Debut On Firebox Records And They Asked Me To Do The Guest Vocals On The Track 'Envy Us'. Currently The Founder Of The Band Has Moved To The UK And Only The 2 Original Members Remain. Later On Still Enjoying My Extended Time Without School-Duties I Started Another Experimental Project Tear Your Soul Apart TYSA And Released A First Full-Length Almost Right Away. This TYSA Debut Was A Mix Of Noise And Industrial With Some Glitch/ambient And Droning Elements. At That Time I Had Enough Extra Material For 3 More Albums. In The Same Month I Also Founded In The Mist ITM Which Was A Result Of The Ongoing Experiments With The Typical Sound I Created For The UDOM Track With The Same Title. Only 2 Months Later I Finished The First ITM Album Containing One Long Song With This Typical Dense Organic Ever-Evolving Sound. This Album Lost Is One Of The Best Albums I Had Released Thus Far. From The Ideas That Resulted In The Ethereal And In Combination With The New Sound I Was Creating For UDOM Another Solo-Project Was Created Beyond Black Void BBV . BBV Created Desolate Funeral Soundscapes Using Only Guitar Vocals And Timpani. The First Album For This Project Desolate Was Released On The 1st Of January 2003 And Is Possibly The Heaviest Bleakest And Most Nihilistic Album I've Made So Far. From That Period On I Started Following A Course In Sound Recording/editing/mixing At A Well-Known Film-School In Brussel Tho I'm Not Really Interested In Movies I Was Already A Bit Into Experimental Visuals Mostly Computer Aided Designs And Figured I Could Learn Something Interesting In Regard To Visuals As Well From That Course. In November 2002 Aeons Of Dreams FOTGWO's Debut Was 'album Of The Month' At Doom-Metal.Com. A Very Unexpected Award Which Generated Some Extra Interest In This Project Within The Doom Scene. In The Same Month I Released From Funeral Skies This Album Received The Same Award In April 2003. The Ethereal's Debut Turns Out To Be One Of My Best Selling Albums Next To The UDOM Releases. In December 2002 I Finished The Next UDOM Album Prelude To Monolith And Signed A One-Album Deal With Finnish Label Firebox Who Released This Album 2 Months Later And Did A Lot Of Promotion For UDOM. This Album Presented The New UDOM Sound And The First Part Of The 'Monolith' Concept. Prelude To Monolith Received A Lot Of Positive Reviews And The Initial Pressing Of 1000 Copies Was Sold Out Pretty Quick - A Very Unexpected Event. In The Same Month I Created A Project Which Revived The Old UDOM Style Which Had A Lot In Common With The Band 'Esoteric'. The Fact That This Music Sounded So Similar To Esoteric's Music Was The Reason Why I Didn't Continue Exploring This Style With Effected Guitars And Vocals But Eventually I Decided To Make Some Tracks In This Vein Again Not For UDOM But Under A New Project Cold Aeon. A Few Months Later T. Doom-Fan And Guitar Player In Several Black And Doom Metal Bands Joins This Project. In The Same Month That From Funeral Skies Became 'album Of The Month' And StarDance Was Released I Also Finished And Released FOTGWO's Second Album Death Time Emptiness. This Album Was Less Minimal Compared To The First FOTGWO Showing Organ And Vocals Being Used In Combination With The Heavy Drone/ambient Sound. April Was Also The Start Of The Pantheist/Skepticism Tour Through Europe FOTGWO Was Supposed To Open The Gig In Belgium But Ended Up Being A Part Of The Tour And Pretty Soon After That We Decided To Take UDOM On Tour Instead Of FOTGWO. Both Kostas And Frederic Members Of Pantheist Were UDOM's Live Session Musicians On This Tour. Overall The Tour Was A Great Succes With Gigs In 'Knaack' Berlin - Germany - 11 April 'Alte Brauerei' Muhlhausen - Germany - 12 April 'Black Pes' Praha - Czech Republic - 13 April 'Nu Beatz' Dresden - Germany - 15 April 'Mundo' Belgian Doom Night Zottegem - Belgium - 19 April And 'Goudvishal' Arnhem - Netherlands - 20 April . UDOM Played 'Missing' And 'Absence Of Life' Judging By The Reactions Of The Audience The Music Was Much Appreciated. In May 2003 I Founded A Small CDr Label NULLL Records At First It Was Intended To Release Only My Own Albums But I Decided To Take On A Few Funeral Doom Ambient And Drone Bands As Well. NULLL Records Simply Became NULLL Later On And Also Contained My Dark Music Zine EverDarkGreen And A Section To Promote Digital Visual Art And Animations. In The Summer Of 2003 I Founded The Sad Sun An Extreme Funeral Doom Project And EMH Wraith Of The Ropes Torture Wheel Joined This Project. Our First Track Became A Mix Of The Music We Created For Our Projects Mostly BBV The Ethereal