Order our debut album ‘De Zwaarte van het Doorstane’.
Professionally recorded, mixed and mastered.

5 Songs, 54 minutes playing time.

Full colour 3-panel digipak.

Mail to: info [at] akelei [dot] org

Pics from Utrecht (1 november 2012)

Not much news here, or not much that we can talk about yet anyway. Merlijn is in China somewhere and Ward is working hard to graduate from uni so we’re not jamming or doing any gigs at the moment. Instead, here are some pics from the gig at Tivoli (thank you Ron, Seth and RockHard for sharing), click to enlarge:

                                                                                 © Seth Matahelumual / Epicart.nl

                                                                                 © Seth Matahelumual / Epicart.nl

                                                                                                            http://rockhard.gr/

                                                                                                   photo by Ron van Schaik

                                                                                                             http://rockhard.gr/

Cheers, Misha

Listening to: Anna Calvi – The Wall

 

Next up: The Gathering ’92 & The 11th Hour & Akelei (11 september 2012)

As announced before, this Sunday 16th we’re opening for The Gathering in their 1992 reunion line-up and fellow doomsters The 11th Hour in a not-to-be-missed Dutch doom evening at Tivoli de Helling, Utrecht. Get tickets HERE. We’re looking forward big time! It will be the second time we perform the song ‘Heden’ after its debut in Dordrecht a few months ago. It’s still a work in progress and we’ve altered the ending somewhat during rehearsals. Maybe this will be one of those ‘live-only’ songs that never stay the same. There is a very different take on the song however that we will record later this year. And something else. Oh Winter will be creative times. Merlijn is going on a far East-Asia trip so we won’t be able to do shows during that time anyway.

Meanwhile, Pascal and his other band Faal will tour Europe this fall together with Worship. See details HERE to find out if they are playing near you. They are a most excellent live band, second album ‘The Clouds Are Burning’ is highly recommended too if you prefer your funeral doom laced with black metal and post-rock.

That’s all for now. I hope to bring you reviews, photos and video of the Tivoli show in the next update.

Misha

Listening to: Katatonia – The One You Are Looking for Is Not Here

 

Photo update (7 juli 2012)

We figured it’s time for a new band portrait. The last one we had taken was a very impromptu affair, right after our first rehearsal session with Harm a year ago. This time around, Harm and I found some pretty locations for a shoot in Utrecht and decided that’s where we would give it a go. Our dear friend Delphine was willing to take the pictures, which is awesome. Especially when you consider she had to drive all the way from Belgium for us. Merci beaucoup!

It was a successful afternoon and we are happy with the results. Here are our favourite picks, the first photo is our new ‘official’ band portrait:

Akelei 2012, photos by Delphine

From left: Merlijn, Pascal, Misha, Ward, Harm

See you next time, cheers

Misha

Listening to: Omit – Insolence

 

New gig and video (12 juni 2012)

We played a new song at our gig in Dordrecht last month. Our good friend Wouter caught everything on camera (dankjewel!) and together we edited a video for the as of yet untitled new track. We had a great time at the Popcentrale by the way. It was organised very well and it’s a comfortable venue with quite good sound and facilities. A good number of people showed up right from the beginning and fun times were had by all. Cheers to Ben and Popcentrale for a great Doom Day! Also thank you Heavy Lord for being so ridiculously Heavy. Man, that show rocked.

Click on the picture to see the video.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, for our second gig this year we will be supporting none other than The Gathering in their ’92 line-up reunion! Also playing that evening are The 11th Hour, so it’s a fantastic combination of bands that no doom lover can afford to miss. This will take place on Sunday 16 September at Tivoli de Helling, Utrecht. Yes, write it down. You can buy tickets here: http://www.tivoli.nl/agenda/informatie/atid/455194/datum/zo-16-sep-2012/titel/THE+GATHERING+%2792

This is such a nice opportunity for the band and me personally. The Gathering is my favourite Dutch band, I’ve been a fan since ‘Mandylion’ came out and their atmospheric sound has definitely influenced Akelei’s music. I didn’t really know the band at the time of their debut album ‘Always…’ but I remember seeing the video for ‘King for a Day’ on TV and thinking it looked very mysterious, hehe. They will be playing ‘Always…’ in its entirety. We’re looking forward to this one a lot and hope to see you all there!

Cheers,

Misha

Watching Varúð by Sigur Rós

 

To Dordrecht (16 april 2012)

Our first gig for 2012 is at Dordrecht Doom Day II on May 12. We will play a new song so be there! The time schedule is as follows:

• 15:00 – 15:45   Akelei
• 16:15 – 17:00   Seal of Beleth
• 17:30 – 18:15   Heavy Lord
• 19:00 – 19:45   Ophis
• 20:15 – 21:15   Mythological Cold Towers
• 21:45 – 23:15   Saturnus

 

Misha

Reading: Doomboy by Tony Sandoval

 

Holiday greetings, end-of-year lists, plans (24 december 2011)

This year’s last blogpost will serve no other purpose than to tell you what (at least in our humble opinions) are 2011′s finest album releases. I asked everyone in the band to submit their own top-3 and the result of that is below. (There are actually 2 #1′s on my list but I just can’t choose one over the other. Tough.)

