Newsletter midwinter 2017

Welcome to the midwinter edition of the official Countess newsletter. In this edition we look back on what has been keeping us busy the past year.

Midwinter sale: 25% off everything

If you place an order at our webstore between now and December 31st, simply use midwinter as your discount code and you’ll get 25% off your entire order!

Free download: new version of 'Heilig Vuur'

In September we released a brand new version of our classic track 'Heilig Vuur'.
In appreciation of the fans who have supported the band over the past 25 years, we decided to make this single available as a free download on our official Bandcamp site.
Additionally, the single is available for a normal price from all major digital outlets such as iTunes, as well as for streaming on Spotify and YouTube.

Classic tracks: Chapel Of Doom

In a brand new instalment of our 'classic tracks' series, Orlok looks back on the history of 'Chapel Of Doom'.
"The origins of this song go back to 1992. At the time, I was singing in a band called Forgotten. The band only lasted a few months and never released anything. We mainly played covers of bands like Danzig, Celtic Frost and Massacre. We did have the intention to write original material as well, though, so I wrote some lyrics for the band.

At the time, I had several prints of works by H.R. Giger on my walls and one night I poured myself some vodka and simply sat in front of my favourite of his works, 'The Spell II' from 1974. Staring at and immersing myself in the painting, it didn't take long before lyrics came to me. I wrote them down on my typewriter and simply called the song 'The Spell'.

The original version released on 'The Book Of The Heretic'

When nothing came of Forgotten, I forgot about the lyrics I had written for the band for a while until I found them again a few years later, somewhere in the summer of 1995, while I was working on material that would become 'The Book Of The Heretic'. I had a few musical ideas that I figured would fit very well with these lyrics and before long the song was written. I did change the title to something I felt was more fitting than the rather generic 'The Spell'. At first the song became 'Into The Chapel Of Doom' but I eventually shortened that to just 'Chapel Of Doom'.

New single 'Heilig Vuur' released today

Today, we have released a new single. Since 2017 marks Countess' 25th anniversary, we recorded a brand new version of the classic title track from our 2004 Dutch-language album 'Heilig Vuur' ('Holy Fire'). With a few arrangement tweaks and improved production, the new single sees the song reach its full potential.

The single also marks the first appearance on a Countess release of our new keyboardist Häxa, who joined our ranks last year.

Newsletter midsummer 2017

Welcome to the midsummer edition of the official Countess newsletter. In this edition we'll have a quick look at what has been keeping us busy for the past half year.

Midsummer sale: 20% off everything

If you place an order at our webstore between now and June 30th, simply use midsummer as your discount code and you’ll get 20% off your entire order!

Fires Of Destiny Over Europe

We had a great time on the road in February with Barathrum and Blackdeath; both great bands as well as excellent company.
This picture of all the bands was taken at the final show in Arnhem.

'Hell's Rock & Roll' EP released twenty years ago

Two decades ago today, our legendary 'Hell's Rock & Roll' EP was released. Time for Orlok to look back on the creation of this record.

"Back in early 1997, we decided to record a few new songs and release these as an EP. Zagan and Warhead came up with the idea to do so at 'Freelation' in Rotterdam because they knew the engineer, who had been their history teacher in school . . . so we went to this studio and talked to the guy, Peter Vlietstra, who seemed a cool guy indeed and we set a date for the recording.

Those were the days: looking back on our 1997 shows with Barathrum and Sabbat

Since we are exactly two weeks away from doing a short tour with Barathrum, almost exactly twenty years after we first toured with them, we figured this would be a good time to look back on these legendary shows.

The following is a slightly edited and expanded version of a report Orlok wrote for Morbid Tales #6 back in 2007. All right, here we go: a trip down memory lane . . .

"In early 1997, the line-up that had been together for two years by then, admittedly with a few interruptions, was on the brink of breaking up (what a surprise – we may have split up more often than we played 'Countess Bathory'). Then all of a sudden we got two offers for gigs, one in Bussum and one in Wassenaar and we thought; whatever, let’s continue. Those gigs turned out pretty cool and got us enthusiastic about the band again. We decided to record three new songs for a mini CD and when around that time Opyros informed me that he was putting together a tour for us, Barathrum and Sabbat from Japan, we were pretty excited. It would be a privilege to play with the legend that Sabbat is and ever since Demonos and I first met in January 1995 (when I was recording 'Ad Maiorem') we had wanted to tour together.