Darkside

In the summer of 1991 a new band began to rise on the metal skies. Initially being only a project founded by bassplayer PETER BÖHM and drummer ROBERT GRÖGLER , they started to rehearse more intensely during the whole summer and even started to compose some first tunes, based on voivodesque bassriffs and complicated slayer-like drumrythems. A third member to complete the first line-up was found in PETER DURST and he supported those first efforts with his vocals and guitar playing. In spring of 1992 the guys recorded a first four- song demo entiteled "Depression" which basically contained four tunes of powerful death metal. Some first experiences on the concert front the band gained by participating on the prestigious ATTACK OF FIRE Festival 1992.

To put a little more atmosphere in their songs, DARKSIDE decided to user the help of a former co- musician to record some piano-intermezzos for this first tape. After listening to it a lot of times, the band agreed on including a stable keyboard player in the line-up. The call for more melody and variety reached WOLFGANG SÜSSENBECK, a former singer of some local metal bands.

Shortly before DARKSIDE were ready to record their second demo, PETER DURST started having some severe health problems with his right arm, so the band was forced to look for a substitute. HERBERT KNÖCHEL, a young guitar player from the outskirts of Wr. Neustadt was finally the person to fill out the vacant place and after the recording session ended up as the fifth member of DARKSIDE.

The second demo "Herbst", also recorded in the PAST Studio in Hradec Kralove/CZ , already showed the progression and was a first hint to the direction the band was heading for. Six compositions of doomy, but still powerful death metal clearly showed the way towards a bigger range of melodies and sounds. " Requiem" ,with a running time of about 12 minutes, soon brought some kind of cult status to DARKSIDE in Czech Republic, with the whole demo getting excellent reviews in the czech press. Thanks to the friendship between DARKSIDE and the maybe best death metal act KRABATHOR a series of concerts in Czech Republic / Slovakia followed that brought to the band their strongest support.

After the release of the tape, DARKSIDE took part in the legendary Horepnik-Slamdance amongst others together with ZED JAGO, ARAKAIN, ROOT and more as well as in the ATTACK OF FIRE 93. A first highpoint was the tour together with KRABATHOR and SCABBARD in autumn of the same year through Czech Republic and Austria. DARKSIDE was lucky enough to support CARCASS in Prague in February 1994. After that the band started to rehearse for new material, with the objection of recording a cd on their own, the winter passed quickly and in the beginning of March 1994, DARKSIDE were back on the road supporting KRABATHOR on their Blasphemeous Mini Tour 94.

In May 1994 finally DARKSIDE started with the recording sessions for their first full-length cd "Melancholia Of A Dying World". Within 14 days they laid down the basics and after the album was mastered at the Rudolfinum Studio in Prague (RAGE, Y. J. Malmsteen and others ). Twelve songs full of melodies, melancholy and breathtaking power paired up with female vocals, death-typical grunts and some grinding guitar solos brought the cd to a running time of about 53 minutes. For the band it meant first acknowledging in the foreign countries ( 8 points out of 10 ROCK HARD ) as well as premium rates in the polls of the czech magazines ( newcomer of the year ROCK REPORT, best foreign underground band ROCK REPORT, newcomer album of the year BANG !, 10 out of ten METAL HAMMER CZ ).

The final official release was in September 94 with a first edition of 1000 cds and 1000 tapes. The artwork was done by the famous science-fiction painter Martin Zhouf from Prague. On the concert ground the most important gig for the band for sure was the concert in Prague with CARCASS in front of 2500 spectators, as well as a tour together with VADER and KRABATHOR in Czech Republic and Austria. During this tour there started to be problems with HERBERT KNÖCHEL, which ended by him leaving the band in early 1995. The last show with HERBERT was on November 13, in Ruzomberok / Slovakia together with PHANTASMA, PURGATORY and KRABATHOR.

1995 was an important year for DARKSIDE because they finally reached their long awaited target - a deal with a label. The german company Impact Records, although being originally a punk-label, decided to found a sublabel named SYSTEM SHOCK and DARKSIDE was to be the first band on it. The next band to follow was VADER. Impact offered to release "Melancholia..." with a different cover and booklet artwork all over Europe, what happened in September 1995. Later on the Florida-based independant label CONQUEST MUSIC licensed the album from SYSTEM SHOCK for the USA, Canada and Mexico. On the livesector in 1995 DARKSIDE started to concentrate a little bit more on their homecountry Austria,