YYRKOON

Yyrkoon - Live at Killer Fest 2006

Add to My Profile----------------DEBUT ALBUM-----------------Originating from the north of France, the band was created in 1995 by four former members: Stéphane Souteyrand (guitar-keyboards), Laurent Harrouart (drums), Paul Banas (guitar-vocals), and Sébastien Carron (bass). Since the beginning, they chose a very personal music style, mixed between Heavy metal and Black metal. Main subjects approached by the band are occultism, horror/fantastic as well as the members own philosophies. Less than one year later (April 1996), YYRKOON decided to record the bands first demo-tape with the newcomer William Wendling on keyboards; “Oath, Obscure, Occult…”containing 5 titles. They enriched the sound texture with a female voice, violin, flute, etc… This tape gave to them the exposure they needed and the band YYRKOON was discovered by the underground stage, which allowed them to book shows, and to tape-trade throughout the French metal community. The tape was sent to several French labels, and Velvet Music (Necrophagist, Blut Aus Nord, Mundanus Imperium…) offered them a deal for their first upcoming album. But at that time, each member’s motivation was not on the same level, and a mild conflict in the band led to a change in line-up. This conflict happened during the recording of the debut album: Paul Banas (singer) and Sébastien Caron (bassist) decided to leave the band and they were replaced by two new members: Jérôme Baroin (guitar) and Kristofer Lorent (bass); Stéphane Souteyrand was ready to take vocals for his own, but wanted to find somebody else to replace William Wendling on keyboards who wasn’t yet integrated into the band. So, he asked an old friend Geoffrey Gautier to join them as the keyboard player. After this, YYRKOON was ready to record their first album “Oniric Transition” at Walnut grove Studio in Amiens (France). On this debut album, the music style was quite similar to the demo, but had more maturity and technicality. Stéphane added clear vocals on some chorus which personalized the music even more. Magazines reviewed this album like a kind of Dark metal thanks to many influences, with heavy solos, atmospheric parts, death metal riffs, and black metal rhythms. We could find some songs from “Oniric Transition” on several compilations like “Encyclopedia Pestilencia” (France), “Asgardreien” (Norway) etc… A year passed, while the band searched for a new label, and Jérôme Baroin left the band for his own musical project.----------------SECOND ALBUM----------------In 2000, YYRKOON recorded a promotional CD titled “Forgotten Past”, generally in the same vein of “Oniric Transition”, to find a new deal. Recorded again in the same studio by Axel Wursthorn (from Carnival in Coal), main topics stay the same, and almost all of the composition work is done by Stéphane. The band stayed approximately 7-8 months without a second guitarist, and was obliged to play only at four on live shows. After a hard search, they met Francois Falempin who filled the unoccupied place; but line-up problems weren’t finished… YYRKOON preferred to dismiss Kristofer Lorent (bass) after some disputes about motivation and the musical direction of the band. New departure, new research… But finally, that quest didn’t last as long as the earlier one and the band met Victorien Vilchez who immediately joined the rank. YYRKOON played then with various bands like Septic Flesh, Natron, Avulsed, Misanthrope, Aborted, Scarve, Gojira, and Mercyless… After a gig with the new line-up in Paris in 2001, YYRKOON met Stéphane Brulez from the label Anvil corp. to talk about the possibility of signing a contract for two full albums. This one showed a big interest for the band, and YYRKOON concretized this deal with Anvil corp., at that time a very young label, for which the band was its first production.Anvil corp. permitted to YYRKOON to record its second full album on Studio Emma (Paris) at the end of 2001. Musically, compositions are a bit different than what we could find on previous ones. In fact, the approach is more based on old school influences of the band. Keyboards became quieter in each song; heavy riffs, thrash influences and clear vocals took a bigger place. That lead to “Dying Sun”, second album released in April 2002. Reviews were excellent, in spite of the surprise generated by the change of style. Anvil corp. found partners abroad and the “Dying Sun” album was very well received in Japan among others.-------------DEATH METAL BEND--------------2003, YYRKOON works on news songs, and begins discussion of a third album. Musical evolution provokes once again new choices, on the one hand, Francois’s playing doesn’t totally satisfy other members, and on the other hand, Stéphane wanted to come back in a more raw and brutal style, without keyboard; so finally, Francois left the band and Jeff (initially on keyboards) took his role of second guitarist. The new compositions were more brutal, colder, and faster than before. The final result emerged with a personal style mixed between Death and Thrash metal. YYRKOON chooses then to record in Denmark, in Hansen Studios (Ancient, Aborted, Invocator, Illdisposed…). But unfortunately at that time, Laurent Harrouart (drums) crossing personal problems, loses interest in the band and feels unable to participate in the recording session. But the studio is already booked; the band must find a solution. Dirk Verburen (Soilwork, Scarve) is contacted by Stéphane, in the aim to record the new YYRKOON album, and he accepts. Then the band went to Denmark in November 2003 and recorded the third album titled “Occult Medicine” in three weeks. On their return to France, they sent copies of “Occult Medicine” to several labels, and broke the Anvil corp. deal. After two weeks, YYRKOON received a few positive returns from French labels, but finally decided to work with Osmose Production, and signed a contract for two full length albums (including “Occult Medicine”). The album was officially released on October 11th 2004. Laurent Harrouart, continuing to cross a bad period decided to leave the band, and YYRKOON was left to use a session drummer for concerts. Returns and reviews given to “Occult Medicine” were really excellent, in all countries. Unfortunately, except a small European tour with Impaled Nazarene and Phazm, the band couldn’t promote this album enough without a solid line-up. They had to wait the release of the new album “Unhealthy Opera” in 2006 and the come-back of Laurent Harrouart a few months before to support their albums on stage. "Unhealthy Opera", the fourth album is in the same vein as the previous one and was also produced at Hansen Studios in Denmark, really professional and corresponds exactly to the color expected by the band. This album "Unhealthy Opera" was conceived through a Lovecraftian’s Cthulhu myth and treats more particularly about the fantastic/horror world that reign into the sea's abyss and wild shores... the great Cthulhu and the old ones... The music is aggressive with catchy and fast parts, atmospheric tints are given by the use of samples and instrumental songs and the melody is here through the heavy solos. Andy Larocque (King Diamond) gave his personal touch' with a solo on the song “Horror from the sea” as a guest. After the release of "Unhealthy Opera", (February the 17th 2006) YYRKOON shared the stage with Nile and Psycroptic on a European tour in April 2006. In the beginning of 2007, following the dismiss of Jeff and few gigs done with Niklaus (as a guitarist session) Stéphane decided to leave the band, lacking motivation among other things. Currently, YYRKOON has decided to cease all activity. | More Videos .. width="425" height="350" .... width="425" height="350" .. ToolsForMySpace.com ToolsForMySpace.com ToolsForMySpace.com