One more note though. In case you’re wondering if we have recorded any new music. The answer is no. We’re still writing and yes, it takes a lot of time. We will for sure record new songs in 2012 though. We will also do shows in the Spring where we will play some of that new stuff. More news when we have it! Now, the lists:

Misha

1. Omit – Repose
1. Carceri – The Good Must Suffer the Wicked
2. Anna Calvi – S/T
3. Other Lives – Tamer Animals

Ward

1. Spinvis – Tot Ziens Justine Keller
2. Tycho – Dive
3. The New Vultures – About Time

Pascal

1. Omega Massif – Karpatia
2. Mournful Congregation – The Book of Kings
3. True Widow – As High As the Highest Heavens and from the Center to the Circumference of the Earth

Harm

1. Black Stone Cherry – Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
2. Arctic Monkeys – Suck It and See
3. Red Hot Chili Peppers – I’m With You

Merlijn

1. Dustin O’Halloran – Lumiere
2. A Winged Victory for the Sullen – S/T
3. Nils Frahm – Felt

Oh OK then, one more thing before I go. Happy holidays! Merry Yule/Christmas/Solstice/Hanukkah etc. and best wishes for 2012!

Misha & Akelei

 

Video and images from Brainstorm (9 november 2011)

We have two videos from last week’s gig for you. Thumbs up go out to Erhan and Ramona for filming and uploading their footage. You can find them on this improvised video page.

Also check out Peter’s MetalRaid. He gave us a link to this photo gallery. Thank you Peter!

Got pictures or video you want to share? Get in touch!

Misha

Listening to Celestial Season – Decamerone 2011

 

Debut album’s 1st year anniversary, Brainstorm fest (6 november 2011)

So today it is exactly one year ago that we released ‘De Zwaarte van het Doorstane‘ at the Dutch Doom Days IX festival. The album has gotten only positive reviews and has sold a nice amount of copies. We would have played more gigs but physical injury and lack of a bass player meant that we had to turn down a few offers. Those annoyances proved temporary though and yesterday we finally had an opportunity to show ourselves on stage again, at the Brainstorm festival in Apeldoorn. It was a good experience and we enjoyed playing there. It was Harm’s stage debut with Akelei and he did a great job. We sold and signed quite a few cd’s after the gig. Thanks to everybody who came out to see us, talked to us and bought a cd! We also thank Raffi and co. as well as Gigant for creating such a premium event and for taking care of us and the other bands so well. We will share pictures and video of the gig when we get them.

Misha

P.S. If you’re on Twitter, you can follow us at https://twitter.com/#!/Akelei_NL

Listening to Samaris – Hljóma þú (Muted remix)

 

New gig and Omit and stuff (5 oktober 2011)

Hey there! Finally back with some news. We’re doing a gig again. We will play at the Brainstorm festival in Apeldoorn on Saturday the 5^th of November. That’s one day short of the first anniversary of our debut album. And it will be our first show with Harm on bass. Our set will be 30 minutes and we’re the first band on that day so hopefully people show up early for some doom. Bands performing after us include Cirrha Niva and Becoming the Archetype. You’ll find a flyer with the complete line-up below this post. Tickets can be ordered at http://www.brainstormfestival.bigcartel.com/

If you haven’t heard already, Secret Quarters released Omit‘s debut double album last month and you should check it out. It features Cecilie Langlie (from our Duett) on vocals. Definitely much better news from Oslo than the tragic and shocking events that took place there in July… It’s the best doom metal album I’ve heard all year and one of the best debuts in several years. The music is highly atmospheric and emotional with classical arrangements, including strings, piano and lengthy compositions. Hear samples here and order the double cd (5 songs, 85 minutes) here. Essential album, not to be missed!

So what has Akelei been up to in the last couple of months? The answer is quite simple and perhaps boring: writing. Just as I thought we had some promising songs nearing completion, I got tired with how they sounded and decided to rewrite and rearrange everything. The focus now lies on creating ever-developing segments instead of repeating the same parts over and over again. That’s enough challenge as it is but we’re also incorporating new instruments and vocal arrangements. I daresay the next album will sound rather different from the first! I can’t give away much at all just yet, but I can tell you this is a passionate learning process, sometimes painful, often slow, but always deeply rewarding.

That’s it for now. Let me close off with a nice quote on music:

…The history of mankind is the history of searching for distraction and justifying its purpose. From the birth of art on cave walls, to the creation of gods, from the invention of medieval love, to the philosophies of today’s existentialism and pursuit of happiness, mankind has desperately tried to live beyond the confines of the physics that shackle him. But no matter how hard you shout above those voices at the back of your head, you will eventually hear them. And this is reflected in music, the great spiller of our secrets…

Thank you, Beerman (and cheers)

Misha

Listening to Other Lives – Tamer Animals