Catholicon

Biography

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Catholicon (1994-present): a Black Metal band from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA.

ormed on April 9th 1994 by Blasphyre (Real Name: Chad Kellyand) and Troy Thomas, Catholicon started when the pair met while protesting the evangelist Bob Larson at Comite Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

In mid 1994, the debut demo, entitled Children of the Lost Generation featuring the membership of Blasphyre (keyboards/vocals), Troy Thomas (bass/guitars) and Kevin Hollingsworth (drums), was released and quickly spread throughout the underground. Soon a rushed second demo emerged entitled Redemption. The new songs recorded were stronger material, showing the band beginning to move into its own unique style. This demo helped gain the band more exposure through the underground, and eventually completely sold-out.

In 1998, the first full-length album was released entitled Lost Chronicles of the War in Heaven with the revised membership ofI.N.R.I. (vocals), Blasphyre Demiurge (a.k.a. Blasphyre; keyboards/vocals), Reckilyssup (Real Name: John Robinson; drums/bass (track 6)) and Vrykoulak (Real Name: Ashton Constantine; guitars/bass). The record was produced and released by the band itself and received positive reviews throughout the underground, as well as a few sharper criticisms of their "twisted musical visions". The album cover was painted by well-known Finnish artist, Juha Vuorma.

In 1999, Catholicon recorded what is to date their most widely accepted release, a promotional demo that quickly ran through a printing of 300 cassettes and a small batch of CD's. This demo featured a much stronger, heavier, and more aggressive performance by the band.

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In 2000, Catholicon was contacted by the upstart British label, 'Rage of Achilles', to re-release the Lost Chronicles.... album and to record a follow-up EP shortly afterwards. The band re-recorded their three favorite old songs for the European version and also added an unreleased instrumental piece from the original album sessions. About three months after the re-issued album came out on 'The Black Hand/Rage of Achilles', Catholicon was informed that the sub-label was closing. There was only 500 copies pressed by the label, even though 1000 was what the deal was for, and the follow-up EP never got recorded.

Needless to say, the previous record deal was now off. In 2002, Catholicon recorded a four-song promo, to shop around to labels in hopes of getting a new record deal. The compilation recording A Decade in the Dark Age: Ten Years Under the Black Cloud (2004), the second album, The Death Throes of Christianity (2005), their third, Treatise On The Abyss (2006) and Of Ages Past followed.

During this time the membership had changed somewhat with Statutorist (Real Name: Michael Patrick Rogers; drums) and The Shape (Real Name: Kris Stevenson; guitars) while Dios Malvado (a.k.a. Gilles de Rais; Real Name: Timothy Bartlett) took bass on the 2005 recording. This line-up remained constant for the 2006 recording except some members preferred to switch back to their native names or assume new stage names.

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