16th April 1994, and Dawn of Dreams were born. Formed in the mountainous Tyrol region of Austria, the band started life as the bizarrely named Stable Stench. Originally the band consisted of 5 members, including a drummer and bassist, of which the latter was regarded as somewhat 'useless' (didn't even attend one practice!) and therefore left the band due to lack of commitment. They played a very extreme gore/death metal, highly comparable to that of early Carcass; thus explaining the overly distasteful lyrics!
In October 1995, the drummer left to pursue a career in the army, unfortunately leaving the rest of the band without a rehearsal room. In this disastrous situation they decided to move into Ralph's apartment and continue as best they could with the somewhat lacklustre equipment they had.
The defining moment in the bands' career came in November 1995, their name was changed, and Dawn of Dreams were brought into the light. Not just content with the name change, the band also radically changed their musical direction. Dawn of Dreams decided to 'chill-out' and go for the dark/ambient side of metal, keeping the heaviness but giving it a more mystical and ethereal direction by employing keyboard orchestration as the main part of the songs structures.
In December 1995, the band started recording their first demo in their home studio, 3 months later the demo was completed and sent to Candlelight Records (Emperor, Opeth, Beyond Dawn). 3 weeks later, a reply came to them from Lee Barrett offering them a contract (funnily enough it arrived on April 1st!). The contract was signed in May and the first album recorded. 5 days of hard work in Zero Point Studios resulted in Amber, the bands first doom/goth masterpiece. Released after a long delay in January 1997 it received an excellent response from the worldwide metal press, comparing them to such class acts as Tiamat, Crematory, and Anathema to name just a few. It also managed to make its way into a few "albums of 1997" top tens in various magazines.
Being a highly dedicated trio of musicians, they had almost completed the material for their second album by the time Amber had been released! June/July 1997 saw the recording of their second album take place, but yet again, the release was delayed by nearly a year. Finally released in May 1998, Fragments was another breathtaking composition, which saw the band carry on from Amber but taking their music to another level of maturity, improving every aspect of their sound without changing it. Keyboards are yet again the main focal point here, possibly even more so than Amber, which makes listening to it an almost 'dreamy' experience. Yet again the press comments were excellent, which bodes well for a good future.
In February 1998, Markus left the band due to musical differences, thus leaving Sebastian to play all studio guitars. This resulted in a radical change in the rhythm section of Dawn of Dreams, and after 2 years out of the music business, you could hear this change on their third album, Eidolon. Recorded in April 2000 in the Alcatraz Studios, Katowice/Poland, Ralph and Sebastian combined to produce a somewhat more progressive composition, still very much in the style of previous releases but this time introducing elements of classical and electronic music into the fray.
Production has yet again been improved on by the introduction of, producer Piotr Witkowski, known for such great gothic outputs as Artrosis and Undish. He has also participated in the recordings of The Smashing Pumpkins, Pitchshifter, and the mastering of Pantera. Another improvement involved the band recruiting a session drummer; namely, Robert Baum, the sticks man from Undish. This change eradicated the 'perfect' sound of the drum machines, as heard on previous releases, and along with the louder guitars, and more aggressive vocals gives this album a more metallic edge. Just before the recording of Eidolon, Ralph and Sebastian stumbled across a bassist called Bruno Bassi. (He has had previous experience playing in garage black metal bands in Italy) He promptly joined the band thus making them a trio yet again.
During their two-year absence, the band parted company with Candlelight Records; apparently, due to low sales numbers, which wasn't any fault of the band. You can't sell records without any promotion! This was sadly lacking with Candlelight, possibly due to a slight hint of favouritism towards a fellow label mate.
After the recording of Eidolon, the band succeeded in finding a distribution network throughout Poland, with Morbid Noizz Productions. This was a good starting point, but the band desperately wanted to expand on this area. Just after the recording of Eidolon, the band managed to get their first gig (yes, first, to my absolute astonishment!!). It was a somewhat 'underground' affair, played in front of only a select few people, in Zirl/Tyrol. The songs played were mostly early material, but some new songs were very well received by the crowd; infact, so much so that even the band were surprised.
By now, the band were desperately wanting to reach out to a wider audience. However, their efforts with labels/distributors were, unfortunately, being ignored. Enter mp3.com; with the widest possible distribution area, this was to be a giant leap forward for Dawn of Dreams, introducing their music to the whole world! There was an almost immediate reaction to this, and several of the bands' songs went straight into their relevant top ten group! A net radio station also included two songs from "Fragments" in their line up for live broadcast! Finally, things were beginning to look better for the band.
Yet again showing their dedication, the band continued to write new material all the time, constantly making additions to their collection.
