Behold the written and wretched tale of a growing evil within the Antverpian black metal scene! For about two years, sfagnum torments the ears of the weak, preparing for a deadly onslaught on the feeble minded, from their lair in the dark catacombs around Antwerp's ancient lands. The future? I cannot tell you… But let us turn around and together look at what was, before the dreaded days that these foes threatened every living soul…

The early years

It was not always this nasty. Way back, we had our basic pons, who were just growing into puberty. Some of them already were practising their instruments, while others lurked in the shadows, waiting for their time. The malicious Maldoror was forced through vicious trials of learning on a newer version of the clavecimbel, and the calamitous Caldron was exercising the principles of evil on a low frequency mandolin. But about five years before the Apocalypse, the gap burst… Caldron thought the time to be ripe for the harvest of his first real deathcult and summoned the ancient Ecliptica. Already having exchanged his instrument for a sextet of stretched cat bowels, he inaugurated the contagious Count Elyte Empiricae for his former instrument, the arcane Arragon for the unhallowed choir on black and white Mûmak teeth and finally the most evil man alive, the vampire lovin', blood gobblin', Clouseau mimicin' Cassiël himself for the unrhytmic pounding on mule skins. They were set out to be the second real black metal band in the realm of Antwerp. Unfortunately, a band called Avatar, had already preceded them in being the first. When Ecliptica got ready to play their initiating performance, they were forced to share the bill with a rather strange punk/metal band, called Drowning. While the band was really nervous, they were far from pleased with the noise Drowning was producing and especially with the hyperactive singer/guitarist. (to be continued!) After Ecliptica's rather disappointing debut gig, they went along and played some more gigs and recorded the demo ‘Mistige Morge'. It was recorded under the supervision of the fat bastard Kjell Ambjörnson at Antwerp's worst recording facilities, namely the Cavern Studio's. Despite the dastardly main wizard, the demo had a rather good sound, but it was clear that Ecliptica still had a long, long way ahead. After some more gigs, they felt the growing necessity to enrich their sound with a second guitarist. So they simultaneously agreed on the admission of the machiavellian Mordred, who was experienced with music for quite some time, but had never played in a band before. But the quintet never got to a multiple of in the flesh performances because the forces of light, who considered the existence of these warriors of darkness a thorn in their flesh, threw the seeds of doubt and quarrel amidst the band. Giving ear to these wedge-forcing powers, Caldron left the others. These brave souls had some actes de presence planned and did not feel the hand of doom on them that much, that they should be discouraged by these circumstances. The nearest performance was executed with the additional aid of the vocal chords of the suicidal lord Semivivus. Then the cracks multiplied until they finally tore the band apart. In a very short time first Mordred and then Cassiël exchanged their membership for a residence in anonymity, while Arragon and the Count chose to lead their troop ahead into the future. They saw to it that draftees were sought in the ghosts of new guitarists, a vocalist and a drummer. Thus Ecliptica went on with a new occupation and prospered… We shall narrate on them in the coming tale. But their leading part is finished. But their importance will be remembered…

The battle before the reign of the Moors



Interbellum… A deceitful Requirat In Pacem… But not all is what it seems. The grain of evil purposes still grew in the subconscious of Caldron's brain. And to continue his musical onslaught he had found a trusty accomplice in his once-upon-a-time substitute screamer Semivivus. This filthy vocalist also mastered the skill of fondling the keys on the lightning-driven church organ. Together they planned another ensemble, which –according to Semivivus' design- was to be called Dolkk and which was to bring pestilence to this world in the auditional shape of Horror metal. They intended a sound, creepy and terrifying, by the simple means of the aforementioned organ and the habitual six strings. But the truce between Caldron and Semivivus staggered for the first time, when Caldron arranged the addition of the lamented Lazarus, so that a total of twelve strings were to resound during practice battles. Semivivus did not protest, because Lazarus was a worthy master of his weapon and a true addition to the cult. But the joining of the following black soul, Caldron brought to the threesome, did not carry Semivivus' approval. It was the pounder of skins, the codpiece-faced Cassiël. Semivivus had not foreseen a pulse in his architecture of horror metal. But he kept silent; for reasons too obscure to see the light of day. This quartet soon had four songs finished, which were quite long and quite divers, but were actually typical black metal. The band grew again. This time, the vicious Valaraukar busted in with a bass guitar to make Dolkk a wholesome black metal band. Ironically, ‘t was merely the singer/guitarist from the pesky punkers of Drowning, donning himself an alias and tearing away at the four cables across the deep abyss.

