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The EJECT-biography
‘De Druivenstreek' (a poor attempt to translate this into English would result in ‘The Region of Grapes') is an unsightly area that can be found on the historic Romanic-Germanic rift that Belgians have come to know as ‘the language border', separating Dutch speeking Flanders from French speaking Wallonia. In that area, only eight miles south of Brussels, stands the cradle of EJECT, a Flemish formation that cooks with ingredients from old school Thrash Metal – like neck-breaking riffs and tight drum patterns – with a modern and epic approach to song construction and room for vocal expression & creative bass work.
The Style
EJECT is the odd one out when you look at the modern metal scene. Not belonging to the highly popular Death-, Black- or True Metal scene, they have tried to create a genre of their own. Of course many bands claim to do so, so we leave it up to you, the listener, to decide whether EJECT have achieved this goal or not. Nevertheless, trying to define the style that the band stands for, seems impossible.
So instead of producing a ridiculous genre description like ‘Dark Inflamatory Demon Speed Fucking Thrash Splattermetal', we'll just provide a list of some EJECT favourites, comprising Thrash-, Black-, Death- as well as Power- and Progmetal bands, from which you can draw your own conclusions: Metallica (by far the most important influence), Testament, Dissection, Iced Earth, Pantera, Machine Head, Iron Maiden, Opeth, Slayer, Queensrÿche, Paradise Lost, Dream Theater, Megadeth, Cradle Of Filth, Guns ‘n Roses, Judas Priest, Pink Floyd, Flotsam & Jetsam, Manowar, Pain Of Salvation, Morbid Angel, ...
Of course, if all these bands were recognizable as such in EJECT's songs, no living soul would be able to listen to the intolerable cacophony that would inevitable be the result, so let's just say that all of them have had an inspirational influence.
A Brief History
EJECT has officially been around since 1996, but has had some difficulties building a reputation, because of an insolid line-up and, eehrm, an initial shortage of technical skills. For those who wish to be bored to death with the exact historical details, we refer to the chronology at the bottom, but in this paragraph we'll just cram EJECT's evolution into two important ‘Eras' so far:
- The first Era consisted of guitarists Thijs Karman and Johan De Ost, bassist & vocalist Damien Lecompte and Cliff Laureys on the drums. These guys recorded the first demotape “Fear His Eyes” (after which Cliff was replaced by Pierre Franck) but the line-up desintegrated shortly after.
- The second Era had only Johan and Damien remaining. The latter switched to his first love, the guitar, and together with drummer Joris Mans and bassist Alex Wijns both guitarists form the instrumental line-up that is still together and that has seen quite a handful of vocalists coming and going. The most important ones are: Anton Delbarre, with whom EJECT did some gigs (including one in ‘The Frontline' in Ghent), David De Ost (Johan's brother) who also did some shows (‘Kleudde Metalfest 2002') and who can be heared on the demo/album “The Martyr's Blood” and finally former Cardania vocalist Armin Bakker, who has been part of EJECT since may 2004.
With Armin on board EJECT started performing live again and in April 2005 the lads entered De Studio (Asse) for the second time to record four tracks, that were released one month later as an EP, titled “The Mirror Cold” (see discography and media page)
More about tha band, tha members and tha music elsewhere on this site...
Chronology for the true fanatics
1. 1996: formation of EJECT by Johan De Ost (G), Thijs Karman (G), and Cliff Laureys (D)
2. 1997: together with Damien Lecompte (V&B) EJECT now has a complete line-up.
3. November 1997: demo ‘Fear His Eyes' is recorded.
4. Spring 1998: Cliff quits and is temporarily replaced by Pierre Franck.
5. November 1998: Joris Mans (D) joins EJECT.
6. January 1999: Thijs leaves, bassist Alex Wijns joins EJECT. The line-up changes dramatically: Johan's en Joris' positions remain unchanged, Damien puts the bass and mike aside in favour of the guitar and Alex is the new bass player. The search for a vocalist is long and trying.
7. October 2000: EJECT records the instrumental tracks of six songs that will eventually appear on ‘The Martyr's Blood'
8. Spring 2001: singer Anton Delbarre joins EJECT but the attempt to finish ‘The Martyr's Blood' is unsuccessful and EJECT needs to find a new singer.
9. 2002: David De Ost joins the band and finishes ‘The Martyr's Blood'. Throat aches eventually make him decide to quit.
10. April 2004: Armin Bakker (ex-Cardania) joins EJECT. De current line-up is: Damien Lecompte and Johan De Ost (both G), Joris Mans (D), Alex Wijns (B) and Armin Bakker (V).
11. April and May 2005: Recording and Release of “The Mirror Cold”, a four track EP.