Wastefall is a

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. In ...

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

group from

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. 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 band along with some school-mates. The name of the band was Distant Dreamland. The songs were more in the vein of Deep Purple 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 symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...

. 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 Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

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. Its first lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Kai Hansen, bassist Markus Grosskopf, guitarist Michael Wei ...

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

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

etc.) at Jailhouse Studios,

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, 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 ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

(away from their base of

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

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

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and Domenik had been in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

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.''http://www.wastefall.com/html/news.html

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 act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

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

(2014 - now) *Nick Valentzis - bass (2004–2008, 2010 - now)

Former members

*Alexander Katsigiannis -

(2003–2008, 2010 - 2014) *Christos Kyrkilis -

(2003–2008, 2010 - 2013) *Tassos Loukos - drums (2010 - 2013) *Kostis Papaleksopoulos - drums (2005–2008) *Ilias Kalivas - bass (2003–2004) *George Kanavaris - drums (2003–2005) *Stratos Haidos - bass (2004) *Matthew Dakoutros -

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

(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 Musical groups established in 2003 Musical groups disestablished in 2008 Musical groups reestablished in 2010 Musical groups from Athens Musical quartets