2001, the start of a new Millennium, and for Diëgo Denorme (drums), Guy Commeene (guitars) and Jeroen G. Doeve (bass guitars), the last remaining members of Belgian death metal pioneers Anesthesy, the perfect time for drastic changes and a new beginning.
They decided to cast aside the technical death metal, founded Artrach and started to play a blend of progressive power/heavy metal.
In August, a first complete line-up was achieved, as Glenn Devos (vocals), Filip Delva (guitars) and Christof Colle (synths) had joined, and a first series of songs were composed.
In October, Artrach gathered in the Midas Studios of Tony Deblock to contribute their track "Curse of the Gladiator" to the all-Belgian 'Overdrive 20 Years Tribute' compilation.
Shortly after, both Jeroen and Filip left the band, but their replacements were soon found when Wouter Nottebaert (bass guitars) and David Vandewalle (guitars) had joined. In this new line-up, the first live performance took place in April 2002, headlining at 'Live On Stage 2002' in Lauwe.
In May 2002, the band re-entered the Midas Studios to record 6 tracks for their debut demo-CD 'Through Archways of Dark'. In September, both 'Archways...' and the 'Overdrive' compilation were finally released and after a couple of weeks, the first promisingly positive reviews on both releases started to appear everywhere in magazines, e-zines,...
By the end of 2003, the copies of the 'Archways' demo-CD had sold out, and a series of shows were succesfully completed.
In 2004, Artrach spent the summer recording 'Faceless God' at Midas Studios, and released this second offspring in December, along with a limited re-edition of the 'Archways' demo-CD. One of the new songs, "Dawn of Terror", was also included on the 'Rock Tribune March 2005 Sampler'.
Yet in May 2005, Artrach had to part ways with their singer Glenn Devos. After months of extensive auditioning and selecting the appropiate candidate, Piet Overstijns was found to join the band in September 2005.
Artrach arranged a series of try-outs in local youth clubs to prepare the new line-up for the recordings of the third demo-CD '...And in Fate We Rest', which was recorded in the summer of 2006 in Midas Studios and released in October.
Over the years, Artrach has gathered quite a strong live-reputation and, as we speak, the band is preparing itself for the recordings of a first full-length, yet still in search of an interested record label and, off course, always looking for concert promotors and venues to present our unique style live.