Samael () is a Swiss metal band formed in Sion in 1987. Their current lineup includes founding members and brothers Vorphalack (Vorph) and Xytraguptor (Xy), guitarist Drop and bassist Ales. A few other members have been part of the band throughout the years: Rodolph H. (keyboards, 1993–1995), Kaos (guitar, 1996–2001), Mas (bass, 1991–2014) and Makro (guitar, 2002–2018).

Samael is known to incorporate metal, industrial, electronic and symphonic music into their sound and mix it with massive beats, martial rhythms and up-tempo or blast beat. One of the key elements that distinguishes Samael from traditional metal bands is the use of a drum machine in studio and live on stage.

History

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Early years, Worship Him, and Blood Ritual, 1987–1993

Vorphalack formed Samael in April 1987 with drummer Pat Charvet. They recorded the demo Into the Infernal Storm of Evil in the following year. Charvet left the band in June 1988 and was replaced by Vorphalack's brother Xytraguptor. The two brothers recorded the single Medieval Prophecy in October 1988. It included two original songs and a cover of "The Third of the Storm" by Swiss extreme metal band Hellhammer. The band followed up with the promo tape From Dark to Black in 1989.

Reign of Light and Solar Soul, 2004–2008

Reign of Light was recorded and mixed during the summer 2004, first single "Telephath" came with a video and was released in September, the album was out in October. The band toured Europe with support acts Flowing Tears for the first part of the tour and Dagoba for the Scandinavian dates. Samael later supported Oomph! in Germany. The next year, the single "On Earth" which featured a cover of "I Feel you" from Depeche Mode was released. The band played summer festivals in Europe and Switzerland. In Paleo Festival in Nyon (Switzerland) they played before Rammstein, four songs of that performance ended up on a bonus DVD for a special edition of Reign of Light. In Paris, the band received an award from Hard rock magazine for best industrial album. After a European tour with Obituary the band finished recording their following album.

In March 2007 Samael opened for Iggy Pop in Montana (Switzerland) where they played two new songs for the first time: "On the Rise", and "Slavocracy". Solar Soul was mixed in Sweden by Stefan Glaumann and was released on 1 June through Nuclear Blast worldwide. In July they played with Nine Inch Nails at Rock Oz'Arenes. Samael played at Wacken Open Air in August 2007. In March 2008 they were back on the road with Gothminister and Sybreed. During the summer Vorph and Xy went to Sweden to mix with Frederic Nordström a side project that was recorded a long time ago. In September they returned to the US with Amorphis and Virgin Black. After that tour, as the final mastering for the side project was done it was decided that it would become the next Samael album.

Above and Lux Mundi, 2009–2016

Above was released on 6 March 2009. It was described by the band as a tribute to their metal roots and they listed some of their influences on the CD booklet: Kiss, AC/DC, Venom, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Impaled Nazarene, Motörhead, Black Sabbath, Bathory. Faster and more extreme than anything Samael released previously, the album surprised the critics and fans alike but it sent the band on a 90 more dates tour. First in Europe with Deicide, Vader, Devian and The Amenta, then in the US with Carcass, Suicide Silence and Psycroptic, and finally all across Europe with Paradise Lost and Ghost Brigade.

Lux Mundi was co produced by Xy and Waldemar Sorychta, it was recorded in Switzerland and mixed in England by Russ Russel. First the band released a mini album Antigod which featured two live tracks, a remix and new version of the song "Into the Pentagram" from their first album Worship Him (1991). Samael toured in Europe with Finntroll and Rotting Christ in support of that mini album. A video was shot in Sweden by Patrick Ulaeus for the song "Luxferre" (Latin for "light carrier"). On 29 April 2011 Lux Mundi was released. The band later toured in Europe with Keep of Kalessin and Melechesh.

Xy was asked by the city of Sion (Switzerland) to compose a piece of music for a sound and light show to be played in two consecutive summers. Recorded in Prague with 100 classical musicians that piece of music was released on CD under the name Sedunum. In 2013, Samael played the album Passage in its entirety at Inferno Festival Switzerland and at Metal Hammer Paradise in Germany. Bass player and long time Samael member Mas left the band in November 2014, he was replaced by Drop (ex-Sybreed).

20 years after it was first released, Samael celebrated their album Ceremony of Opposites (1994) by playing the entire album live over 40 times in festivals in Europe and US and with short tours in Canada, Russia and Poland. The fact that the album was performed with a drum machine instead of real drums like it was on the original recording created a polemic within the older fans of the band.

Hegemony, 2017–present

In May 2017 the members of Samael launched a side project W.A.R. (Worship and Ritual), in order to perform their first two, more primitive black metal albums, live. In this group, the original members adopted their old stage names (Vorphalack and Xytraguptor) and Xy returned to playing drums. The first W.A.R. concerts happened in Les Caves du Manoir in Martigny (Switzerland) were the band performed for two consecutive nights.

The new album Hegemony was released on 13 October 2017. Before hand the band released lyrics video for the songs "Angel of Wrath" and "Red Planet", and a video for "Black Supremacy". In early 2018, a video with live footage was released for Rite of Renewal.

Band members

;Current

  • Michael "Vorph" Locher – guitars, vocals <small>(1987–present)</small>
  • Alexandre "Xytras" Locher – drums, drum programming, keyboards, samples <small>(1988–present)</small>
  • Thomas "Drop" Betrisey – guitars <small>(2018–present)</small>, bass <small>(2015–2018)</small>
  • Ales Campanelli – bass <small>(2020–present)</small>

;Former

  • Pat Charvet – drums <small>(1987–1988)</small>
  • Rodolphe "H." Bellina – keyboards, samples <small>(1993–1996)</small>
  • Frédéric "Kaos" Miniutti – guitars <small>(1996–2002)</small>
  • Christophe "Mas" Mermod – bass <small>(1991–2015)</small>
  • Marco "Makro" Rivao – guitars <small>(2002–2018)</small>
  • Pierre "Zorrac" Carroz – bass <small>(2018–2020)</small>

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

This listing only lists regular full-length studio albums.

  • Worship Him (1991)
  • Blood Ritual (1992)
  • Ceremony of Opposites (1994)
  • Passage (1996)
  • Eternal (1999)
  • Reign of Light (2004)
  • Solar Soul (2007)
  • Above (2009)
  • Lux Mundi (2011)
  • Hegemony (2017)

References

  • Facebook page