And On EMH's Side Torture Wheel And His Appreciation For Vocal Experiments And Knowledge Of How To Create Great Drumtracks. The Track The Seas That Swallowed The Night Ended Up On An Extreme Doom Compilation One Year Later. In July 2003 I Joined Dark/doom Metal Band In Somnis As Bass-Player A Band With Already A Long History And A Lot Of Live Experience Who Were About To Start Working On Their Debut At That Time Which Was Released In Oktober Of The Same Year On NULLL. In The Same Month UDOM Played A Gig In London With Kostas Pantheist On Keyboards. At The Venue The Cartoon We Met Mark Who Then Recently Joined Esoteric. Mark Borrowed A Bass Guitar And Joined UDOM For That Gig. It Turned Out Great One Of The Best UDOM Live Performances So Far. The Ethereal Caught The Attention Of UK Metal-Label Rage Of Achilles And Signed A 2-Album Deal With It's New Sublabel Totentroll. They Were Interested In Re-Releasing The From Funeral Skies Album So I Re-Recorded It And Added A 4th Track To Make This Album Sound A Lot Better Than The First Version. The Release Was Sheduled For The First Half Of 2004 But Never Happened As Rage Of Achilles And It's Sublabels Decided To Stop Releasing Albums. A Result Of The Current Music Industry Where Only The Biggest Labels With The Most Commercial Bands Seem To Be Able To Survive. Towards The End Of 2003 I Managed -Despite Having To Do A Lot Of Work For School And Upcoming Exams- To Release The Second TYSA Album In Pain And Start A New Project As Well As Release The First Album For This New Solo Project. Forbidden Fields Is The Result Of Experimenting With A More Ambient Sound For UDOM Which Also Resulted In The Full Ambient Version Of Funeral Dance By UDOM. Forbidden Fields' Debut Field I Night Is One Of The Darkest Drone/ambient Albums I Made Thus Far And Also Contained The Longest Track I've Written Until Then Since The Full Version Was More Than 88 Minutes Long. On January 1st 2004 I Released The First Album In The Interludium Series A Set Of Releases Which Will Contain Special Un-Released Versions Of Some Of My Tracks As Well As Experimental Tracks By Several Of My Projects. This First Release Funeral Path Contained The Full Ambient Version Of Funeral Dance And The Full Version Of The Cover Of 'Marche Funèbre' By Frederic Chopin. Except For A Succesfull Gig In Antwerpen In April With Mark And Kostas As Live Session Musicians Most Of The First Half Of 2004 Was Spend Doing Too Much Work For School. As A Result I Had A Lot Of New Music Ready In My Head Waiting To Be Recorded And Released. In The Summer I Released 2 Albums The Rage By Organium And Funeral In The Void By DODS As Well As 2 New Releases In The Interludium Series Aeon E By DODS And Inritus By FOTGWO. Only Several Days Before School Started Again I Finished The Next UDOM Album Symphony III - Monolith.
Monolith Was Released In March 2006 By Flood The Earth After Over Three Years Of Work. The 1000-Copy Limited Release Is Sold-Out Within Months. The Label Shortly Thereafter Closes So All Rights Are Back In My Hands In Case I Decide On Rereleasing This Album In The Future.
Also During That Period I Started Working On My Online Story/comic Hybrid 4th Moon Of Xyth As Well As An Animated Version Of That Story And An Obscure Audio-Visual Experiment Called Suicide Mist...
Over The Course Of The Next Several Years The 4th Moon Of Xyth Concept Grows And Various Projects Are Started In An Attempt To Capture The Entire Project In An Audio-Visual Medium. Mid 2005 The Ethereal Signs A One-Album Deal With Brand New Extreme Doom Label Marche Funebre The Start Of A Cooperation That Will Result In At Least One Other Release Of One Of My Albums On That Label. Only Several Months Later From Funeral Skies Is Available Again.
In The Meanwhile I Also Completed And Released The Second Dark Ambient Soundscape Album For Forbidden Fields Titled Field II - Of Trees Frozen In The Sky. Another Rerelease In April 2006. UK-Based Label Supernal Music Releases Aeons Of Dreams And In January 2007 Marche Funebre Rereleases Desolate.
Apart From Two Interludium Releases Mid 2007 Leviation And Buried In The Void All Seems Quiet. Although I Have Not As Much Time To Spend On My AV Works Anymore Several Large Projects Are Being Prepared For Release As A Small Preview I Finish A Short Teaser Late 2006 Which Is Part Of The 4th Moon Project. Over The Course Of Several Years Kostas Pantheist Kris In Somnis Lawrence Solicide And Myself Have Been Working On A Joint Project Called Wijlen Wij. Mid 2007 Aesthetic Death Releases The Debut A Powerfull Raw Funeral Doom Album... read less