Ewigkeit (music project)
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Formed in 1995, Ewigkeit was the experimental extreme music project of James Fogarty (aka Mr. Fog). On 28 March 2007, Fogarty announced the end of the project on Blabbermouth, the Death To Music website and also on Myspace [1].
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[edit] Band history
The purpose of this one-man project was to try and forge a totally unique musical sound, rather than copy from others. After the release of the first album, Battle Furies on a short-lived Neat Records subsidiary called Eldethorn, Fogarty reputedly gave his entire music collection away to an Oxfam charity shop so that he would be free of influences creating his next work. Starscape was received well by the critical extreme music press, but label problems delayed the release of Land of Fog, which was eventually released on Metal Age Productions. Fogarty himself regards this as the first 'proper' Ewigkeit album, and it gained him enough attention to get his project signed to the prestigious (in extreme music circles) Earache label, on which 'Radio Ixtlan' was released in 2004, to general critical praise. 2005's 'Conspiritus' (mixed by John Fryer), a conceptual album examining the paranoid reality of conspiracy theorists, has progressed further, and has been hailed by many as marking a maturation of Ewigkeit's eclectic sound. Also in 2005, a music video was made in collaboration with film-maker Anthony Gates for the track "Its Not Reality" ( [2] ). In 2006, EWIGKEIT made a live video recording entitled "EWIGKEIT - Live From A Bunker", which displayed the project in a live setting acting as a free "online" gig - the 25 minute set (filmed in a Nuclear Bunker in the vicinity of Brighton, England) was uploaded to google video ( [3] ) and also recorded a free download MP3 EP "Return to the Land of Fog" ( [4] ), all testament to the fact that EWIGKEIT were challenging the boundaries of the metal scene by adopting unorthodox methods and using/abusing & embracing the current frontiers of technology.
In December 2006, James burned all his record contracts see the video "Burn The Bastards" [5] ). The statement put forth was basically "I am hereby reclaiming all my music - all labels are thieving bastards, and thankfully have been rendered impotent by the internet" ;
WWW.DEATHTOMUSIC.COM was then launched to facilitate the exclusive release of all past EWIGKEIT material.
In January 2007, DEATH TO MUSIC Productions gave away a remastered and superior version of the 1997 debut "Battle Furies" to anybody with a modem. In two weeks, more people had heard that album than had done in the 10 years prior. In March 2007, DEATH TO MUSIC Productions re-released the 2nd Ewigkeit album 'Starscape' again for free. He has stated that he intends to eventually release all of Ewigkeit's albums via www.deathtomusic.com.
In March 2007, James "scuttled" EWIGKEIT. It was decided that in order to progress as an artist, the idea of operating under the name EWIGKEIT would have too many attachments to a styles of music that James was no longer involved with. Quoting the press-release / announcement, james stated ".. (metal) is mostly out-of-date, out-of-touch with its origins and (worst of all) conservative in the extreme..." - incidentally this was at the same time that Earache records (Ewigkeit's last label) was launching headlong into re-releases from 20 years ago & signing bands mimicking 80s thrash metal.
Most of the EWIGKEIT back-catalogue (along with other various releases) are available for free download at www.deathtomusic.com. Additionally, a link is included to the new project: The Bombs of Enduring Freedom. According to their website, the self-titled debut album will be released in October 2007.
[edit] Music
Ewigkeit's music blended many influences and styles of music together to create its distinctive sound. Starting of as an experimental black metal project, Ewigkeit evolved into a blend of heavy metal mixed with psychedelic and electronic music, incorporating influences from other genres of metal, as well as folk, sample based music, mediterranean and other world music sounds. Conspiritus saw Ewigkeit settle down into a more focused sound reminiscent of a combination of industrial metal and space rock, with the death metal vocals of previous releases disappearing entirely. James Fogarty recorded all the instruments himself at his home-studio in Brighton, UK, though guest vocalists have contributed, along with numerous samples and audio clips.
[edit] Etymology
Ewigkeit was the name given to this music project when James found the word in the 1983 edition of the English Concise Oxford Dictionary whilst looking for a name not unlike "Emperor" (the black metal band whom James was a fanatic of at the time). A little known "imported" word, hardly used in the English language at all, Ewigkeit means 'eternity' in German. James's increasingly obvious love for confusing people, together with the ethereal and ambiguous nature of the word made it "perfect" for the project, but he has been known in interviews to say that in retrospect, it was the worst name he could have chosen.
[edit] Discography
- Dwellers On The Threshold Demo, 1996 (Self-released)
- Battle Furies Full-length, 1997 (Eldethorn)
- Starscape Full-length, 1999 (Eldethorn)
- Land Of Fog Full-length, 2003 (Metal Age Productions)
- Radio Ixtlan Full-length, 2004 (Earache)
- Conspiritus Full-length, 2005 (Earache)
Ewigkeit has appeared on various compilation CDs, notably:
- Metal Hammer covermount Earache Sampler CD (2004)
- Black Light Magazine CD sampler
- No Holy Additives vol. 2,3 & 4
- Metal Age Productions sampler CD
- Britannia Infernus
