ALBUM OF THE YEAR

<a href="http://medenera.bandcamp.com/album/oro">OrO by Medenera</a>

BIO

Opera IX was born in 1988 by the perverse mind of the guitarist Ossian.

“ERA I: INTO THE SEPULCRO”

The first band’s demo tape “Gothik” was released in 1990, and after many line-up changes the band reaches a solid stability with the line-up that became immediately the core of the “Era I” : Cadaveria at the voice, Ossian at the guitar ,Vlad at the bass and Flegias at the drums. With this line-up the band reaches the first tangible acknowledgements in the underground : the second demo tape “Demo 92”, containing 4 tracks, leads Opera IX to get the first contract for the release of a 7”, published in 500 copies in early 1993 and sold out in only two months. At the same time the band realized “The Triumph of Death”, a VHS containing 2 videos, originally intended for promotion only but then released as official publication following the continuously increasing demand from fans and traders worldwide. In order to expand more the sound, Opera IX decides to add a keyboard player as a stable member in their line up : Silent Bard joins the band in 1993 and participated in the songwriting of the first album. The nowadays seminal “The Call of the Wood”, released by miscarriage Records in 1995, contained 5 long and articulated tracks : about 60 minutes of dark emotions to reach the most occult dimensions of human and superhuman existency, under the sign of pure obscurity and the first pagan footsteps : the descent in the Sepulcro has been taken, a path that would mark the unlight for the years to come. Following the release of the first album the band keeps busy by participating to an Iron Maiden Tribute album “A Call to Irons” with the track “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. The compilation featured bands like Opeth, Angel Corpse, Vital Remains and Absu. During this period the keyboards were layered by Triskent, who also participated in the “Awakening” compilation, released by Dwell Records and in which Opera IX were featured with the long and complex track “My Devotion”.

After this first steps in the scene, Opera IX played many gigs around Italy, and – with another new keyboard player Lunaris – Shiver Records released the second album “Sacro Culto” in April 1998. It is ten years since the band formation, and the sound is now complex, structured and definitively personal. Following the early experiences, the band released a video for the track “Fronds of the Ancient Walnut”.

The peak of the “ERA I” is absolutely reached in 2000 when Opera IX teamed up with the cult label Avantgarde Music for release of the third album : “The black opera - simphoniae misteriorum in laude tenebrarum", recorded in Sweden at the Underground Studios is the absolute gem forged in years of underground militancy, evolution and sound development. The album is an absolute success, reaching 18.000 sold copies, and bringing the Band to tour in different countries, including a raid in South America, which still today represents a fan fortress for Opera IX. Due to this success and the increasing demand for the old catalogue, Avantgarde Music decides to reprint “The Call of The Wood” with a new reworked layout and two bonus tracks.

The 2001 marks the end of the ERA I for Opera IX, due to the split with the vocalist Cadaveria and the drummer Flegias, which leave the band for pursuing other musical and lyrical paths.

“ERA II: THE SERPENT’S NEMETON”

After the departure of Cadaveria and Flegias, due to the directness of the new material Opera IX decide to adopt a male voice for the fourth album, “Maleventum”, which is released by Avantgarde Music in 2002. This chapter is conceived as a concept about witchcraft and paganism, plunged in a much more aggressive sound than the earlier works. The album features Madras at vocals and Taranis at drums, which are replaced at the end of 2002 after the live promotion of the album.

The fifth album “Anphisbena”, is released in 2004 by Avantgarde Music with the new vocalist M. The Bard and the new drummer Dalamar. “Anphisbena” is a complex and structured album – probably the most complicated release from Opera IX, which takes a path along the occult roads of the old pagan knowledge throughout meditation and rites, transformed in sounds and in lyrics. Several live gigs are done in support of the album and at the end of 2006, the keyboardist Lunaris leaves to band to follow other musical experiences.

In this period Opera IX enters a sort of hiatus which is interrupted for some selected live gigs and some retrospective releases. During this time the band celebrates the early days by printing on cd all the early demos and publications : “The Early Chapters 90-92-93” is released in 2007, while in 2008 Opera IX celebrates two decades of obscurity with the release of an exhaustive triple DVD entitled “Mythology” that contains all the visual witchcrafts conceived from the band, starting from the very early days in 1990 to 2008.

After 8 years from “Anphisbena”, Agonia Records release the Opera IX the sixth seal “Strix (Maledictae in Aeternum)” between the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012. The album picks up the musical path taken with the previous “Anphisbena”, but it projects the sounds in a more obscure and occult direction like in the early days. During this period Opera IX performs in some big festivals like Fosch Fest and Rock Hard Festival, in which the live DVD “Sabbatical Live” is recorded and then released in 2013.

“ERA III: BACK TO SEPULCRO”

As a obscure presage, the sixth album “Strix (Maledictae in Aeternum)” marks the end of the ERA II of Opera IX and grows the darkened shadows that surround the ERA III. The vocalist M The Bard, the drummer Dalamar and the former bass player Vlad leave the band for musical and personal reason and Ossian, founder and leader of Opera IX decides to give voice to the damned screams evoked during the conception of “Strix (Maledictae in Aeternum)” and opens again the gates to a female vocalist form the new Opera IX incarnation.

The Seventh Chapter, “Back To Sepulcro” will see the unlight for Dusktone Records in Spring 2015.