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Absu / Pantheon I / Razor Of Occam / Zoroaster Euro Tour '09 |
 Mythological
Occult Metal’s forefathers Absu have announced a full European tour,
the band haven’t toured Europe in over a decade apart from some small
festival appearances. Support for this tour will come from
Pantheon I, Razor Of Occam and Zoroaster.
The birth of what we now know as ABSU began under the name Dolmen in
1989, which was founded by Shaftiel and Equitant Ifernain. By 1990, the
band had taken the name Azathoth, but by 1991 had changed it once
again, this time to ABSU releasing the Immortal Sorcery single followed
by its debut demo Return to the Ancients.
The Temples of Offal 7” EP was recorded in late 1991, but saw the
departure of early members, guitarist Gary Lindholm and drummer Daniel
Benbow - this opened the door to new members Proscriptor McGovern and
Daviel Athron Mystica whose 1992 arrival came as the result of the
disintegration of the band MAGUS.
The result of this amalgam was the colossal debut album Barathrum:
V.I.T.R.I.O.L. Released in 1993, the album saw the short-lived addition
of keyboardist Black Massith who, along with Mystica, left the fold
shortly thereafter leaving Shaftiel and Equitant to cover both bass and
guitar duties. And thus the era of ABSU as a trio was at hand.
The Sun of Tiphareth– followed in 1995 and assured the band had not
suffered from any of the usual pitfalls associated with a sophomore
release. The truth was quite the contrary in fact, which lead to
successful touring throughout North America and Europe. For live
performances, they recruited Mezzadurus (a.ka. Chris Gamble) of
Bloodstorm/ Goreaphobia fame for bass and co-vocalist assistance until
2002.
The band’s next effort was the stunning Celtic-inspired recording,
1997’s The Third Storm of Cythrául, which once again proved the band
was as solid as a trio as the extreme metal world had seen since the
likes of Sodom and Destruction. ABSU quickly followed this up with the
In the Eyes of Ioldánach EP in 1998.
What followed that was the creation of what was easily the pinnacle of
the bands tenure as a three-piece, 2001’s conceptual album Tara. That
year also incidentally saw the band recruit a new second guitarist,
Kashshapxu, as the band were primed to take Mythological Occult Metal
to the masses.
However, in early 2002, Equitant left due to musical differences and
during this period Proscriptor auditioned for Slayer, who eventually
went with their original drummer Dave Lombardo. Afterwards, Proscriptor
severely injured his hand in an accident, which required surgery and
several months of healing and rehabilitation. By the time Proscriptor
was ready to perform again, Shaftiel no longer had any interest in the
band while Kashshapxu also left due to musical differences. The future
of ABSU was for the first time, uncertain. Proscriptor then put ABSU on
hold and decided to work on other projects. In 2005, Proscriptor and
Equitant put together a collection of rare, live and unreleased ABSU
recordings and released it under the title Mythological Occult Metal:
1991-2001.
With the band officially on hiatus, Proscriptor worked on other
projects including Equimanthorn (with Equitant and members of The Soil
Bleeds Black), Proscriptor (his own project of neo-folk/classic rock
fused music), and Starchaser Network (with Equitant and Victorious;
electronic art/rock band). Additionally, he was the drummer/lyricist
for Melechesh from 1999 to 2004 (and still contributes lyrics and
vocals to this day) and has done session work with numerous bands
around the globe. Proscriptor also has his own record label, Tarot
Productions.
In May 2007, Proscriptor made his intentions clear to carry on and
reincarnate ABSU by enlisting guitarists Aethyris McKay and Vastator
Terrarum to the band. In November 2007, they announced they had signed
with Candlelight Records for their future recordings and would also
release a 7" EP through Relapse Records titled Speed N' Spikes
featuring their first new material in seven years. That same month also
saw Vastator leave the band, but was instantly replaced by Zawicizuz.
In October 2008, the band added ex-Panzram member Ezezu as bassist and
co-vocalist, after completing the recording of their latest,
eponymous-titled album, was released on February 16th (Europe) /
February 24th, (USA) 2009 on Candlelight Records.
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