HDK (Hate, Death, Kill) is a musical project of Dutch guitarist

Sander Gommans Sander Gommans (born 15 August 1978) is a Dutch musician and songwriter. He founded the symphonic metal band Apocalypse with Mark Jansen in 1995, which later changed its name to After Forever. He played guitar and performed the vocal grunting p ...

, best known as member, vocalist and one of the main composers of the now dissolved

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-generic style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitar ...

band

After Forever After Forever was a Dutch symphonic metal band with strong progressive metal influences. The band relied on the use of both soprano vocals and death growls. In February 2009, it was announced that After Forever had disbanded. Singer Floor Jans ...

History

founded the band as a side project of his career as guitarist and vocalist in the Dutch band

in 2005, along with bass player

Peter Vink Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a s ...

and drummer Arien van Weesenbeek, who is now the drummer for

Epica Epica or EPICA may refer to: * Epica (band), a Dutch symphonic metal band * ''Epica'' (Kamelot album), 2003 * ''Epica'' (Audiomachine album), 2012 * The European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) * The Epica Awards (International Adver ...

. Gommans' purpose was to produce music more extreme than After Forever's usual

, which needed a different output. Gommans' activities as art teacher and member of

and his poor health condition slowed down the creative process of the band, until 2008. With the interruption of After Forever activities, HDK was able to finally produce its first full-length album '' System Overload'', which was released on 23 February 2009 on the label

Season of Mist Season of Mist is an independent record label and record distributor with subsidiaries in France and the United States. The record label was founded in 1996 by Michael S. Berberian in Marseille, France. From the start releasing black metal, pag ...

. The album featured many guest singers and instrumentalists. In 2014, HDK released their second album called ''

Serenades of the Netherworld ''Serenades of the Netherworld'' is the second album released by Dutch guitarist Sander Gommans's project HDK (Hate, Death, Kill). "Revelation" and "Return from Tomorrow" were released as single tracks, while the entire album itself entered stor ...

'', with a fixed line-up composed of Gommans on guitar and bass, Amanda Somerville and Geert Kroes on vocals, Koen Herfst on drums and Uri Dijk and Erik van Ittersum on keyboards, along with some guest instrumentalists.

Style

The music style is aggressive and amalgamates elements of

classic metal Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed ...

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavines ...

, and modern thrash metal, as well as other stylistic influences given by female vocals and

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

elements.

Members

;Current members *

(ex-

, Trillium,

Kiske/Somerville Kiske/Somerville is a melodic heavy metal duet project, put together in late 2009 by Frontiers Records. The project features vocalist Michael Kiske (Helloween, Unisonic, Place Vendome) collaborating with American singer Amanda Somerville ( ...

) - growls, guitars, bass guitar ;Guests ;;Vocalists *

Amanda Somerville Amanda Somerville (born March 7, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and vocal coach who resides in Wolfsburg, Germany. She is known primarily for her work with many European symphonic metal bands. Biography Personal life Somerville was ...

(Trillium,

Avantasia Avantasia is a German supergroup metal opera project created by Tobias Sammet, vocalist of the band Edguy. It has been characterized as a rock opera, as it features the contributions of various vocalists and musicians and it consists of concept ...

, Kiske/Somerville) - female vocals *

Andre Matos Andre Coelho Matos (14 September 1971 – 8 June 2019) was a Brazilian singer and musician. He was involved in the heavy metal bands Viper, Angra, Shaman and Symfonia. Since 2006, Matos had been dedicating his time to his solo career. In 201 ...

(ex- Angra,

Shaman Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritu ...

, Virgo) - clean male vocals * Jos Severens (Sustain) - clean male vocals * Patrick Savelkoul ( Callenish Circle) - screams, grunts * Paul Niessen (I Witness) - raps * Mike Scheijen (37 Stabwoundz) - screams * Geert Kroes (Dead Man's Curse, BlindSight) - clean male vocals, growls ;;Instrumentalists *Joost van den Broek ( Sun Caged,

) - keyboards *

Arjen Anthony Lucassen Arjen Anthony Lucassen (born 3 April 1960) is a Dutch singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist musician and record producer best known for his long-running progressive metal/rock opera project Ayreon. Lucassen started his career in 1980 as the ...

(

Ayreon Ayreon is a musical project by Dutch songwriter, singer, musician and record producer Arjen Anthony Lucassen. Ayreon's music is described as progressive rock, progressive metal and power metal sometimes combined with genres such as folk, electro ...

) - guitar solo * Marcel Coenen ( Sun Caged) - guitar solo * Bastiaan Kuiper (Engine of Pain) - guitar solo *

Ariën van Weesenbeek God Dethroned is a Dutch extreme metal band from Beilen, originally formed in 1990. Biography God Dethroned was formed in 1990 by singer and guitar player Henri Sattler, with Hans Leegstra (guitar) and Ard de Weerd. Sattler and Leegstra had pre ...

(ex-

God Dethroned God Dethroned is a Dutch extreme metal band from Beilen, originally formed in 1990. Biography God Dethroned was formed in 1990 by singer and guitar player Henri Sattler, with Hans Leegstra (guitar) and Ard de Weerd. Sattler and Leegstra had pre ...

MaYaN Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

) - drums * Koen Herfst (Bagga Bownz, I Chaos,

Dew-Scented Dew-Scented was a German thrash and death metal band. They have released eight studio albums and were last signed to Metal Blade Records (Europe) and Prosthetic Records (USA/North America). Their name is inspired by the writings of Edgar Allan P ...

Armin van Buuren Armin Jozef Jacobus Daniël van Buuren ( , ; born 25 December 1976) is a Dutch DJ and record producer from Leiden, South Holland. Since 2001, he has hosted ''A State of Trance'' (ASOT), a weekly radio show, which is broadcast to nearly 40&nbs ...

) - drums *

- bass guitar * Uri Dijk ( Textures) - keyboards * Erik van Ittersum (Insomnia, Ethereal) - keyboards

Discography

*'' System Overload'' (2009) *''

'' (2014)

References

External links

Official MySpace

Metal-Archives Profile
Dutch heavy metal musical groups Dutch gothic metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2005 Dutch melodic death metal musical groups Season of Mist artists {{Netherlands-band-stub