-Ewigkeit-

Ewigkeit began life as a solo, studio-based project in the mid 90's when a young James Fogarty, tired of playing in generic Thrash or Death bands within his local scene, retreated into a damp & cramped basement to record extreme music his own way.

Through distancing himself from bands which were only too happy to imitate rather than innovate, James set foot on a unique path of musical discovery and experimentation. Initial demos saw James mixing heavy riffs with layers of ambience to unusual, if amateurish, effect. The final demo 'Dwellers On The Threshold' was well received and in 1997 Neat Records released Ewigkeit's debut album 'Battle Furies' through their short-lived subsidiary 'Eldethorn'. The blend of mid-paced Death Metal riffs and simple orchestration was considered 'different' at the time, but it was not different enough for Mr Fogarty…

The following months saw James donate his entire music collection to the local Oxfam and retreat further into solitude. Determined to create a sound no-one else would possess. James advanced the role of keyboards and programming within his music - a move that led to descriptions such as 'Ambient Metal' being applied to 1999's raw and bleak 'Starscape' (Neat Records).
(Around this same time James co-founded The Meads of Asphodel.)

Also at this time, James was concentrating on a far more progressive path for his new Ewigkeit full-length, and the result was arguably the first 'real' Ewigkeit album: 'Land Of Fog'. This blended an eclectic mix of 70's rock, 80's metal and 90's melodic death metal with the developing 'trademark' Ewigkeit sound.

Recorded for Neat Records, the album lay untouched for months whilst the Sanctuary Group bought Neat for it's back catalogue and bid 'adieu' to all current artists. Eventually 'Metal Age Productions' stepped in and rescued the master copy from the seemingly inevitable fate of being discarded to the sands of time. With elements of space rock, death metal, stoner, thrash, ambience, folk and prog, some felt that James had pushed the boat out too far. Others could see truly great metal being created without any care for convention…

Now, in 2004, the offices of Earache have tuned in to Ewigkeit's frequency. THE home of death metal will shortly be bringing you 'Radio Ixtlan' - James' most ambitious musical journey to date. James has ventured beyond the Land of Fog, explored the depths of his own will to experiment, and returned to Earth with one of the most interesting metal albums in years…

(kindly written by Alex 'The Viking' Stallybrass)