Looking back on 2015

On the last day of the year, we take a look back at 2015. It may seem to the outside world that the past year was somewhat less memorable for us than 2014: there were no new releases or re-releases and we only played a few select shows. Plenty of things were happening to keep us busy though, so let's take a look at some key events from the past year.

NEW ALBUM PROGRESS
We spent most of our time in 2015 working on songs for the next album and we can say that the writing process has been completed. We have ten new songs finished and we have just started rehearsing these. We don't have a timeframe in place for the recording and the release yet, but our intention is to definitely release the album in 2016. Stay tuned for updates!

LINE-UP CHANGE
In November, our drummer Wolfram decided to leave the band because he felt he could no longer give the band the time and attention it deserves. Thankfully, we quickly found a new drummer in Mortüüm, who played his first show with the band in Oberhausen in November.

'AD MAIOREM' TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY
In October, our legendary third album 'Ad Maiorem Sathanae Gloriam' was released two decades ago. In honour of this occasion, we published this blog post.

OLD SCHOOL SET AT 'VENERATION OF THE DEAD'
In April, we played at the 'Veneration Of The Dead' festival for the second year in a row. To make this show something really special, we played a set comprised exclusively of songs from the 1993-1997 era.

It turned out to be a memorable show: the sound was great, the place was packed and the audience was very much into the music. And for the final encore, we were joined on stage by a very special guest. 

So much for 2015. Looking ahead to next year, we hope to release a killer new record and to play more shows again. Anyone interested in booking us is welcome contact us.

Wolfram leaves Countess; Mortüüm joins

With regret we have to announce that our drummer Wolfram has decided to leave the band. He made this decision because he feels he can no longer give the band the time and attention it deserves. We understand and respect his decision as we know it was not made lightly.

Wolfram

Wolfram joined Countess early in 2014 and played an important part in the band's return to the stage. His invaluable contribution to the band will be missed by all of us. We wish him all the best in the future and trust he will remain part of the Countess family.

At the same time, we are pleased to announce Mortüüm as our new drummer. He is a skilful and versatile drummer with a lot of experience in many different bands. We have been rehearsing with him for a while and he played his first show with the band in Oberhausen last week. Following Wolfram's decision to leave the band, Mortüüm has agreed to join Countess on a permanent basis. We welcome him to our ranks and look forward to presenting him to our fans at future shows.

Mortüüm

'Ad Maiorem Sathanae Gloriam' released twenty years ago

Two decades ago today, Countess' third full-length 'Ad Maiorem Sathanae Gloriam' was released. Time for Orlok to take a trip down memory lane and write down some recollections from the creation of this classic record . . .

"In September 1994 I took a trip to Regensburg to deliver the master tape of 'The Return' to Opyros, who would release it on Nazgul's Eyrie Productions. The trip included a visit to one of Elisabeth Bathory's castles, Lockenhaus, where the pictures for the booklet of 'The Return' were taken. Upon our return to Regensburg, we wrote the lyrics to 'The Wrath Of Satan's Whore' together on a napkin in a Spanish restaurant and altogether this journey proved rather inspirational. So when I got home again, I immediately began working on new material.

Before long, I had enough songs written for a new album. I recorded these as demo's and sent them to Opyros (this was before 'The Return' was even released, mind you). He was quite enthusiastic about the new stuff and suggested it might be interesting to record the new record in a real studio this time. Hammerheart recommended 'The Nick' in Mheer for these recordings, where he had just been to record the first Bifrost album 'Pagan Reality', so we booked the studio for late January 1995 and prepared for the recording sessions.

Full 'Veneration Of The Dead' 2015 show online

When we played at the 'Veneration Of The Dead' festival in 2014, it was our first show in almost seventeen years other than a try-out a few days earlier in a pub in Leiden. So that was a special occasion. Little did we know that we would play the festival again this year and that this would also be a very special occasion.

Since we played the festival in 2014, we weren't planning on playing there again this year. However, things changed when it was announced that Barathrum would play at the festival this year. We have a special relationship with the legendary Finnish band. We were both on Nazgul's Eyrie Productions in the nineties and we did a short tour together, with Sabbat from Japan, back in 1997.