Older News: 2003

03 December 2003
 
A new gallery has been added to the Visual page with photos from the gig the band played at Desselgem (Belgium) on the 22nd of November. We hope you enjoy these shots, even if they will not even come close to expressing the glorious atmosphere of that evening.

Click here or on the photo to the left to enter the gallery.

 
 
26 November 2003
 
Yet again while awaiting the handling of the material we took back home from the gig the band played in Desselgem (Belgium) last Saturday - and what a gig it was! - we have uploaded a new "Demon" desktop wallpaper on our Downloads page, designed by Dirk of Zero Gravity Art.
At the same time, we've linked to his site under Various Links on the Links page.

 
 
16 November 2003
 
The gig foreseen to take place at the Alpheus in Rome with Abgott on the 20th of November has been cancelled. The official reason given by the organizers is the venue has been closed down by military police and is under investigation after a riot that recently took place there.
 
 
13 November 2003
 
As announced before, we're now bringing you the first images witnessing the band's presence in Ireland. A new Dublin gallery has been created with 18 photos from the gig, and two pictures have been added to the Troopers gallery, showing the band on a night out.
We're looking forward to adding more material regarding the band's first visit to Eire, in the mean time preparing for a renewed meeting with local Troopers at Desselgem.

 
 
06 November 2003
 
Not unlike the band, we just returned from Dublin, Ireland where the band played at Eamonn Dorans in the Temple Bar area. We had a great time there and are eagerly awaiting the handling of the material we brought along.

In the mean time, we're offering you the Personal Profile of "new old" band member Bart. You'll find it on the Biography page. We might add a few things have changed in Erik's Personal Profile as well, so you may want to take a look there, too.

An extra link has made its way into our Link Exchange i.e. of Metal Provider.

 
 
22 September 2003
 
There has been an unusually long silence on AH-DF, the main reason for this being server problems. Technology has already interfered with our plans in the past and this time caused for the site to even be unreachable for the best part of the month of August. After continuing problems of the sort, the site was moved to another location which unfortunately could not host all of our material (there is quite a bit of it by now), let alone allow for an update. We've now moved to a new server altogether which should allow for at least a temporary solution, ensuring the full site to be reachable for the time being.

Needless to say we have a good bit of material laying about, the main part of which we took back home from W:O:A. Our Wacken Open Air 2003 gallery is now online with no less than 35 live photos. We also have a report on the Ancient Rites appearance there coming from four different angles. Troopers from Flanders, the USA and Mexico have contributed with their comments.
There are also a few photos from the Meet and Greet the band held at W:O:A. You can see them in the Signed gallery. Needless to say this event also resulted in a few nice pictures of bandmembers with Troopers. Visit the Troopers gallery to look at some of the people who teamed up with the guys. At this point, we'd also like to point out we've somewhat broadened the concept of this particular gallery to photos not necessarily showing a bandmember, but at least Troopers with some of their dedicated Ancient Rites items. You're still welcome to send in your photos for that.

For those looking for more reading material, we've added a couple of links leading to an interview in Russian on Soundz Online Magazine (a translation doesn't seem to be available, so Russian Troopers are always welcome to contact us since our knowledge of the language is a bit rusty) and two reviews on the underground site of Taste of Black. Find them on our Links page, under Interviews and Link Exchange respectively.
In addition, we are hosting the English version of an interview to appear in the Chinese Dragonland Magazine. It's on our Articles page or you can read it directly using this link.

Note the addition of three gigs in the Upcoming Gigs box. The band will be visiting Eamon Doran's in Dublin (Ireland) on the 1st of November, supported by Primal Dawn and Waylander. The 20th of November will see them appearing at Alpheus in Rome (Italy) alongside Abgott and a second support band. By the 22nd they will make their way back to the fatherland to appear at the Sports Hall in Desselgem (Belgium) with Aborted, Goddess of Desire and one more support act.

 
 
31 July 2003
 
Yet another gallery is online now with live photos from the Generation Armageddon Tour. The list is continued with Paris.

In the Signed gallery, we're featuring a photo Erik passed on to us, featuring him with Mike of old school German thrashers Destruction. Should you have trouble finding it, click the direct link here.

In the Troopers gallery you will find an extra picture, also of Erik, with an Israeli Trooper.

Thanks to the editor of the Czech Whiplash Magazine, we can now bring you the translation of the interview to which a link was added early June. You'll find that on the Articles page.

 
 
03 July 2003
 
Two new galleries with live photos from the Generation Armageddon Tour have found their way into our Visual section. Both Glauchau (Germany) and Pratteln (Switzerland) are now also represented. Visit them by clicking these links or either the pictures on the left (for Glauchau) and right (for Pratteln), both of which will take you right into the respective galleries..

