_Came into existence in the fall of 2000, as the result of project that Kevin Jones had started working on in his spare time. This project had no name, no lyrics, and no particular structure. The only things concrete were a few bass and guitar riffs that Kevin had compiled. In March 2001, things started to change for this nameless entity when a second member by the name of Joël Cyr stepped up to play guitar for the unformed band. Joël was a long time friend of Kevin's and they both shared the same vision of creating heavy and atmospheric music_

_In the following year, Kevin and Joël undertook the slow process of naming the band, writing lyrics, and finding musicians to recruit into their project. Finally after having found and lost a first drummer, and were left to rehearse for several months with only a drum machine, a serious drummer named Nick Richards volunteered to join the band in July 2003. Unable to find a singer at this point and without experience as vocalists, Kevin and Joël decided that they would sing themselves. For the next six months, after much arranging and rearranging, the small project grew to have several songs and finally a name. The Mass was born and ready to record their first album Towards Darkness. Six months after the recording, they added a second guitarist_

_The album was released on Great White North Records in December 2004 and was followed by a short set at the label's anniversary showcase. Not long after this, the second guitarist left the band. Three shows were played at the beginning of March 2005 with Montréal Doom band LONGING FOR DAWN; in Sherbrooke, Montréal and Québec City. Then a new member was added to the line-up. The band had always wanted to add keyboards and Simon Carignan came in as keyboard player who also played guitar. In July, The Mass played 8 shows as part of the Québec portion of the GWN Records tour with FUCK THE FACTS and BRIEF RESPITE. In September, the band received an e-mail from a band in California whom had the same name. Seeing as the other band already had three albums and a name change was already being discussed, The Mass became TOWARDS DARKNESS. More shows with LONGING FOR DAWN were played in September, in Québec city and in the first ever Montréal Doom Metal Congregation, which also featured new labelmates CORTISOL_

From www.towardsdarkness.com