But they tolerated him. The lord moves in mysterious ways! The existence of the dagger-lovers was to remain for solely one presentation of their abilities. And it was not to the liking of those present! Amongst the bands was also the notorious Ecliptica, in a new line-up. They disliked Dolkk and Dolkk disliked Ecliptica. It was a bothersome vicious circle. Dolkk, with their bad sound, four vocals and convulsive attempt to break new grounds of songwriting, had no chance whatsoever to impress and their wantonness in displaying absolutely no enthusiasm; did not help at all. And Ecliptica, who played mostly old songs, which Caldron had written, was marked as thieves of Caldron's ideas and as bastards in general. This pitiful hate campaign was initiated by Caldron and Cassiël; who were that stubborn in the matter, that the rest off the band had little choice but to share their hate. But it was of little importance. After the disastrous exhibition of power, Dolkk fell apart. During the months of summer that followed, Caldron and Valaraukar had a brief side project, called Shadowthorns, with a friend, in which Caldron drew an artificial veil of instruments over the guitars of Valaraukar and the other one. But after a song and a half of epic black metal, there was no more time for them to continue the strenuous music. Caldron also had the time that summer to work on another project, this time as a guitarist with Lazarus and another genius, to find the secrets of the electric pipe organ. Gollem, as it was called, was also doomed to perish and be blown to the deserts of memory. Then the verdict fell. Dollk ceased to be. At least as a band. Lord Semivivus, having tasted the union with others and not liking it, returned to his basic starting-point of having only a synthesiser for the summoning of horror metal. During quite a long time, there was the idea that Valaraukar would join him with his guitar, but they never achieved the status of an official duo. Thus they reach the month of October in the year 1998. There was Ecliptica, whom Arragon had left, due to his lack of interest in the band musical evolution, Valaraukar played in a death metal cult, known as Anaemica and still tried to keep Drowning alive, but the rest lay flat on their back and achieved laziness and sloth, while the world did not give the proverbial excrement about them. But times were soon to change…

A dive into the deep end of the Sfagnum

It was the sixteenth of October 1998. It was precisely 684 years and five days after Jacques De Molay was burnt at the stake in Paris and now he was remembered by the pack of wolves, led by the one, known to his brethren as Gunter Thys, poet in the oldest Belgian band of satanic minstrels, noted in the passages of time as Ancient Rites. These valiant men had just released a grand collection of divine hymns and had the courage to prove that they were capable to achieve the same perfection on the stage of Den Biebob in Vosselaar as on record. Present at the venue were: Caldron, Arragon, Cassiël, Valaraukar and a mutual acquaintance, dubbed Maldoror. After the exquisite display of musicianship of the ancient Flemish warriors, the thought grew in Caldron's mind to reunite the primal incantation of Ecliptica. He immediately put words to his thoughts and suggested the malicious plan to the tortured souls, present. These men were thrilled with the idea and the yet unnamed company set out to reproduce the old magic, which the new Ecliptica was only besmearing. So in a dank bunker, guitarists and vocalists Caldron and Maldoror, keyboarder Arragon, drummer Cassiël and bassist Valaraukar started out to play the old, old, old Ecliptica songs. Especially Cassiël blew their actions to mythic proportions, declaring that new Ecliptica should give up their name to the glory of the old Ecliptica and that there would be a massive interest in the resurrection of this Antverpian legend. But the old songs became a bothersome waste of time and the sources of creativity began to flood; resulting in the vastly shape of two new songs, an intro and a worked out newer version of an old unfinished song. However, there was such a difference in style between the old and new songs, that even Cassiël was convinced that a new name would be the best thing for this new band. Thus history witnessed the primal baptism of what became one of the leading smuts in God's eyes: The horde of SFAGNUM! Once again, against their better judgement, they entered the cavern studios and recorded the demo ‘Absence Of Light'. Actually the entire recording was such a humorous one, that to this day, they can not believe that ever a pleasing word regarding those circumstances escaped their lips. The demo, when released, was not received with the anticipated enthusiasm from the black-burnt hordes, namely at Sfagnum's debut gig. Neither was their performance, despite honorary tributes to the gods from days of Yore, namely Emperor and Darkthrone covers. At the end of the evening, Cassiël, who also played in the highly underrated cult Opus Nocturnales, felt more at ease with them brouhaha's than with the warriors of Sfagnum and exchanged his drumkit with the Gods for a guitar with their worshippers. Thus Sfagnum was inflicted with a doubtful live reputation and a gap in their immense wall of sound. Due to Cassiël's weak drumming and refusal to his payment on the democharges, the tribe was actually quite pleased to get rid of him. But the brave core of Sfagnum never despaired. Contemplating the odds and possibilities, they came up with a temporary solution. Valaraukar, who had perfected his drumming in the pit with Anaemica, threw aside his dreaded instrument of war and sat himself down behind the steel drums of doom, to force out the rhythms that made their collective monster move. There was some gossip on the subject of a substitute, but it was never meant to be, for the time being. So Sfagnum departed as a foursome to conquer new souls. And for about the period of one year, a situation of false hibernation crept over the quartet. They travelled and played in far corners of their homeland, but never managed to leave an unforgettable impression. Until the roots of spring appeared, when the threat of the Apocalypse was shrugged off. It was in those days, that the of no woman borne Lord RC, chief iconoclast, vested in the dark towers of Lûrburz, thought ‘Absence Of Light' to be a most promising collection of hateful tunes and offered them a spot on his next black mass in praise of most primitive spirits. At that venue, in the most ancient centre of Flanders, Sfagnum finally took the chance to present themselves as a strong collective, able to slay even the toughest amongst those able to witness the overwhelming power. The necessity to record another demo grew to such proportions, even the blindest could notice it. So Sfagnum made the appointment with the noble minstrels of the Jac. Lamoen studio, to scribe the new rules of the moor in soggy stone tables. The only practical thing that stood in the way, was the absence of the master of the low vibrations. The intention was that the master of ceremony of the recording would do the honours of fill in the blanks during those sessions, but a rehearsal gave them another insight. The demigod was a very skilled musician, but not capable of filling the void of bass in the way, Sfagnum saw it fit. Luckily, Arragon and Valaraukar saw an opportunity to solve that particular problem, without loosing any respect in front of the Master…





