VIDEO UPDATE
*** A message from Raf and the band...
"As you probably know, there are still two video's left to be made in the first half of this year.
Earlier today, I've discussed the making of the third and last '22nd Movement' video with my friend Brainfish/Breinvis and it's turned into an ambitious project which will take us the better part of the next five months to complete.
The intention is to not only use '22nd Movement' live footage, but also shoot some new scenes and create a storyline in 3D animation which would span about half the song's time span. You may now guess which 'Samsara' song this video will be made of...
As for the other one, that will consist entirely of newly shot material. In any case, I'll be writing scenarios for both starting this weekend.
If some of you are curious about the musical side of Ahráyeph, there will be updates soon, about things old and new...
Raf/Ahráyeph" ***
Posted : February 6th, 2012
LILITH VIDEO RELEASED!
*** The second video of the 22nd Movement footage is here. Enjoy 'Lilith'!***
Posted : January 16th, 2012
WHITE SQUARE II VIDEO RELEASED!
*** Fortune favours the persistent, so finally we can present to you the official video clip for 'White Square II'. Enjoy in all its HD quality!***
LAST CALL FOR T-SHIRT PREORDERS!
***We'd just like to remind you all of the closing date for preordering those new t-shirts. Only two more days left to go, midnight CET on December 31st is the closing date. Remember, if we get to 50 preorders the shirts will be made, otherwise they won't. And if we get to 100, the price drops from 20 to 16 Euros, so preorder now!!***
Posted : December 22nd, 2011
WGT VENUE ANNOUNCED
***A Good Yule to you all, as well as some Ahráyeph news. Hot off the presses : the venue for Ahráyeph's gig on May 25th at the Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig, Germany has been announced as the Felsenkeller (link to a photograph on the German Wikipedia). No timetable has been offered up yet, but we're sure that will be announced shortly. Or eventually. In any case, it will be announced some time next year...***
Posted : December 14th, 2011
AHRÁYEPH ANNOUNCE A CRUCIFIRE RETURN
***A message from the band :
"Yes, we've tried this before. Didn't really work then. Some personalities are just not cut out for the job or do not possess the right psyche. This one, however, is and does.
Ahráyeph is happy to announce a return to its inception days with the addition/return of former Crucifire drummer Geert De Feyter aka GBG.
Raf : "Geert and I reconnected after many years recently. To the both of us, it felt like finding a long lost brother on a personal level as well as a musical one. We've been through hell and back together and we started Crucifire together, which was the basis for Ahráyeph. When confronted with the Crucifire legacy that is Ahráyeph, Geert took to it like a duck to water. One talk led to another, then several more and as of today, 1/3 of Crucifire has been reunited within Ahráyeph."
As to when GBG will make his debut with the band, Raf had this to say : "I fully expect him to be able to join us on stage by the time Porta Nigra rolls around. Ever since he got the songs, which was about two months ago, Geert has been working on getting the drum parts down, even if things were still very much up in the air. Talk about dedication. And given his prowess on his instrument - Geert teaches drums at the same music school where I teach guitar, the aformentioned dedication and his great personality, there's no doubt he fits right in with Ness, Xavi and myself. Come see us at Porta Nigra and WGT and decide for yourselves.""
The band, still in its current threesome form, has been rehearsing intensely over the past few months, but will take a break over the holidays and reconvene, with GBG on drums right after New Year. Around this time, the recording of the next album will also commence, after having been postponed - the band were due to start recording mid- November - due to scheduling issues. Talks with record labels are still ongoing, but word from the band is they fully expect the album to be picked up and released in the first half of 2012...***
Posted : December 6th, 2011
HELP CREATE A NEW AHRÁYEPH SHIRT AND SAVE SOME MONEY IN THE PROCESS
***So, Raf posted some new artwork on the Facebook page, with the question whether or not it would look good on a new t-shirt. The reactions were positive and plentiful enough to think about having them made, but only if you, the people, preorder and prefinance them. At this time, it is not in the band's financial grasp to prefinance the shirts themselves.