Extra photos were added to the Lyon gallery.

From Glauchau, you will also find a line-up photo of the band off stage, hosted in the Signed gallery. On that same location, we added a group picture of just about the entire travelling party of the tour, taken after the last gig in Vosselaar (Belgium). You can expect more off- and backstage photos in times to come.

 
 
28 June 2003
 
The band has returned from Nummijärvi, Finland where they played a successful gig. As mentioned before, the Nummirock Festival embodied the re-introduction of old time Ancient Rites sixstring warrior Bart. On which note we might add the Biography has now been fully adapted to today's reality. Reactions to the gig in general and Bart's appearance in particular have been undividedly positive.

When we asked Gunther for a reaction on this rediscovered strength, here is what he told us: "Playing Finland again was a great pleasure. We had killer times and with Bart in the band again many old anecdotes and jokes came back, as if all these years of absence never happened. It was a pleasure hearing his vile and very heavy sound pumping from the stage again. Brutal yet somehow nostalgic too as I haven't heard this sound anymore since he stopped playing. He has a very recognizable sound: ask anyone into our old albums. Old school people went berserk. It brought me back to the old days/mood for sure."

We have been in contact with the organizers of the festival, trying to get a hold of photos of the band up North. Hence we are hoping to lay our hands on some pictorial material soon, in which case we will share it with you as soon as possible.

As we impatiently wait along with you, we are offering the third gallery of photos from the Generation Armageddon Tour, stemming from Villeurbanne (Lyon), France. Of course it has been added to the Visual page, however you can get a head start here.

Thanks to Gunther, we've been able to add a few exclusive pictures to the Related Gallery. They date back to when the frontman was doing his military service with the 1st Paramilitary Division. Never seen before!

For those of you who understand French, we've added another exquisite review, from La Horde Noire, on ...And the Hordes Stood as One on our Reviews page.

 
 
12 June 2003
 
BartA new axeman has been found for the band! That is to say, an "old" axeman has been found again. None other and none less than Bart Vandereycken has officially rejoined Ancient Rites! AH-DF hails his decision and would like to welcome him back to the ranks.

The official press release reads as follows:

Guitarist Bart Vandereycken, responsible for the great and distinctive guitarwork on the EP's and first two Ancient Rites albums, is back within the ranks... full force and ready to wield his six string axe again!

Gunther speaks: "After all the rip offs we endured in those days, Bart - fed up with the music industry - left the band seven years ago. He has always turned down all other offers from bands to join them (amongst 'em an offer of Cradle Of Filth before releasing their second album!) because to Bart it was Ancient Rites or nothing. But against all expectations he has just accepted our offer to rejoin the Rites gardes! Rehearsals are already started and I can tell you the vibe of the old days is back. Now we will combine the heaviness of the elder days with the progressive/melodic course of the latest Rites releases. The Ancient Ones ride out again! The Cult continues!"

Bart will celebrate his return live-wise in Finland on the Numirock festival.


We do indeed understand Bart will be making a blast entry by performing a few of the old songs again at Nummirock. The battle of Ancient Rites continues as fierce as ever!

 
 
11 June 2003
 
Ex-guitarist Bart back on the front!--
Attention all hordes! Rejoice is upon us! Guitarist Bart Vandereycken, responsible for the great and distinctive guitarwork on the EP's and first two cult albums, is back within the ranks.... full force and ready to wield his six string axe again! Gunther speaks: "After all the rip offs we endured in those days, Bart -fed up with the music industry- left the band seven years ago. He has always turned down all other offers from bands to join them (amongst 'em an offer of Cradle Of Filth before releasing their second album!!!) because to Bart it was Ancient Rites or nothing. But against all expectations he has just accepted our offer to rejoin the Rites gardes! Rehearsals are already started and I can tell you the vibe of the old days is back! Now we will combine the heaviness of the elder days with the progressive/melodic course of the latest Rites releases!....
The Ancient Ones ride out again! The Cult continues!!"


Bart will celebrate his return live-wise in Finland on the Numirock festival!....Welcome home bro!

 
 
05 June 2003
 
The second Generation Armageddon gallery is now online, appropriately with photos from the second gig on that tour in Leeuwarden. At that same gig, we managed to get a shot of the entire band with a couple of die hard Troopers. You'll find that photo in the Troopers gallery.

At the same time, we're offering you a small tour report that we wrote, hoping to provide somewhat of an insight into some of the things that went on during this tour. We're hosting it in our Textual section under Articles. Here is a direct link to the report itself.
In that same Textual section, more precisely under Trooper Mail, we've added a few inspiring reactions from two far corners of the world.

