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Biografie : Anesthesy

When Vendetta were forced to change their name in mid 1988, due to the German band by the same name claiming the rights to the bandname, they opted for Anesthesy. At that time the band was also looking for a new vocalist, to replace Stefaan 'Stef' Deldaele. Towards the end of 1988 the right man was found in Stefaan Vanijzere. The rest of the Anesthesy line-up at that time included Franky Libeert & Christophe 'Stoffe' Decaesteker (guitars), Chris Decaesteker (bass) and drummer Ringo Remmery as well.

Only a couple of shows later, on May 19th 1989, vocalist Stefaan left the band again already. Only to be followed by guitarist Christophe on May 27th 1989. As a result the band was on the lookout for another guitarist, as well as a vocalist. There was talk of female vocalist Gladys ? (from Thunder Force) joining Anesthesy at one point, but things never worked out. In the end Franky, Chris and Ringo decided to continue as a trio, with Franky becoming the new vocalist as well.

During July 21-24th 1989 the band went into the Mix Studio in Kortrijk (Courtray), with producers Stefaan Deldaele (indeed, the band's former vocalist in the Vendetta days) and Bernard (Armand) ?. The result was the Overdose demo. Plenty of gigs followed (including one at the Hardrock Circus in Stabroek on February 17th 1990) and some label interest was generated as well, from England's C.M.F.T. Records, in March of 1990. The band recorded 9 songs at the Square Studio with co-producer Kris ?, for what was to be their debut LP, to be entitled Just Married. This never saw the light of day though, as C.M.F.T. soon became bankrupt.

On October 20th 1990 drummer Ringo left, and was soon replaced by Diego Denorme (ex-Evil Sinner, ex-Thunder Force). On December 15th 1990 Anesthesy played at Zaal TVP in Aalst, together with Thyrus. More live activity followed in 1991 at a thrash festival in Moorsel (April 21st, together with Aqphyxia & Cyclone) and at De Zon in Bodegraven (Holland) on May 18th. This new trio line-up (Franky, Chris & Diego) inspired the band to have six of the originally recorded nine songs remixed at CCR Studio by engineer Jo ? in early 1992, and they were released independently in early March 1992, as the Just Married mCD.

Shortly after the release of Just Married Anesthesy became a quartet, with the addition of guitarist Werner Vanlaere. In early 1993 a deal was signed with Tessa Records, and Anesthesy's Enstrangled Minds was elected to be the opening track on Tessa's Detonation compilation CD later in the year. Other bands on said compilation included Ancient Rites, Mind Ruin and Tyfoon, amongst others. Plans to release the band's first full-length CD were made as well : to be entitled Survival Of The Fittest, it was initially set for an August 1993 release. In reality, the recordings and mixing (at Studio Midas in Lokeren) didn't take place until in between September 20th and October 8th 1993, with producer André Gielen at the helm, and mixed by Tony De Block. On February 6th 1993 Anesthesy had played at Zaal Pede in Sint-Lievens-Houtem (alongside Asphyxia, Channel Zero, Exoto and Lethal Impact), and on July 17th that same year they displayed their musical abilities at De Stringe in Vichte, together with Stone Cold Crazy.

In the end it turned out that the album title had been changed into Exaltation Of The Eclipse, and as such Anesthesy's official debut CD was released in early 1994. The official CD-release party took place on February 11th 1994 at the T-Klub in Lokeren. A while later bassist Chris was forced to leave and he was replaced by former Vendetta vocalist Stefaan Vanijzere. A deal with Black Mark Records was soon achieved : three CD's (including a re-issue of Exaltation Of The Eclipse) would be released over the course of 5 years.

More gigs followed soon, at Jackeroo in Anzegem (April 30th) and at Zaal Berkenhof in Geluwe (May 28th 1994, with Stuck Up and Transonic Vrossity). As fate would have it, tragedy struck on July 15th 1994 : upon the return of a meeting to organise an upcoming Anesthesy tour, both Stefaan and Franky were involved in a tragic car-crash. Stefaan was severely injured, but unfortunately Franky died on the spot, at the age of 26!

By 1996 Werner, Stefaan and Diego decided to continue with the band in honour of Franky, and additional members were found in vocalist Sven Houfflijn and guitarist David Vandewalle. Also in 1996, Anesthesy played live in such places as Bissegem (De Kreun), Kuurne (JH Tap) and Menen (Dixie). This line-up would eventually record the band's next CD, together with session guitarist Guy Commeene (ex-Battalion). Guy used to go to school together with Diego, and had been together in another band with Stefaan earlier on. The Fifth Season was once again recorded at the Midas Studio in Lokeren, and produced by Tony De Block together with the band. And since Black Mark no longer seemed to be interested in the band, it was released on Midas Productions in 1998.

A while later guitarist Werner was asked to leave, and Guy joined in on a permanent basis. More line-up changes followed : guitarist David Vandewalle was replaced by Jason Masschelein and Wouter Nottebaert (ex-Impedigon) came in favour of bassist Stefaan Vanijzere. This new line-up recorded a promo-CD in 1999. Initially entitled Let The Mayhem Begin, it was only available to booking agencies, record labels and some magazines. A couple of live shows followed as well, but the aim was indeed to find a new record deal on the evidence of this promo-CD. Nothing happened, and in early 2000 guitarist Jason was replaced by Reinier Schenk (ex-Future Tense, ex-Battalion, ex-Yosh). By mid 2000 bassist Wouter left again already. And when vocalist Sven and guitarist Reinier quit shortly after as well, the band came to a halt.

A couple of years later all members that recorded the Chaos Path promo-CD joined together for a jamsession, and as a result they decided to start playing live again for a limited period of time, so more people would be able to hear both the new and some old songs live at last. One of those occasions was at the Metal Assault show at Ten Goudberge in Wevelgem on July 10th 2004, with the other bands on the bill that night being Caducity, Leptotrichia and Orphean Downfall. During those reunion gigs the Chaos Path release was finally available to the general public as well.

In April 2001 Guy Commeene and Diego Denorme created progressive metal outfit Artrach. Wouter Nottebaert and David Vandewalle would eventually resurface in Artrach in 2004 as well. Vocalist Sven Houfflijn joined Impedigon for a short period of time, and these days he's fronting technical death metallers Fleshmould, the band that guitarist Reinier Schenk started back in 2000 already.

Source : http://users.telenet.be/denofiniquitybe/anesthesy.htm