Sepulcrum Mentis, whose cryptic name translated into English
as "the tomb of the mind", was formed in 1990 by singer/guitarist Marty
Kasprzak and bass player/vocalist Ben Zorn. They started out as a rather pure
wave-gothic outfit, but - being open-minded people (which seems to be a rare
trait in the goth scene these days, where copycats have seized the day) - they
merged a variety of different musical genres into their own style and
experimented with a wide range of instruments, including keyboards, metal
guitars, Cello, Viola da Gamba, Violin and the medieval Krummhorn.
After several line-up changes the band arrived at their current steady line-up
of:
- Den Haack -
bass, management
-
Marty Mme Gott Kasprzak -
vocals, guitars, programming, percussion
-
Meikel -
guitars
-
Joerg -
keyboards
Fittingly, although they have produced four album releases so far, they are considering themselves primarily a live band - and anyone who has witnessed one of their impulsive live shows will second that. In the past ten years of their career they have played almost every European country, headlining to crowds as big as 600 people and playing festival as big as 3500 people. They have been received with extatic crowd responses in countries as diverse as: Finland, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Poland and Great Britain and have toured with an impressive array of other bands, such as: Shadow Project, Madre, Marquee Moon, In the Woods, Third and the Mortal, Two Witches, Athamay, Into the Abyss, Printed at Bismarck's Death, Closterkeller ...
Over the past 10 years, their sound has evolved into what can be best described as "progressive gothic alternative rock" Although the elements of their main influences, goth/wave outfits from Chameleons to Bauhaus, are altogether prominent, their latest output, "Salvation", never sounds too retro - the aim has been rather to transform the pioneering, untamed energy of those early outfits into an updated form. While most gothic bands nowadays are somewhat stagnating in sound, image and lyrics, Sepulcrum Mentis try to reclaim the open-minded attitude that the whole gothic scene started out with. They are rather practicing self-irony than the false, hypocritical pathos that dominates the scene. This is reflected in both music and lyrics. Sepulcrum Mentis are on a constant mission to create a wake-up- call for the goth-scene: where is creativity and where is intelligence when the outside appearance becomes all-important?