A new interview link is to be found on our Links page, leading to a talk between Whiplash Rock Magazine and Gunther. We hope to be able to provide you with an English translation, soon.

 
 
30 May 2003
 
Jan, DVD & Ancient Hordes Bus to Wacken!--
Those of you attending one of the last four gigs at the latest European tour might have noticed already that only Erik was ripping the guitars. This because during the tour Ancient Rites decided to end the cooperation with Jan due to personal differences.

But there's some mighty good news to! Finally you can start ordering the DVD! The official releasedate is the 9th of June, but make sure you already reserve your copy in S&P's dvd shop! Apart from that, a new gig has been confirmed. This time the Rites caravan goes back to Suomi: on June, 20th they will play at Nummirock!

Talking about gigs, don't forget Rites is also playing at THE festival of all festivals: Wacken Open Air! I know what you did last summer..revisited!!! Lugbùrz (creators of a.o. this very WebCave!) have decided to bring on some more local hordes to this holy metal playground and organised a killercandy bustrip which would make Cliff Burton jealous;) Difference with other busses departing from Belgium is the objective: this is just about friends organising a non-profit trip where the atmosphere and ambiance is top, prices are fair, use of deodorant is not mandatory and you simply don't get ripped-off (sure, in our bus you can even bring your own beer!). So...feel the sensation of f*cking in a tent! Go Wacken! Go Lugburz! Allright - enough crappy promo-talk! As places are limited, you better act fast, so get your muddy arse to www.lugburz.be and check out the info. Oh...if you really need any more reason to join this quest: your very own Rites WebDruid will obviously also be on the bus....Lock up your daughters! (Hey, be glad I'm not driving!). See y'all there!

 
 
30 May 2003
 
Those who attended one of the last four shows of the Generation Armageddon Tour, which Ancient Rites returned from on the 12th of this month, will probably have noticed the band appearing on stage with only one guitar player. As a matter of fact, the band parted ways with Jan in the course of the tour. The news has now been made public, with the official statement of the band, released today, reading they decided to end the co-operation with Jan Yrlund (ex-Lacrimosa/Prestige) due to personal differences.

We've adapted the Biography accordingly and will remain in close contact with the band for follow-up information. The battle continues at any rate.

 
 
29 May 2003
 
The first gallery with photos from the Generation Armageddon Tour is online now. It is appropriately from the first gig of that tour, in London (U.K.). During the following updates we will be progressively working our way down the list, offering images from all Ancient Rites appearances on stage, and you can also expect some backstage footage.

We've already had the pleasure of receiving contributions from fellow Troopers for several of these upcoming galleries. If you have anything available and you'd like to share it with the band and the rest of us, AH-DF will be proud to host your material. Just send us a note.

 
 
21 May 2003
 
Great news! The wait finally seems to be over, for the DVD has arrived. The official release date is set to 09 June 2003 with pre-orders being taken now. The former link of the production company is back online, so go to http://www.sound-picture.com/dvdshop for details on how to order.

For the Flemish (and maybe some of the Dutch) Troopers, we'd like to point out the 'Belgian Black and Death Metal Support Site' of Lugbúrz is organizing a special bus trip to Wacken Open Air, where Ancient Rites will be appearing on stage. Details can be found on their dedicated W:O:A page.

An additional live appearance of the band at the Nummirock Festival, to take place in Nummijärvi (Finland) on 20 and 21 June, is announced in the Upcoming Gigs box.

 
 
14 May 2003
 
We've been gathering and are continuing to gather material from the Generation Armageddon Tour from which Ancient Rites just returned, so any of you Troopers that have anything available are always welcome to contact us at ancient.hordes@pandora.be. We hope to be able to start offering you a series of updates, soon.
If you have any reactions about the tour or the band in general, including their releases, remember the Trooper Mail section is still open for entries.

We might also add we've established a link exchange with the dark warriors and kindred souls of the Republic of Ireland, Primordial, who were storming Europe alongside Ancient Rites for the passed two weeks.

Additional update info has been pushed back. Stay tuned for further details.

 
 
25 April 2003
 
The band is ready to embark on the 12 day Generation Armageddon Tour, taking them through six European countries alongside Thyrfing, Primordial, Septic Flesh, Blood Red Throne and Skyfire. (Most of you will have noticed Soulreaper was replaced on the bill by Blood Red Throne a fair while ago, us also having made the adaptation in the Upcoming Gigs box.)
We soon hope to be able to offer an overview of what went down on this tour, including some behind the scenes imagery. While waiting for the action to take place, we're offering some new live video material as a teaser on our Downloads page. This time, we've chosen a clip from the AR classic Longing for the Ancient Kingdom. By no means is this a substitute for the real thing, needless to say. So we, too, hope to see many of you, Troopers, on the road to (re-)live some of the great atmosphere we can all witness on the band's grand live release of And the Hordes Stood as One.

