Band history Xystus was founded in 1999 by the two friends Ivo van Dijk and Bas Dolmans. The band has always been about evolving, changing, experimenting. This resulted in 3 demo's and the debut album "Receiving Tomorrow" in 2004. The Dutch press had raving reviews on this release and the band became a familiar face on the Dutch stages, supporting Epica, Kamelot, Autumn,playing on festivals like Progpower, MetalbashXL,Dokk'em, Nijmeegse vierdaagse, and Huntenpop with bands such as Evergrey, Machine Head, Primal Fear, Vandenplas and so on. In December 2005 Xystus went on tour with one of the leading Dutch Metal acts Epica, which brought them to Germany, Italy, Belgium and Switzerland.
Band Present Surreal
the title of the new Xystus album. Three years after the release of the successful debut album Receiving Tomorrow (2004) Xystus is back with a full length album featuring 12 brand new songs and over 50 minutes of Progressive Symphonic Metal. With a more mature sound, the new album takes the listener on dramatic rollercoaster ride. With high speed songs like "Voltage" and "R.O.C.", combining almost trashy elements with symphonic and progressive touches the album will satisfy prog-metal fans around the world. Mid tempo poppy/electronic songs like "My Chrysalis" (the first single) and "End of the line", with their strong melodies and compact song structures will appeal to a greater public. And finally the album features a 6 part, 20 minutes epic which can compete with great rock opera's of the past, while introducing progressive, and even techno elements to the genre. All in all the album combines a variety of musical styles and influences while still letting it sound like an Xystus album. All these elements are combined and completed with the voice Bas Dolmans whose vocal performance reaches from heavy power metal to subtle pop like melodies, seamlessly integrating the vocal lines with the ever changing atmosphere of the music. To make sure these songs got the production they deserve Xystus found a great production team with producer Ivo Severijns (Wild Romance, Powerplay) and mixer Oscar Holleman (Within Temptation, After Forever, Krezip and many others). With this all combined you know you can expect nothing less than something Surreal...
The Future With Surreal being released Xystus is already hard at work to realise their next ambitious project named Equilibrio. Equilibrio is a collaboration between Xystus and the student orchestra of Utrecht. more information to follow soon on http://www.equilibrio-opera.nl
Source : http://www.bookrags.com/wiki/Xystus_%28band%29
