Atritas were founded in 1997 by Gier (vocals/keyboards) and Ork (drums). In the same year, Forcas (guitar) and Erguz (bass) joined the band, as well as Lamia, who originally played the violin. With this line-up, their first four original songs, for the CD Pray Of Doom, were recorded as a self-production in December.
In January 1998, Swart joined as second guitarist, and the band played their first concerts. Later in spring of the same year, Lamia transferred from violin to keyboards. The band then split from Erguz and for the time being played without a permanent bassist.
In September 1999, with the help of producer Stephan Reinhard, seven new songs were recorded within the space of nine days, released on the CD Rising Of Eternal Dusk. Forcas took over the bass parts. The band also continued in performing live, and for the first time, Atritas played a concert in Germany, one of six gigs in 1999.
In the beginning of 2000, a permanent bassist was finally found in Ketz. In summer, Lamia departed from the band, to be replaced by Hysteria. Despite these problems with the line-up, concerts were still performed. The main focus during this time was placed upon songwriting, and an unreleased CD recorded in the rehearsal room.
At the beginning of 2001, it was necessary to also split from Forcas, who lacked the required dedication and motivation. He was replaced by Baal. With this new line-up, which played five concerts during the year, the CD Dunkler Reigen was recorded at the rehearsal room in July 2001.
In July 2002, the band once again went to the studio for five days with producer Stephan Reinhart and recorded In Regressu Diaboli, and Subsequently, they played a few concerts in Switzerland.
In January 2003, a new CD containing six songs was recorded. The CD remained unreleased and the songs were never heard on an official album. After that, preparation began on the album Where Witches Burnt, which was released end of 2004. In between, the band kept their experience and spirit alive by repeatedly playing concerts.
In 2004 the decision was made to invest more time and money into the new CD and to record it to professional standards. In the end, three weeks were spent during October/November in the Iguana Studios with producer Christoph Brandes to record the album Where Witches Burnt. After the recording, Ketz left the band.
In the year 2005, the band first started to work on new songmaterial. Meantime, there were very positive critics in several magazines on the album "Where Witches Burnt". Some concerts were played, and in autumn, with P. Magick a new bass player was found, who already played some concerts with Atritas. Also a young label was found, Cartelmedia, which distributes "Where Witches Burnt" through Soufood and supports the band on the promotion.
After a couple of succesfull concerts, amongst others several times in the Z7 in Pratteln (Battle Of Metal, X-Mas-Festivals, Metal Dayz) and a long phase of songwriting, the band entered again the Iguana Studios in autumn to record the successor of "Where Witches Burnt", called "Medium Antigod", followed by the split with drummer Ork and keyboarder Hysteria. A new drummer, Azrael, has been found, the position of the keyboarder is stil free.
Source : http://ww.atritas.ch
