YYRKOON

Tech/Extreme Prog Metal • France

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Yyrkoon biography
YYRKOON (a name adopted from the fantasy series of Michael Moorcock) is a progressive death metal band from France, formed in 1995 by St�phane SOUTEYRAND (guitar & keyboards), Laurent HARROUART (drums), Paul BANAS (vocals & guitar), and S�bastien CARON (bass guitar). Their first self-produced demo, "Oath, Obscure, Occult." came out in 1996 and was well-received in the underground. This led to the band signing to Velvet Music International but personal differences during the recording of the upcoming debut resulted in CARON and BANAS leaving the band and being replaced by Kristofer LORENT (bass) and J�r�me BAROUIN (guitars) respectively. SOUTEYRAND took up vocals and Jeff GAUTIER performed keyboard duties for the debut "Oniric Transition", which was recorded at Walnut Grove Studio, France in 1998. The band went on to record another demo called "Forgotten Past" following no contact from their record company. With BAROUIN's departure, the band went for 7-8 months with a single guitarist. Finally, Fran�ois FALEMPIN took up the vacant position and about the same time LORENT departed and was replaced by Victorien VILCHEZ (bass) and the band started touring with popular European acts such as GOJIRA, MISANTHROPE and SEPTIC FLESH.

The band was the first to sign to Anvil corp. in 2001 with a 2-record deal, following a Paris show. "Dying Sun" was released in 2002 and received positive reviews. During the composition of the third album in 2003, FALEMPIN left the band and GAUTIER switched to guitars from keyboards. Before recording "Occult Medicine" in Jacob Hansen studios in Denmark, Dirk VERBEUREN (SOILWORK, SCARVE) was hired to record the drums instead of HARROUART. The album was finally released through Osmose Productions in October 2004, signing a new 2-record deal, as the deal with Anvil corp. did not prove fruitful. Without a solid line-up, the band could not promote their material, only participating in a small European tour. This eventually happened with the return of HARROUART and the release of "Unhealthy Opera" in February 2006 (also recorded in Hansen studios, Denmark), which found them touring with NILE. The beginning of 2007 saw the dismissal of GAUTIER, the band performing only a few gigs, and eventually the departure of founder SOUTEYRAND due to lack of motivation, which signified the cease of all activity for the band.

YYRKOON's lyrical themes involve occultism, horror and fantasy along with personal philosophies. Their sound revolves ar...YYRKOON (a name adopted from the fantasy series of Michael Moorcock) is a progressive death metal band from France, formed in 1995 by St�phane SOUTEYRAND (guitar & keyboards), Laurent HARROUART (drums), Paul BANAS (vocals & guitar), and S�bastien CARON (bass guitar). Their first self-produced demo, "Oath, Obscure, Occult." came out in 1996 and was well-received in the underground. This led to the band signing to Velvet Music International but personal differences during the recording of the upcoming debut resulted in CARON and BANAS leaving the band and being replaced by Kristofer LORENT (bass) and J�r�me BAROUIN (guitars) respectively. SOUTEYRAND took up vocals and Jeff GAUTIER performed keyboard duties for the debut "Oniric Transition", which was recorded at Walnut Grove Studio, France in 1998. The band went on to record another demo called "Forgotten Past" following no contact from their record company. With BAROUIN's departure, the band went for 7-8 months with a single guitarist. Finally, Fran�ois FALEMPIN took up the vacant position and about the same time LORENT departed and was replaced by Victorien VILCHEZ (bass) and the band started touring with popular European acts such as GOJIRA, MISANTHROPE and SEPTIC FLESH.

The band was the first to sign to Anvil corp. in 2001 with a 2-record deal, following a Paris show. "Dying Sun" was released in 2002 and received positive reviews. During the composition of the third album in 2003, FALEMPIN left the band and GAUTIER switched to guitars from keyboards. Before recording "Occult Medicine" in Jacob Hansen studios in Denmark, Dirk VERBEUREN (SOILWORK, SCARVE) was hired to record the drums instead of HARROUART. The album was finally released through Osmose Productions in October 2004, signing a new 2-record deal, as the deal with Anvil corp. did not prove fruitful. Without a solid line-up, the band could not promote their material, only participating in a small European tour. This eventually happened with the return of HARROUART and the release of "Unhealthy Opera" in February 2006 (also recorded in Hansen studios, Denmark), which found them touring with NILE. The beginning of 2007 saw the dismissal of GAUTIER, the band performing only a few gigs, and eventually the departure of founder SOUTEYRAND due to lack of motivation, which signified the cease of all activity for the band.

YYRKOON's lyrical themes involve occultism, horror and fantasy along with personal philosophies. Their sound revolves around technical death metal in the vein of DEATH and GOJIRA but also towards more straightforward forms, as in HYPOCRISY. Their early releases also involved elements such as violins, flutes and female vocals.

Biography by aapatsosread more

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YYRKOON discography

Ordered by release date | Showing ratings (top albums) | Help Progarchives.com to complete the discography and add albums

YYRKOON top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

2.00 | 1 ratings

Oniric Transition
1998

0.00 | 0 ratings

Dying Sun
2002

2.00 | 1 ratings

Occult Medicine
2004

0.00 | 0 ratings

Unhealthy Opera
2006

YYRKOON Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

YYRKOON Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

YYRKOON Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

YYRKOON Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

0.00 | 0 ratings

Oath, Obscure, Occult...
1996

0.00 | 0 ratings

Forgotten Past
2000

YYRKOON Reviews

Showing last 10 reviews only

Oniric Transition by YYRKOON album cover

Studio Album, 1998
2.00 | 1 ratings
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Oniric Transition
Yyrkoon Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

Review by toroddfuglesteg

— First review of this album —

Another untraditional French metal album, brought to us by Velvet Music. A long gone label who also gave us Blut Aus Nord before they folded. I still remember that label with a lot of fondness. Their creditors (bands) may disagree, but the label came up with some really great albums.

The basis on this album, Yyrkoon's debut album is black metal. Fast and furious black metal, but also very melodic at times. There are some symph prog and folk music influences here. But there are also rock and goth rock influences here. This album is a bit of an oddity and the same goes for the band, it has to be said.

The album mainly follows the well trodden formula from that time. A formula developed by the likes of Dimmu Borgir, Borknagar and Cradle Of Filth too. Yyrkoon had their take on that formula on this album. In 2011, this sounds dated and not as good as when I reviewed this album for the first time back in 1998. I have also moved on.

This is a decent album which metal fans should check out. The same goes for Yyrkoon as a whole. This band should not be ignored and they have a very good repution in the scene. But I have moved on.

2 stars

Thanks to Rune2000 for the artist addition.