So here's how this works : if our Merch department gets 50 or more orders via the email address in the link, the shirts will get made. Basically, you send them a first mail to preorder before December 31st, in which you include your name, delivery address, size and shape (unisex and girlies will both be available) and method of payment. Merch prefers PayPal, but they also do international bank transfers and accept cash in an envelope as well.
Now, here's where things get interesting : if Merch gets 50 preorders or more, the shirts will get made, but they will cost you 20 Euros (or the equivalent in dollars or pounds), which would include shipping costs. However, if Merch gets 100 preorders or more, the price tag will be dropped from 20 to 16 Euros, shipping still included. So you could save yourself some money, as well as have a brand new Ahráyeph shirt!
To finish the whole story : once the final tally for the shirts reaches either 50 or 100 at December 31st, Merch will send out emails with payment details. You will then get until January 20th to pay for your shirt. Then the total sum should be in and the shirt design will go to print. Another two weeks, and you can look forward to a nice new Ahráyeph shirt in your mail box. Good deal? If so, start sending those emails now! And remember, the closing date is December 31st!***
Posted : November 26th, 2011
FIRST VIDEO CLIP RELEASE : DISTANCED
*** Here it is, the first in a series of three video clips, to be released in succession over the coming weeks. Don't say Ahráyeph doesn't deliver during the holiday season. By the way, it's available in HD, you only need to adjust the resolution to your liking.
Instead of resting on his laurels, Raf took to the job of editing the footage of the very first Ahráyeph gig at the 22nd Movement, back in September 2007, in order to release this footage.
In Raf's own words :"While I really appreciate the efforts of fans posting videos with archived images from past editions of this site, it frustrated me that I never got around to releasing more videos myself. The live footage's sound was decent enough, but not up to standard, as it was first intended. So I asked myself if there was a way to do more with it, and there was. I recently remixed some 'Samsara' songs, of which 'Distanced' was one. The song being a fan favourite, I felt I could put the live footage together with the new mix, in order to create a video that shows you the atmosphere at our very first gig, while having it sounding good at the same time. And since the Mk.I version of the band was on good form that night, the footage synced up very well with the remixed audio of the studio version."
Shooting that footage at the 22nd Movement were a German couple by the names of Jani and MiniCarl. Raf : "I am indebted to them for coming all the way from Germany and shooting the gig. Jani and MiniCarl are the nicest people and I can't thank them enough for this gift. Most audience shot video just comes from one source, so I was really lucky to have two which were shot with identical cameras to use for this video and the next one."
Indeed, we mentioned this in the previous news bulletin : another 2nd Movement sourced videoclip is on the way. Can we hear more about it? Raf : "I won't release the title. All I can say is that I'll put even more effort into this one and it'll be something of a 'tour de force'. And that's all the hints I can and am willing to give."
Sounds intriguing, again. Meanwhile, enjoy 'Distanced!***
Posted : November 13th, 2011
IMPORTANT VIDEO CLIP UPDATE
*** A message from the band :
"Not only will you now have to anticipate the release of the official video for 'White Square', but to make the waiting period a bit more pleasant for you, we've recut some old live video stuff from the Ahráyeph Mk.I era, which was shot by Jani and MiniCarl (liebe Grüsse an euch!) at the 22nd Movement gig in 2007, and are mixing it together with images made at Rose Creek visual for not one, but TWO videoclips for songs off the 'Samsara' album! These won't be live versions of the songs, but live video footage accompanied by the remixed studio versions of these songs, as no decent quality live audio recording of this gig - Ahráyeph's very first! - exists. The current Youtube live videos of 'Lilith', 'Seele' and 'Blue Water', which were also taken from that gig's raw footage, can attest to that. The clips will be released shortly (within the two following weeks), but if you want to watch them, you will have to add Ahráyeph on Google +, because they will be released there first exclusively! For those not being on Google +, not to worry, the clips will surface here and on the other Ahráyeph web pages after a week or so..."***
Posted : November 13th, 2011
AHRÁYEPH ON GOOGLE +
*** Ahráyeph is keeping up with the times as they are a- changin' rapidly in this digitally connected world and they can now also be found on Google +, giving their web masters yet another page to maintain (not that were complaining, of course)..."***
Posted : November 4th, 2011
PEEK A BOO MAGAZINE INTERVIEW
*** Peek A Boo Magazine posted an interview with Raf on its website today. Go and check it out!***
Posted : October 21st, 2011
NEW RELEASES
*** So Raf's been a bit prolific of late, and to wash down the disappointment of the video clip release being set back, he released something else instead : the 2011 mix of the old (by now rather ancient) Crucifire song 'White Square', as well as the recently finished Sophia cover song, 'Leaving', both available as a 1 Euro download in any format (WAV, MP3, FLAC, etc.) at the Ahráyeph Bandcamp page, through the links below, or those at the Goods page.