A new link has been added to the interviews, this time from American Webzine Transcending the Mundane. It's currently the second to last link in the alphabetical list of links under Interviews in English.

We would like to point out the Belgian black/death metal promotors of Lugbúrz have managed to get the full back catalogue of Ancient Rites full lengths made available in their mailorder. This is a unique opportunity for those of you who still need to lay their hands of some of the older recordings of the band. Go to their MailOrder Tower (allow time to connect/load...) to see how you can complete your collection.

For those of you that are interested, we might add Gunther's Oi!/Core project of Lion's Pride has seen its Site updated. One of the things you can find there, is an MP3 of the (full) first song the band recorded, soon to be released on a compilation album of their record label. Take a look and a listen at http://www.lionspride.tk.

 
 
01 April 2003
 
Thanks to Walter opening up his private photo collection to us once again, we're able to offer you a total of 23 new photos stemming from three different photo shoots dating back to the early years when the band consisted of Gunther, Walter and Bart.
Nine of them were taken in Athens (Greece) and can be found in the Unsigned Gallery. The remaining fourteen photos are from photo sessions for The Diabolic Serenades and Blasfemia Eternal. You can look at them in the Signed Gallery.
For quick and easy reference, click here, here and here to see the first picture of each photo session.

We've linked to two new interviews by HM Portal (Italy) and Zware Metalen (The Netherlands) on our Links page. Since the interviews are respectively in Italian and Dutch, we're happy to say we obtained permission of both organisations to host the English translation for you on these very pages. They can be found right on top of the chronological list on our Articles page.

 
 
16 March 2003
 
LiveCD, DVD and tournews!--
First the not-so-good-but-could-be-worse-news: as many of you already may have noticed, the release of the liveDVD has been pushed back to a later date this year (probably before Summer anyway) due to some crappy copyrightproblems. Money makes the world turn round hu?! Anyway, luckily you can all enjoy the killer live-cd And The Hordes Stood As One, don't forget to get your copy ASAP! The reviews are coming in and are (almost obviously) raving about the work the Five Horsemen, their crew & the audience achieved. If you still need to be convinced, then download a sample right here. Many people even already claim this is one of the best live black metal albums to date! Go figure!

Also, if you want to expierence this thunderblast workhorse in full glory then it's your lucky day 'cus Rites will be doing the Generation Armageddon Headline tour throughout Europe in May! Support is none less than Thyrfing, Septic Flesh, Soulreaper, Primordial & Skyfire.... Sounds like Armageddon indeed! Check the concerts-section for the dates!

 
 
03 March 2003
 
It has arrived!



One of German's biggest metal magazines Rock Hard is organising a tour with no less than six bands from the Hammerheart Records ranks. Ancient Rites will be headlining the festival which goes by the name of Generation Armageddon, and will be joined on the bill by Thyrfing, Primordial, Septic Flesh, Soulreaper, and Skyfire.


The dates are as follows:

30 April 03 The Underworld, London, UK
01 May 03 Podium, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
02 May 03 C.C.O. Villeurbanne, Lyon, France
03 May 03 Alte Spinnerei, Glauchau, Germany
04 May 03 Garage, Saarbrücken, Germany
05 May 03 Konzertfabrik Z7, Pratteln, Switzerland
06 May 03 La Locomotive, Paris, France
07 May 03 Rockfabrik, Ludwigsburg, Germany
08 May 03 Zeche Carl, Essen, Germany
09 May 03 K17, Berlin, Germany
10 May 03 Backstage, München, Germany
11 May 03 Biebob, Vosselaar, Belgium

 
 
26 February 2003
 
First and foremost, we're proud to introduce our twentyfifth gallery with live photos of the band. These pictures date back to 01 February 2003 when Ancient Rites headlined the Antwerps Haunted Ball festival. Due to the heavy snowfall that day, the turnout probably wasn't as big as it could have been, but nevertheless quite a few die hard Troopers made it to Antwerp. To see for yourself, visit the gallery right here.

As the release date of And the Hordes Stood as One draws near, the first reviews have started reaching us. In good transeuropean tradition, we're already featuring some of them in English, German and Italian. Read the positive feedback on our Reviews page.