The entrance into the realms of Avalon and To sleep, in the Dark Night of the Soul

Rainy days and strange gatherings were the circumstances in which the drenched to the bone Arragon and Valaraukar met the only one so audacious not to refuse their company. On a stage: another display of mastery of renowned bands. Our men meet the daredevil and casually cropped up the situation prior to the recordings. The stranger seemed to be mastering that precise weapon our troop was missing and liked the idea of entering the cult, wrapped in mysterious mists. Immediately, the arena was cleared of victims, to let the stranger perform his most vicious arts, attempting to persuade the grand jury to let him live as a member in the select company. Fortunately for him, all thumbs feel upward, when he was to receive the ultimate judgement. Cleansed of all sins in previous times, the noble soul insisted that from that day on, he was to be addressed as Azraël, Gargamal d'Avalon. In this cast, they stormed the fortress of Jac. Lamoen and forced the two skilled experts to writhe the sounds onto a tape. Because this time, the result was to their liking, the memories of the Cavern studios vanished and they could finally listen to one of their products with a feeling of satisfaction. A subtle blitzkrieg was unleashed, whenever Sfagnum set out to support their digital prodigy. Audiences, bedazzled by Sfagnum's unresistible force, had little alternative but to obey their desire to purchase the cd, finely crafted on Arragon's screens of creation and marvellously mixed and mastered by the Lizard king and his most highly respected colleague. Their efforts are engraved in the stone tablets of Sfagnum's collective remembrance and no soul, living or dead, or drifting between those spheres can ever fray the bonds that these mighty men have wrought! When Sfagnum does honours one, it is because he is worth it! The reactions to the demo, named in their mother's tongue, ‘Duistere Nacht Van De Ziel', were of course ecstatic. No one now could deny the craft with which this masterpiece was built; not even the old enemies of Ecliptica. Therefore, the old quarrels were forgotten and new bonds were forged between these once upon a time adversaries. In the months that followed, plenty of performances proved the primal position of Sfagnum as a highly original band within the boundaries of all the regions black metal can reach. But again, the forces of light undertook such actions, which made the line-up in the collective shake and stagger. Primo, there was a major difference in opinion, considering the songwriting. Maldoror and Valaraukar had a vision of the road that was to be taken, while Caldron did not share their view. His musical taste and preference had shifted to a sort not matching the taste and direction that Sfagnum was heading towards. His friendship with fellow Antverpian metallers Axamenta, who were playing more along the lines of the music that Caldron wanted to perform, fortified his discontent with his position in Sfagnum. There were frictions. There were arguments. There were fights. Finally there was a breakthrough. Caldron, having the possibility to demonstrate his abilities as a rhythm guitarist in Axamenta, announced his departure from the regions of Sfagnum. The rest of the band, having predicted this turnout, had no trouble with this decision, save for the fact that a rather important appearance was planned and that finding a substitute was a rather vain effort. Therefore Caldron was to play that gig as a farewell performance and afterwards he was dismissed from his obligations towards the other four. It was to be this way…

Through Cassandra's Eyes…

Valaraukar shall stroke his seven strings from now on

A new Master of the metronomic pulse shall be found

There will be a better and divers sound from their hands

There shall be no halt to the upward spiral of these brilliant minds

Thus is foreseen…

So shall it be done

But the end is still entangled in mist…

And my eyes are tired…

Thou shall see what lies ahead with thine own eyes

And be content with the outcome of it…