A new band has arisen from Dutch soil, delivering groundshaking bombastic metal. When HALIPHRON asked me to session drum for their debut album, I didn’t think twice. I recorded and produced the drums myself at STUDIO SKILLPERO / De Leauds des Deaudts (Kampen, NL). The album was mixed and mastered by MENDEL BIJ DE LEIJ at MBDL and released by LISTENABLE RECORDS on March 31, 2023.
I’ve also been drumming at HALIPHRON’s live shows in 2023, with merely highlights such as Copelhell festival in Denmark, Into the Grave festival in The Netherlands and some opening slots for ARCH ENEMY in NL and France.
Early 2024, HALIPHRON found their new, steady band member drummer in PAUL BELTMAN.
I got recruited by the Serpent King himself as GOD DETHRONED’s official drummer. That was early 2020. My first show with them was 1,5 years later, at Obscene Extreme Festival 2021. I had played with Henri before, when he stepped in on bass for DICTATED. Both band and road crew are the best, I’m having a great time playing, touring, recording and scheming with them.
Veile is a new horror metal project between Anabelle (UK – DEVILMENT), Charles Edward Alexander Hedger (UK – MAYHEM, R-COMPLEX, SHINING (session), TORMENTOR (session) and Frank Skillpero (a.i. THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT, GOD DETHRONED).
VEILE brings to life the chilling atmosphere of bygone times with blackened horror metal arrangements and lyrical themes from witchcraft to dark folklore. Many layers will be unveiled to the ear, as CHARLES ALEXANDER HEDGER’s vigorous riffs and FRANK SKILLPERO’s versatile drums are but the foundation for ANABELLE’S astonishing spectacle of multidimensional vocals and haunting orchestrations.
I joined The Monolith Deathcult as a session drummer in 2015 and remained as such within their ranks ever since. Their style of ‘supreme avant-garde death metal’ is definitely something else and a lot of fun to play. We did so on many club shows, festivals and mini tours throughout Europe. As of now, 2 albums with me on drums have been released and the third is in the making.
From Italy to Iceland; highlights on the road
Italy 2015
My first call of duty for the Deathcult was a double assault in Italy, March 2015. On the way to the airport, main song writer Michiel Dekker told me that their last show in Italy turned out disastrous, as the customs people had ripped out all the patch cables from their setup and plugged them back in randomly. Had they only found out about that BEFORE setting up on stage, in front of a thousand-or-so metal heads… Anyway, this time, after arriving at Milan airport, all equipment rolled down the luggage belt untouched and in good shape, only half a day later than us. So, we finally got our stuff and jumped in the van with a very anxious promoter (can’t blame him) and made it to the show 15 minutes before change over. Talking about baptism by fire. But, all equipment worked and we managed to put up a fairly good performance, so it was a win after all.
Greece, September 2016
There was a time when no ‘gate’ followed the name BATUSHKA. They had just released their debut album ‘Litourgiya’ on Season of Mist and went to the land of ruins and ancient history to promote it. The Monolith Deathcult had the pleasure to join them on this 2 show short run in Thessaloniki and Athens. Much can be said about the Greek but they sure know how to metal. No more words are needed, it’s all in the video.
Norway, February 2017
Remember Blastfest in Bergen? We don’t either. The festival got cancelled last-minute due to some discrepancies in the books. So in stead of a big festival show in Garage (RIP), we got to do a substitute performance with Blood Red Throne at Apollon record store. Since ‘V1: VERSVS’ was just about to launch, this was the perfect oppertunity for an exclusive listening session and meet & greet with The Monolith Deathcult. If you know the size of Apollon, you won’t be surprised that the place was packed. If you know the size of the stage, you know that a four piece metal band will barely fit, let alone put up a full on headbanging performance. Headstrong as TMDC is, the guys decided that we should do a hipster style sit-down show, and so we did. Funniest show ever.
This was my first really big festival show, performing the big tent in front of ~10.000 people. So the Graspop show was definitely a big highlight.
About THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT
THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT holds the conviction that death metal has reached a ceiling in terms of speed. This is why The Monolith Deathcult has decided to broaden the genre by inserting previously ‘not done’ elements into the style, adding to the brutality and speed.
They don’t make artist-centred music and won’t gorge on technicalities only trained ears will hear and appreciate, see the audience banging their heads on the primeval forces of the pounding 4/4 beat and have set themselves the goal to broaden their extreme (death) metal with influences from techno/dance and industrial music, completed with Wagnerian classical pomposity.
All this is topped with an image of irony, black humour and bad taste, in combination with a morbid fascination for everything that is ‘wrong’.
I’ve had the honor of holding the mighty KYLE SEVERN’s throne for US death metal legends INCANTATION on several tours and fests, both here in Europe and on other continents. I’ve been active with Incantation from 2018 to 2020. It’s always a great pleasure to be on the road with these guys.
INCANTATION – Rites of the Locust – Drum Cam by Drummers From Hell