"I don't like calling an adaptation of an existing song a 'cover' song, but since most people do, let's call it that anyway. What matters is that I put my heart and soul in it. I just dug deep into the emotions the original made me feel, which wasn't easy as back then, that album [Sophia's 'There Are No Goodbyes'] and that song reflected what I was going through myself with eerie similarity. So dredging that back up was never easy.", says Raf.
"The same goes for 'White Square'. It is a song that was written under circumstances and reflect a point of view that is still very relevant to me today, even if the background is different now. Nevertheless, it was the song all of us in Crucifire were the most proud of and it hasn't lost any of its dark lustre after all this time."
Also made available on Bandcamp, but for listening purposes only, is a recently updated mix of the 'Marooned On Samsara' song 'Misanthropia'.
Raf : "I was always very ambiguous about this song, because its main musical influence just shone through in such a blatant way. I felt it was a reason not to play the song live anymore, even if it rocked. My guitar player, Xavier, suggested I have another look at it, because he likes the song a lot, so I decided to mix it all over again and a funny thing happened : it just rocked so much more and I could definitely see its potential, where before I had refused to. What a few sonic tweaks can do. It also helps that recent worldwide events tie in with the lyrics of this song, hence I named it the '2011 Indignados Mix'. Still, it is not a political statememt, but rather an observation about our western society and the culpability we all have in varying degrees in sustaining it."
So enjoy this recent sonic assault below while gearing up for what will unquestionably be a busy year for Ahráyeph. The band will go into a higher gear starting next month, with the recording for the next album commencing while live rehearsals continue. The videoclip will be reshot and re- edited between now and the end of the year, and will see its release at the tail end of 2011 too if all goes well...***
Posted : October 9th, 2011
AHRÁYEPH CONFIRMED TO APPEAR AT PORTA NIGRA FESTIVAL
*** Lightning strikes twice in a row : We can now announce that Ahráyeph has been confirmed by the Porta Nigra Festival to appear on both dates of the 'From The Ashes Of Angels' festival, which takes place next year on Saturday March 17th at JC De Klinker in Aarschot, Belgium and Sunday March 18th at Die Werkstatt in Cologne, Germany.
"This has been brewing for a while now," Raf says, "but for obvious reasons we didn't want to announce our appearance at Porta Nigra before the promoters did. The band and I are very happy that Porta Nigra chose us to open the festival twice in a row. It proves there are promoters who are willing to give relatively unknown talent a chance. Both they and their fans, as well as those who don't know us yet can rest assured we'll grab this opportunity with both hands to prove ourselves in the presence of some of the biggest names among our peers. We're definitely looking forward to it."
Definitely sounds intriguing, so keep checking the Porta Nigra website and Facebook page for announcements about these 'peers' Raf is referring to... ***
Posted : October 9th, 2011
VIDEOCLIP UPDATE AND MORE...
