Gorefest

Early years

The group recorded its first demo, called Tangled In Gore ^[1] , two and a half months after the formation, which received great resonance and attracted the attention of various record companies.

From the very beginning, the main difference between Gorefest and other death metal groups was that all of their texts had a sharp social connotation, without the slightest hint of Satanism and other themes popular in this genre. The recording contract was signed with the Dutch company Foundation 2000 , but instead of starting to record the album, the group released a second demo, Horrors In A Retarted Mind ^[2] , to further establish themselves on the underground stage. After, a number of concerts followed in Holland and neighboring countries. At the end of 1990, during concerts in Holland and Belgium , the group supported the British performances of Carcass during their Christmas Carnage tour . Some concerts from the tour were recorded, two songs from these records were published on the collection, DSFA - Where`s Your God Now? ^[3]

In June 1991, Gorefest went to Stonesound Studios to record the Mindloss album ^[4] . Recording and mixing of the album took place in the British studio Exis, under the direction of producer Colin Richardson, known for working with the bands Carcass, Napalm Death , Bolt Thrower . The press and fans' comments on the debut album were extremely positive. Just before the Revenant tour with the Americans, there was a change in the lineup of guitarist Alex van Sheik, who by then had managed to lose interest in the group, was replaced by Boudewijn Bonebeker.

Due to the fact that Foundation 2000 decided not to renew the recording contract with Gorefest, they began to receive numerous offers from record companies. As a result, the contract was signed with Nuclear Blast ^[5] .

After completing the tour in support of Mindloss , Mark Hugendorn left the band due to a conflict during the tour. His place was taken by Ed Warby from the Dutch power metal band Elegy. After a tour of the UK and France , a concert EP Live Misery ^[6] was released, which was released in late October 1992, ahead of the release of the second album.

To record the album False ^{[7], the} group again chose a collaboration with Colin Richardson, and the results were not slow to affect. The mere sounding has overshadowed numerous death metal works. The group managed to diversify its style without losing power. On the contrary, Gorefest in 1992 sound more bloodthirsty than before, although the songs, especially in the field of tempo, are more diverse than on the first album. The development in the field of games and technology is remarkable, which is undoubtedly the merit of the new members of the group.

The next month, the group spent on a tour of Europe , with bands Deicide and Atrocity, giving concerts in Germany , Sweden , the Czech Republic , Slovakia and England .

May 30, 1993, on the second day of the Dynamo Open Air festival, which was held in Eindhoven , the group performed in front of a 45 thousandth audience who gathered from all over Europe. On the eve of the festival, the drummer had an operation on the joint of his right hand, and during the concert he played with a transparent bandage through which you could see the bone . One of the Dutch companies recorded the festival on a 24-track tape recorder, to use the recording in a rock night broadcast. In the same year, the performance was released on CD , entitled The Eindhoven Insanity ^[8] .

Also this year, Ian Chris de Koyer, along with Karl Willets of Bolt Thrower and Mack of Healer , took part in guest vocal recordings for the song “Wrong Side of the Grave” from the album Transcend The Rubicon ^[9] by the British Benediction .

In the same year, there was a North American tour called the Insanity Tour , in which Gorefest supported Death . The final concert of this tour took place on August 15, in the city of Mexico City , in Mexico .

Change of style and departure from the stage

In 1994, Gorefest once again went to the studio. To record a new album, they invited producer Pete Coleman, who worked with Paradise Lost , on the album Icon . The disc was called Erase ^[10] , in terms of sound it became less heavier and much more melodic than its predecessor, but this did not mean that Gorefest lost its former power. The album took 56th place in the Netherlands and the Belgian charts, and in October 1994, a limited edition of the album, in an iron box, with a circulation of 5 thousand copies was released at Nuclear Blast. Many fans tried to blame Gorefest for the change of style, but the album sold well and attracted new fans to the group.

The next release, the mini-album Fear ^[11] , released in November 1994, (recorded after the end of the European tour), showed the band's further movement towards musicality.

The single Freedom ^[12] was released in February 1996.

The group began recording a full-length album in 1996, the disc was produced together with Oscar Hallman, the album was called Soul Survivor ^[13] , and was a hard rock death metal, with an abundant portion of melodic solos. According to the style of sounding, this album is 100% representative of the death and roll genre.

In support of the album, the group performed a series of concerts in the Netherlands, with the support of AC / DC , also once again performed on Dynamo Open Air and went on a tour of Europe. At the Out Of The Dark Festival , which was held in Germany, the group performed with the Theater of Tragedy and Rotting Christ ^[14] .

Soul Survivor was the band's last album released on Nuclear Blast Records.

The recording of the next studio album, entitled Chapter 13 ' ^[15] , took place in the fall of 1997 in Holland. Produced and mixed album Oscar Hallman. Musically, the album continued the line of the last two releases, and became, in fact, the band’s swan song - after a joint tour with Judas Priest , the group Gorefest ceased to exist. Chapter 13 was the last disc of the collective. This album was released on SPV / Steamhammer Records.