To close off, the Links section has been checked and updated, so all links there should be working (again). A few interviews and even some sites have disappeared, so at least until they reappear, we're featuring the concerning interviews on our own server. You'll find them in the list on our Articles page.

 
 
07 February 2003
 
You may notice the subtle changes on our main page to honour the fact of Ancient Rites being around for no less than 15 years. A fine moment to let the mind wander through the band's musical history. What better way to do so than with what stands at the center of attention for this update, being the upcoming release of the And the Hordes Stood as One live CD and DVD release. Both will be officially unleashed on the Hordes and the rest of humanity on the 3rd of March. As a taster, we're already featuring both releases in detail in our Discography.
Information on the DVD can also be found on the Website of the production company, where pre-orders will be taken starting 15 February. You will find detailed info on http://www.sound-picture.com/dvdshop.
There, you can also download the video for ...And the Horns Called for War. Or you can do so here by right clicking the following link and selecting "Save Target As" (MSIE) or "Save Link As" (Netscape): ...And the Horns Called for War.

On our Downloads page, you will find a brand new 'Hordes' WinAmp Skin as a modest extra AH-DF way of celebrating this release.

While their main band is on the eve of a new double release, Gunther and Jan are in the studio recording the upcoming album of their Gothic Rock band Danse Macabre, for which they have been pushing their limits again.
At the same time, Gunther is also in the studio with his Oi!/Core project Lion's Pride, recording their upcoming debut CD. We have an exclusive picture of all bandmembers recording backing vocals in our Related gallery.

Last but not least, of course there is the fact that Ancient Rites will perform at this year's Wacken Open Air, one of the biggest Metal events around. See our Upcoming Gigs box for details.

 
 
02 February 2003
 
DVD & LiveCD to be released!--
And The Hordes Stood As One, the live DVD and CD/DLP will both be released on March, 3th! (yes, that's 3/3/3 which is obviously 666/2. Devilish mathematics hu!). The CD and DoubleLP will be unleashed upon the masses by Hammerheart Records, whereas the DVD is a creation by the Finnish Sound & Picture production company. Click on the link to check out a videosample and make your online preorders! This two hours (b)lasting beast contains great extra's such as a documentary on their Finnish tour in 2000, a videocollage and a picture gallery! Please also note that the audio is in full Surround 5.1 format, so warn your neighbors you will be bringing Ancient Rites in your living room!!!

Wacken Open Air confirmed!--
Yes, that's Rite! Rites will be appearing on THE festival of all metalfestivals, Waken Open Air ! Don't you dare to miss out on this occasion as this gathering of metalheads from all over the world is nothing but a must-see! Apart from that, another European tour called Generation Armageddon is also under construction! It should take place somewhere in May, we'll keep you informed.

Please also don't forget to check out the great www.ancienthordes.tk fansite, without doubt one of the best online resources on Ancient Rites stuff!

 
 
21 January 2003
 
The first pictures from Ancient Rites' gig in Amstelveen (The Netherlands) on 03 January 2003 have reached us, so needless to say they've found a home in their own gallery.

Two magazine covers featuring the band are featured in the Signed gallery. They come from Extreme Music magazine from China and Mindview from Belgium. From the feature in the latter publication, we also have two pictures of the band in their rehearsal room.
We have copied and translated the interview these pictures were with. It's a rather interesting talk with Gunther, Walter, Erik and Jan, shortly after the release of Dim Carcosa. We're hosting the feature on a separate page linked through the Articles page in our Textual section. You can go straight to the original Dutch text here or the English translation here.

A couple of new links have found their way to AH-DF as well. A Link Exchange has been established with the metal promotion site of Iron Side from The Netherlands. Under Various Links, you'll find a link to the Site of the rock cafe in Erik's home base where the AR axeman regularly fulfills the role of DJ.
His hardrock heavy metal coverproject of Plusminus played their very first gig at this bar, too. A photo of that event can now be found in the Related gallery.

 
 
01 January 2003
 
The first page is turned in the history of AH-DF. After this first year, we're also starting with a new Latest News page where we will carry on what we believe to be a good tradition of offering you news and updates on a regular basis.
Old news can still be read here, though. We've also added a link at the bottom of this page.

The passed year has brought over 8300 visitors from over 20 different countries to the Site, we're proud to say. We consider this to be quite a positive result for an unofficial fanpage, proving the lasting - growing, even - interest in Ancient Rites. And rightly so!
Serious support from the band has made this Site what it is today, as have the reactions from fellow Troopers. Hail goes to them and all individual bandmembers.
Together, we can look ahead to a vivid year with the release of the live DVD/Video and CD, and who knows what else...


2002 News

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