*** Good as well as bad news from Raf at Ahráyeph's Facebook page : "Videoclip news : unfortunately, the postproduction has fallen way behind, and as a result, we're considering reshoots since some footage didn't turn out as well as we'd hoped for. Update soon on where this is going, but rest assured all of us really want to release the clip eventually."
At least we can take away from this that there will eventually be a video, albeit later than intended.
The good news is that Raf also posted on Facebook that the adaptation of the Sophia song 'Leaving' is coming along nicely and will most likely be finished by the end of this month, before the bands gets into preproduction mode for the next album... ***
Posted : September 21st, 2011
AHRÁYEPH GOES WGT IN 2012
*** Yes, you read it right : Ahráyeph will be playing at the Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig, Germany next year on Friday, May 25th, the first day of the festival.
"I'm psyched Ahráyeph will be playing at one of the most prestigious festivals in our scene", says Raf. "It's definitely a dream come true and we're all looking forward to giving the audience everything we've got, because that is always our goal when we play live."
Although the band's spot on the bill has been confirmed, neither the venue nor the time slot have been made available so far. Of course we will keep you posted about this, as well as more live news for 2012, which we can confirm is definitely coming. Seems like the band is making up for lost time on stage next year... ***
Posted : August 15th, 2011
SUMMER SALE IS HERE!
*** The merch department has decided to take a break, cut prices and do a summer sale from today until September 15th. So hurry along to this page and get some Ahráyeph stuff for a bargain! ***
Posted : August 9th, 2011
NEW BAND PHOTOS ONLINE
*** With the video shoot happening last week (all went well, read Raf's blog on Facebook) there was also an opportunity to take a few pics of the band. Hence, new official band photos are now available on the 'Images' page. Check it out!
More news will follow imminently. About the video shoot, of course, and some other things in the works that we can't divulge just yet without unleashing the band's wrath upon us. Patience, fans and friends, patience... ***
Posted : July 4th, 2011
FOLLOW AHRÁYEPH ON TWITTER!
*** Follow Ahráyeph on Twitter for updates on the progress of the videoclip! ***
Posted : June 29th, 2011
VIDEO CLIP PROCESS STARTED.
*** Raf has just informed us that the work for the first official Ahráyeph videoclip has now started in earnest. He will collaborate with friend and colleague Sandy Victor Nys of the experimental industrial project Hybryds.
If you're expecting this clip to emerge between now and next week, don't get your hopes up : these are the initial stages and much work still has to be done before filming can even begin.
So far, information and ideas have been sent back and forth on what song to tackle and how to go about it, but this process has definitely started. We certainly are stoked to see what the end result will be... ***
Posted : June 21st, 2011
*** Happy Summer Solstice and welcome to the new Ahráyeph website.
What you see here before you is a transitional website. 'Marooned On Samsara' has been out for three years now, Raf is hard at work to ensure the next release will be something special both musically as well as visually, as he referenced several times in the past few months. So we thought : 'why wait until the next release?' Yes, there will be a brand new website coinciding with the new release, but we felt it was time for a change. So we've set about redesigning and upgrading the coding of the website, making it faster to load and with cool graphics (if we may say so ourselves).
Functionality has improved, not in the least on the photo pages. There will be more upgrades in the forthcoming months, making it easier to stay abreast of what's going on with the band (newsletter, anyone?) and we're hoping to implement some more, shall we say, 'dynamic' content than just static photographs.
Yes, we are referring to Ahráyeph's very first official videoclip, among others. Raf already announced it to those of you following the band on Facebook and it will premiere in the near future on the Belgium Electro Facebook page, as a thank you to the good people there who hold open mindedness in music in high regard and put it in practice, too. They've promoted Ahráyeph heavily in the past month, so wanting to repay in kind, Raf decided that they would get the scoop on the video when it's finished. Which song? We don't know, he hasn't told us. Could be something old, could be new-yet-already-known, or just plain brand new. But it definitely sounds tempting!
In the mean time, enjoy browsing through the refurbished website! ***