In 1998, the musicians parted ways. However, the main thing should be considered the collaboration of Ed Warby with Ayreon and Star One , extremely successful projects of the famous multi-instrumentalist named Arjen Anthony Lucassen . Against this background, the successes of Jan-Chris, who in 2002 appeared in the electro-dance project Coldpop Culture , look a bit more modest, and Frank was seen in the company of stoner rockers The Speed ​​Kings .

Reunion

Six years after the breakup, the group reunited in its former composition. Gorefest performed at numerous festivals in spring / summer 2005. Including May 7 at Dynamo Open Air ^[16] , and at Wacken Open Air in August.

In the summer of 2005, the collection box set To Hell and Back-GOREOGRAPHY was published , with the band's old works. These are: “Mindloss” (1991) + early demos, “False” (1992) + demos + “Live Misery” EP + “Erase” (1994) + “Fear” EP + “Goddess In Black” (orchestral version), “ Soul Survivor ”(1996) +“ Goddess In Black ”(from“ Freedom ”EP) +“ Dynamo Open Air'96 ”+ demo,“ Chapter 13 ”(1997) + demo + remix ^[17] .

All albums were remastered , and the booklet contained comments by Dutch journalist Robert Haagsma.

In the same year, Gorefest released a new album, La Muerte ^[18] , which was recorded in Rotterdam , in the Excess studio with sound engineer Hans Peters. The famous Tew Madsen, (known for his work with the groups Konkhra , Grope , Raunchy , The Haunted , Panzerchrist , Mnemic , Ektomorph , Destiny, Aborted , Disbelief , Born From Pain ) compiled material at his personal studio Antfarm Studios. The band again returned to the death metal style, maintaining the average pace of low guitar sound. For the first time in their existence, Gorefest did not go to rehearsals to write songs. Each of the participants recorded their parts and musical ideas at home, using the Pro Tools mini system. Thus, even before starting work in the studio, they had ready demo versions for all the songs for the upcoming album.

The album release contract was again signed with Nuclear Blast. In the same year, the group performed at the Wacken Open Air ( Germany ) and Rock The Nations Fest ( Turkey ) festivals .

In 2006, a European tour with Bolt Thrower took place, the group also performed at the Dynamo Open Air, Wacken Open Air, Graspop , Earthshaker , With Full Force and Lowlands festivals, played many recitals, and then focused on composing new material.

On May 12, 2007, on the P60 stage in Amstelveen , in Holland, the band Live & Dangerous performed in which cover versions of the songs of the band Thin Lizzy were performed. The composition of Live & Dangerous was as follows: Boudewijn Bonebakker - guitar and Ed Warby - drums (Gorefest), Peter Vink - bass guitar (Q65, Finch and the boxx, Star One , Ayreon ) and Ross Curry - vocals (Seed, Spo-Dee- o-Dee, Shamus) ^[19] . This performance was broadcast online at Metal-Experience.com.

The next album in the history of Gorefest was the album Rise to Ruin ^[20] , released on August 3, 2007 in Europe, and September 25 in the USA. In America, the album was released on Candlelight Records . The album took 61th place on the Dutch national chart in August 2007. Rise to Ruin mixed Tew Madsen at Antfarm Studios. Critics spoke of him like that - a combination of Mindloss aggressiveness, seventy-style guitar passages with Soul Survivor and Erase's stiffness.

The recording was attended by Jacob Breda, vocalist from Hatesphere .

In the winter of 2007, as part of a tour in support of the Rise To Ruin album , Gorefest visited Russia . Having played one concert in Moscow , (the Tochka club, December 1) and St. Petersburg , (the Roks club, December 2).

Gorefest Album Publishing in Russia, Irond Records , licensed under Nuclear Blast.

June 15, 2009 Gorefest announced the end of his work ^[21] .

Ed Warby is currently a regular drummer in the Hail of Bullets band.

Demo

• Tangled In Gore (1989)
• Horrors In a Retarted Mind (1990)

Studio Albums

• Mindloss (1991)
• False (1992)
• Erase (1994)
• Soul Survivor (1996)
• Chapter 13 (1998)
• La Muerte (2005)
• Rise to Ruin (2007)

Singles and EPs

• Live Misery (1992)
• Fear (1994)
• Freedom (1995)

Live Albums

• The Eindhoven Insanity (1993)

Video

• The Confessions Of A Serial Killer
• Erase
• Fear
• Freedom
• For the massess

DVD

• La muerte making

• Rockcor No. 6. 1993.

• Official website
• Gorefest on Discogs
• Gorefest on MusicBrainz
• Gorefest Official Myspace Page
• Death 'n' roll
• Gorefest on Allmusic.com
• Gorefest on Musicmight.com
• Interview with Gorefest Maelstrom Issue No 58
• Interwiev with Gorefest in 2007
• Gorefest Interwiev, Leviatan Metal Magazine
• Gorefest on facebook
• Set lists of all Gorefest performances
• Intrview with Frank Harthoorn
• Interview with ROCK ORACLE Magazine No. 4 07/2005
• Gorefest: A window into the world of brutality