XIV Dark Centuries (D)

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XIV Dark Centuries was formed back in 1998. However, some of the band members had been playing in other metal bands before.

Their first sign of life was the demo tape “for your god“ which was released in 1999. Due to good connections to some Thuringian bands, e.g. Menhir, Die Apokalyptischen Reiter and Eisregen, there have been a lot live concerts in their early years. Their first big concert was in 2000 when they played at the Party.San Open Air. The same year, a new guitar player breathed new life into the band. In 2002, a second guitar player joined them to help perform the increasingly complicated songs on stage.

In June 2002, their first in-house production, the demo tape “Dunkle Jahrhunderte“, was finally finished. The album consisted of mostly unreleased, older titles. After they finished their work on their second demo tape, the band locked themselves in their recording studio where they worked on their first full length album “...den Ahnen zum Gruße“. This album contained 13 pagan songs which were written in 2001-2002. Compared to their previous releases, the songs were more refined and professional. From that point on, the band described their style as Thuringian Pagan Metal. The vocal styles range from melodic chanting to growling and screaming. The lyrics deal with stories and myths related to our ancestors and their nature religion and are exclusively in German.

In June 2003, they signed a 3 year contract with CCP-Records from Austria, who rereleased the band's in-house productions all over Europe in September of the same year.

To spread their songs and message, the band played concerts all over Germany. In the fall of 2004, they played their first 2 concerts abroad. At this point, they had played more than 100 live concerts.

The band still had a lot of unreleased new songs but, unfortunately, not enough time to record them all. As a result, they decided to record the EP “Jul“ in October 2004. This EP contained 5 new songs and was released by CCP-Records in June 2005. It was greeted with invariably favorable reviews. The band had improved and refined their style. The folkloric and acoustic parts of the songs, as well as the melodic chanting, have been increased, without abandoning other stylistic devices. As the name of the EP implies, the lyrics deal with the midwinter an Yuletide.

More concerts followed, including performances at the Ragnarök-Festival and Ultima-Ratio-Festival, which then were the most popular Pagan-Metal-Festivals in Germany. In 2006, the so far most diversified album “Skithingi“ was released by the label Perverted Taste. It is a conceptual album which deals with the rise and fall of the Thuringian kingdom.

By the end of 2007, the guitarist Tobalt quit the band for personal reasons. Soon afterwards they found a new ally in their friend Tyr's son. As the band had a lot of upcoming concerts, including the Summer Breeze Open Air and Ragnarök Festival, they had to rehearse their live set with their new guitarist. In early 2009, the band started writing new songs which show new features, due to the lineup change. However, the songs still represent the distinctive style of XIV Dark Centuries. The new album “Gizit Dar Faida“, which translates as „Time of Revenge“, was released in October 2011 by Einheit Produktionen. The sound was considerably improved and the lyrics are along the same lines of their EP “Jul“, but are more hymnal than ever! “Gizit Dar Faida“ is also available in a limited handmade leather case which includes several extras!

In November 2011, the band played their first Nightliner-Tour to promote the album. Supporting bands were among others ODROERIR (from the same label), SUIDARKA and WAYLANDER from Ireland.