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, where they played a series of gigs with VADER, KRABATHOR and some local bands. In November the band went on a tour together with KRABATHOR and DISTILLERY through Poland, but the highlights of the season for sure were the ATTACK OF FIRE 1995 and the festival in Hustopece before an approximate 3500 people, where the security had to stop the show of DARKSIDE two times because of security risks for both band and spectators caused by masses of people invading the stage. In January 1996 DARKSIDE finally took part in their first european tour together with SINISTER and CREEPMIME, playing 23 shows in various countries. Again also Austria and Czech Republic were on the tourplan of a series of concerts, some of them DARKSIDE played with THERION.

After the end of these activities DARKSIDE began with the work on their second album "Shadowfields" which was interupted by the second european tour supporting SIX FEET UNDER. The last efforts propagating "Melancholia.." were to be the forth concert on the ATTACK OF FIRE 1996 as one of the headliners together with KRABATHOR and SINISTER and a show in the ice-hockey arena of Hradec Kralove / CZ. Right after, the band started the recording sessions for "Shadowfields" in the PAST Studio under the productional wings of VINCENT DIJKERS, a dutch producer. The new album contained a lot of orchestral arrangements mixed with aggression and a very low feeling throughout the whole work.

The release of "Shadowfields" in March 1997, getting excellent reviews throughout the european metal press ( 8,5 points ROCK HARD, 89 points AARDSHOCK , Hansi Daberger from ROCK HARD naming the album among his top favorites of the year and many more ) opened the door for the third european tour in companion of VADER, during the one DARKSIDE played some headliner shows in Italy and Czech Republic, as well as a tour with SCABBARD in Czechia. This tour contained also a festival with SINISTER, HECATE ENTHRONED and BAL- SAGOTH. In late autumn of the same year, DARKSIDE started to work on their third album, tentatively entiteled "III" then.

April 1998 finally saw the band in the HAZIENDA Studio of Milos "Dodo" Dolezal, recording their third cd. The producer they chose this time had a 10 -year experience in producing and his work until now sold well over 2,500.000 copies of various bands, some of them selling over 60.000 pieces in Czech Republic. "Evolution" , so the final title of the album, was mastered by Jan Nemec, a producer well-known for his work with RUNNING WILD, X-WILD, CELTIC FROST and more, in his studio in Hannover, Germany. He also produced the czech band KREYSON, who also sold a lot not only in Czech Republic but also in Germany. The album was released in September 1998 through NSM Records. The band shot their first video-clip for the song " The Gloaming" under the direction of DAVID BERANEK, a great czech director for film and TV, on locations in south- Bohemia. On these facts, POPRON s.r.o. licensed the album for Czech Republic / Slovakia. DARKSIDE appeared for the fifth time on the ATTACK OF FIRE Festival that year. Beside that, DARKSIDE once again had the great opportunity to tour with MOONSPELL and THERION, playing 46 shows in 16 countries.

After coming off this tour it was time for a lot of great shows all throughout the year of 1999. DARKSIDE played a lot of prestigious festivals, amongst them NOISE ART in Austria, DYNAMO NORTH POWER JAM in Czech Republic, NEFILIM FESTIVAL in Hungary and to end it all DARKSIDE supported SLAYER and TESTAMENT at Vienna..s prestigious MOM Festival in July 2000. DARKSIDE were invited to record a track for the MEGADETH tribute album on DWELL RECORDS, where the band marked the first spot on the compilation with a heavy version of “Go To Hell”.

The preparations for the fourth DARKSIDE album haven't gone without any troubles. ROBERT GROEGLER left the band being replaced by BERND PICHLBAUER. In this line-up the band recorded at track for the Queensryche tribute on DWELL RECORDS, featuring the song “Someone Else” with both, PETER DURST and WOLFGANG SÜSSENBECK on vocals as well as the excellent skills of MARTINA HORNBACHER (Therion, Alas) as third vocalist. PETER DURST left the band, while the producer wasn't satisfied with the new material, which left the band without a new recording. However, all came around, when new material was written (only part of the previously written songs were kept), and a new guitarist was found in VLASTIMIL KORITAR. “Cognitive Dissonance” was then recorded with PETER BOEHM handling the bass and vocal duties. But during the live shows he felt he couldn't perform both duties as well as he had liked, which lead to Wolf (keyboards) taking over the vocals. Cognitive Dissonance was actually re-recorded with him on vocals! In the meantime, the band recruited a second guitarist, RADEK HAJDA (of Czech Grammy Winners 'SILENT STREAM OF GODLESS ELEGY'). DARKSIDE had changed style without ignoring their roots. The signs were set.

In 2001, DARKSIDE played an avalanche of festivals in Austria and Czech Republic, among them NUCLEAR ASSAULT festival, HELL ON EARTH festival and OPEN HELL festival. Finally DARKSIDE supported MEGADETH on a single show in Vienna.

DARKSIDE went on another European tour with MORTICIAN and CARNAL FORGE in early 2002. MARKUS GRANDEGGER was handling guitar duties on these shows for DARKSIDE.After coming off the tour, PETER BOEHM (bass) decided to leave the band, VLASTIMIL KORITAR hooked up back with mates in COLP and MARKUS GRANDEGGER, the guy who handled the guitar duties for DARKSIDE on the last tour started having heavy problems with his left arm from which he is not cured until this very day. Sad enough, but all these circumstances meant, that DARKSIDE at that time was nearly non-existing. Finally, in 2003, BERND PICHLBAUER (dr) started his ongoing studies at Vienna University, while Wolf was joining thrashers DEMOLITION for the recording of their third album Existence.

In summer 2003 PETER DURST rejoined DARKSIDE officially, some month later he was joined by THOMAS PIPPERSTEINER aka Pit of DEMOLITION. LUKAS SISKA was recruited for drumming duties, hailing from Slovakia, where most of the preparations and the recording of the new album took place all throughout 2005. Towards the end of the year 2003, Peter Boehm, now living in Slovakia, approached the band with the idea of doing some stuff together with a drummer and a guitar player from Slovakia. Some first ideas were rehearsed by various combinations of musicians until in early 2004 PETER BOEHM announced his official return in DARKSIDE. Three thirds of the original line-up are back in DARKSIDE, enforced by 3 young, prospective musicians. DARKSIDE played the BRUTAL ASSAULT Festival in 2004. Right after that, DARKSIDE was ready for some live activities in support of their upcoming album “Amber Skeletal Journeys Through The Void”. The band had to suffer one more line-up change shortly before their summer appearances on KALTENBACH OPEN AIR and their support show for MORBID ANGEL. PETER BOEHM announced his departure from the band because of private reasons, he was replaced by DANIEL HANAK, bass player of the Slovakian death grinders CRANIATOMY.

In autumn 2006 DARKSIDE signed a deal with Austria..s up- and coming metal label NOISEHEAD RECORDS, who offered them to release the album. During January and February 2007 some remixes and overdubbings took place and now the album is in the finishing stages to be released on March 26, the first day of DARKSIDE..s tour with their longtime friends, the Portuguese metal masters of MOONSPELL. After nine years the bands will be touring together in support of MOONSPELLs Memorial Services 2007. DARKSIDEs “Skeletal Journeys” will take them to a few festivals like FUCK THE COMMERCE, SUMMERNIGHT FESTIVAL and Viennas DONAUINSELFESTIVAL before the summer. More festivals are planned.. .