The story begins in a small town called Rovinj on the west coast of Istria in Croatia. Everything started back in September 1998 when Darko Etinger along with Sara Salvi, Ana Debeljuh and Sandra Damijanic formed the band ALTERED STATE. Since it didn"t work out, Darko joined a band called BLITZKRIEG in January 1999. The line up consisted of Darko Etinger on vocals, Sanjin Banic on lead guitars, Andrej Rojnic on rhythm guitars, Sandi Brajnovic on drums and Marko Kalcic (ex-POP-ART, BIG WAVE) on bass joined them soon. Soon the band name was changed into ALTERED STATE, and they were basicaly covering metal and rock songs and wrote 4 songs. Many gigs performed, one of the biggest is "Gitarijada 1999" where the band blew off the audience with extreme songs.The band received good critics, so some progress was needed to be done. Darko and Marko decided to concentrate on writing songs better than covers. Different opinion about band"s direction lead to Darko"s and Marko"s departure from the band. It was summer 1999, and Darko and Marko along with Sandi Orbanic (ex- CARNATED, TESTIMONY OF TERROR, DESCAGNANS, RUSKY ROULET) on drums and Zlatko Alagic on guitars formed BAGHDAD CAFFE. It distanced from the classic metal sound, as gave space to funky, blues and grunge sound. The band was accepted really well, and Darko and Marko wrote 15 songs which were recorded in a garage. After a long period of hard work on the material which in a way was a compromise between everyone"s tastes for music (Darko and Sandi were more into metal while Marko and Zlatko were more into funky, blues, jazz), Darko and Sandi began working on their side project called DETHNER, while Marko and Zlatko began working on a different project too. It was march 2000, when DETHNER wrote several songs, like "Tears in the desert" (hopefully to be recorded someday) and "Behind". Finally, the band members decided BAGHDAD CAFFE came to a point where it should be stopped. One of the greatest live performances was on December 30th, 1999, where the band amazed the audience with melodic songs full of emotions. Even though BAGHDAD CAFFE is not active anymore, ex band members are on great relations, and they did perform live several times after the split. In april 2000, Teo Tiani (ex- NO REMORSE, DISIDENTS, FAINT HOPE) on lead guitars and Ivan Pelivan on bass joined the band DETHNER. Several live performances were not really good, since the band needed time to work on it"s integrity. Intensive working, expecially from Darko and Sandi, resulted in 11 songs. Some of the songs are originally written in ALTERED STATE and BAGHDAD CAFFE but later arranged in a different way. In June 2000, DETHNER entered the Euterpa Studios in Rovinj and under production of Janos Feher, recorded the song "Behind" which was released as a promo single CD.The band also recorded their live performance in Rovinj, on September 13th, 2000 for the celebration of Santa Eufemia. Difference in music tastes and army obligations forced Teo to leave the band, but is and will be a great input for the band, when it"s needed. Ivan Pelivan was let to go out of the band due to his lack of interest and other duties. Marko Prpic, ex-guitarist of POSTMORTEM joined the band in November 2000. The bass place was taken by Leo Lanca. The band"s name is changed again. Since the band goes back to its original death/thrash metal sound, it is decided that the band"s name will be ALTERED. Three months of rehearsing, april saw the band performing in Buzet, Rijeka, Koper and finally Rovinj. The beginning of May was set for recording the demo which consisted in 4 songs representing the band"s current sound. Soon after the work in the studio is done, Leo is kicked out of the band for not being too human. The band was finally completed for Sanjin Banic joined it as he finished his military duties. Several live performances happened, most important in Rock club Uljanik, Pula for Ivica Raspar memoriam, Petkotina festival in Buzet and Santa Eufemia celebration in Rovinj. Altered went back to studio again in October to re-record some parts of the previour recording session, and the final result is available now as a demo entitled "INDIVIDUAL GENETICALLY ALTERED". The cover art and our logo were done by Michael Muller, known for his work with Megadeth. After that, the band needed a break to regain power and focus on certain aspects of itself. So, here we are. A new chapter of our never-ending metal saga is being written. Elvis Brajkovic (ex- AUSTER) and Sasa Cabaravdic joined the band. I must say it"s the first time since the very beginning that we reached a certain level of integrity. That"s why I thought of bringing the old name ALTERED STATE back again. Several important things happened. First, interview and appearance on the Radio show Rostiljarka and performance on the festival in Pula in March 2002. We played on United Forces Road Show in Pula two months later, had an interview for OTV"s show Ultrazvuk and finally, our song Individual was released on both Rostiljarka promo CD and United Forces Croatian Metal Attack Volume 1 CD. We"re currently writing songs for the next demo. ALTERED STATE is ready to rock you, are you ready to be rocked?!?!?!? The story continues...

Source : http://www.vampire-magazine.com/showband.php?bid=7627