Death Black
Abjathar is the first Belgian band which plays for The Lord. We were happy to interview them. So, know let's talk with Achaje.
TBS- Tell us how
Abjathar got started. Achaje-
In November 1st 1995, Achaje and Efraïm Huysmans (guitarist and drummer) started a metalband. They started looking for people who wanted to join, and they found some-one who was ready to take care of the vocal part of a metal band. Later came Daniël Teunkens to play the bassguitar. Now the band was functional, and the name Abjathar was chosen. Abjathar played some concerts here and there, and after a while, second guitarist Jo Vanarwegen was welcomed. Now a second guitarist could play some solos in the new songs, the quality of music improved. Just at that time, we kicked the singer out. His place was soon taken over by Vincent Vandereyken. From then on, things went straight up, and after only 3 months, Abjathar gave its first concert with the new line-up. At that first concert there were some people who liked the band, so Abjathar was invited to play some concerts in Belgium and the Netherlands. One of these concerts was the "Startforum festival", where Abjathar won the prize of best act. This prize
contained the recording of a demo-tape in "Grindstone Recordings Studio". But there was this song, Autumn, were a keyboard-intro would fit in quite right, so Olivier was called to help out. And so, he played the intro and because the whole thing sounded so great, he was asked to play some more in future songs. Now, Abjathar could play some atmospheric doom / unblack metal songs, next to the brutal death metal stuff. In April 1998 Abjathar recorded the 6-song demo-tape "Nothing Undamaged". There was some demand for the demo-tape, so until January 1999, about 200 tapes were sold in Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland,... Now, who’s Abjathar?, you are probably wondering... Abjathar is a Christian Death Metal band which consists of 6 people: Achaje Huysmans (guitar),Jo Vanarwegen (guitar), Daniël Teunkens (bass + Internet), Efraïm Huysmans (drums), Vincent Vandereyken (vokills). In case you wanted to know: the average age of the members of Abjathar is 18. Abjathar will keep on evolving in the future. New songs are already in the making, and Abjathar is willing to play on some more concerts.
Were you all christians before you started the
band ? Nope, Daniel wasn't
& Jo isn't also. The rest of us are.
What bands have influenced your
sound ? Living Sacrifice,
Crimson Thorn, Boltthrower & many others.
Let's talk about your "Nothing Undamaged" demo. Have you got good answers for it ? Yep, we got some good reviews in several zinesand we sold out our stock (+/- 200 copies).
Do you project to do an album in the near future
? With our vocalist wanting to leave, we didn't
want to plain anything. We don't have plans for a full-length CD, but we were
thinking of recording 2 or 3 songs to put on sampler CD's.
What do you all do when you're not playing ? Any work ? We're
all at school (university or high-school), so no jobs now.
What are your fave' bands ?
Antestor, Mordecai, Living Sacrifice, Children of
Bodom, Paramaecium, Extol & many others.
Why the name Abjathar
? What does it mean ? It
sounded gloomy & it means father of abundancy. Abjathar was a priest in the
times of David.
Is it difficult to play in your country
? Do you have a church which supports you ? We're
the only christian Death Metal in Belgium, so that's a pity, but we do get
support from friends all over the country. We all go to different churches, so
we don't have an "Abjathar Home Church".
Any final comments ? We could
like to thank all those who supported our band & we hope to do some shows in
the near future.