Wastefall is a

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

group from

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. They formed in 2003 and temporarily disbanded on August 1, 2008. They reunited in 2013.

Biography

In 1997 14-year-old Alex Katsiyannis decided to form a

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band along with some school-mates. The name of the band was Distant Dreamland. The songs were more in the vein of

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...

and Uriah Heep. After a year of rehearsals and playing and writing together the band changed their music style. Distant Dreamland played a mix of European and American

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within a symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in co ...

. People left the band and others joined. The band was renamed into Dead Man's Tale. Dead Man's Tale released the self-titled demo CD receiving positive reviews. At that time Alex wrote the lyrics along with the music and played the guitar and Domenikos (Dark Vision, Lost Souls) performed the vocals. The friendship between Alex and Domenikos kept them together even after the end of Dead Man's Tale. In March 2003, Wastefall was created by Alex Katsiyiannis and Domenikos Papaemmanouil. Later on, drummer George Kanavaris joined the band and Ilias Kalivas followed on the bass guitar. Wastefall signed, a record contract with Sleaszy Rider Records and released their debut album ''Fallen Stars And Rising Scars'' on July 28, 2003. Due to encouraging feedback, Wastefall began working on new ideas and creations for a future release. Shortly, Christos Kyrkilis (keyboards) joined the band. After a while Ilias Kalyvas left the band and Stratos Haidos replaced him as new bass player. Additionally, Matthew Dakoutros (violin) joined the band to complete the line-up of that period. After a long time of rehearsals and composing new material Wastefall entered Fragile studios in May 2004 to record the follow-up album, to be called ''Soulrain 21''. On November 7, 2004 ''Soulrain 21'' was released again through Sleaszy Rider Records. Again, the band lost their bass player immediately after a release. Stratos Haidos left the band and Nick Valentzis joined Wastefall. After Nick's arrival, Wastefall had to split ways with violin player, Matthew Dakoutros and drums player George Kanavaris due to musical differences. A few months later, Wastefall recruited Kostis Papaleksopoulos as their new drummer. In October 2005, Wastefall hooked up with Danish based agency Intromental Management, who immediately got the band signed to the American label Sensory Records. Wastefall's third album entitled ''

Self Exile ''Self Exile'' is the third album by progressive metal band Wastefall. Track listing # Intro (1:05) # Willow Man (4:04) # The Muzzle Affection (5:26) # Dance of Descent (3:36) # Another Empty Haven (5:54) # Strife for Definition (4:49) # Sleepwa ...

'' was mixed and mastered by Tommy Hansen (

Helloween Helloween is a German power metal band founded in 1984 in Hamburg by members of bands Iron Fist, Gentry, Second Hell and Powerfool. The band has at times been called one of the most influential European heavy metal bands of the 1980s. Its first ...

TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

Jørn Lande Jørn Marumsrud Lande (born 31 May 1968) is a Norwegian hard rock and heavy metal singer. He is known for his work with the bands Ark, Beyond Twilight, Millenium, Vagabond, The Snakes, and most notably with power metal band Masterplan. He ...

etc.) at Jailhouse Studios,

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, January 2006. On August 1, 2008 the band announced on their website and on their Myspace that they were disbanding. As mentioned even though they had renewed their contract with Intromental Management and would play at ProgPower Scandinavia in October 2008 the band was not in the best of situations. Alex was studying in

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

(away from their base of

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

), Kostis Papaleksopoulos would leave to study at a musical university in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and Domenik had been in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

since 2007. All this together with a difficult economic situation led Alex to leave the band. He send the following message:

''Due to various complicated reasons and my personal choice to follow my academic studies, I can no longer be a Wastefall member. I want to thank all my band-mates, fans, Claus and Lars from Intromental, Ken at Sensory and Olivier at Replica for all the great times. Concerning music, all I have to say is that I'm going to continue writing music, in a very different style though, and not with the perspective of releasing something soon. It was a great journey I will always remember. I hope that other bands will be influenced by our passion so far and mark their way in the "rotten" music business. Dom, Chris, Nick, Kostis :Love, respect, good luck and apologies. C ya out there.''

The rest of the band followed:

''The beginning and vision of Wastefall was an idea of Alexander and Domenik and since Alexander wasn't available anymore the band's "core" was broken. After this, nothing will be the same so we got the difficult decision and we are really sad to announce the end of Wastefall.''

On 21 November 2010 the website metalstorm.net announced that Wastefall had reformed again.

Present line-up

*Domenik Papaemmanouil -

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

s, keyboards (2003–2008, 2010 - now) *John Aktypis -

(2014 - now) *Nick Valentzis -

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

(2004–2008, 2010 - now)

Former members

*Alexander Katsigiannis -

(2003–2008, 2010 - 2014) *Christos Kyrkilis - keyboards (2003–2008, 2010 - 2013) *Tassos Loukos -

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

(2010 - 2013) *Kostis Papaleksopoulos -

(2005–2008) *Ilias Kalivas -

(2003–2004) *George Kanavaris -

(2003–2005) *Stratos Haidos -

(2004) *Matthew Dakoutros -

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

(2004)

Discography

*'' Fallen Stars and Rising Scars'' ( Sleaszy Rider Records, 2003) *'' SoulRain 21'' ( Sleaszy Rider Records, 2004) *''

'' ( Sensory Records, 2006) *'' Meridiem '' (EP) (Wastefall, 2014)

References

External links

Official WebsiteOfficial myspace pageWastefall on Metal Storm
{{Authority control Greek heavy metal musical groups Greek musical quartets Musical groups established in 2003 Musical groups disestablished in 2008 Musical groups reestablished in 2010 Musical groups from Athens