Tuesday , 19 March 2024

The most famous and prolific of the female extreme metal bands, Astarte, started off as a trio called Lloth. It was born in September 1995 and initially formed by Tristessa, who will be the core and Astarte’s only permanent member since then, Nemesis on guitar, Kinthia and Psychoslaughter as a session drummer (as in many “all-female” bands).

Astarte logoAstarte

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Country: Greece
History: 1995 – currently
Status: Active
Style: Black Metal

Biography:
The most famous and prolific of the female extreme metal bands, Astarte, started off as a trio called Lloth. It was born in September 1995 and initially formed by Tristessa, who will be the core and Astarte’s only permanent member since then, Nemesis on guitar, Kinthia and Psychoslaughter as a session drummer (as in many “all-female” bands).

In May 1997 they began recording a demo called “Dancing In The Dark Lakes Of Evil”, under the name of LLoth, eight songs grouped in half an hour, released as a cassette in February 1997. In 1998 they changed the name from Lloth to Astarte, and signed for the greek label Black Lotus.

Already having taken the name of the Phoenician goddess of Mother Nature, war and fertility, Asterte came into the studio to record their debut work “Dommen Dark Years,” which gave them a name in the black metal scene, fully entering int it thanks to their aesthetic and dark music.

With a duration of 50 minutes, contains a conceptual three-part story called “Thorns Of Charon”, dedicated to the goddess who gives them the name.

But both aspects, aesthetic and music, have been varying from record to record, and in “Rise From Within” they left the purely black image and his music became more complex, melodic and technical, covering more styles such as thrash and death.

“Superius quod, sicut Inferius” was recorded in 2002 in Praxis studios, and presented in a limited edition followed the melodic line of their last album, although it’s more atmospheric.

After participating in a Celtic Frost tribute album with the track “Sorrows Of The Moon”, Astarte splits up letting Tristessa as the sole bearer of the band.

The vocalist/bassist brings two more instrumentalists, Katharsis (keyboards) and Hybris (guitars), to keep the Astarte flame alive. After signing with Avantgarde they recorded the new album “Sirens”, released in April 2004.

In “Sirens” the sound of the band maintains the basic black sound but goes to death paths, continued in their new album “demonized”, an album that includes fourteen songs, counting with the guest collaboration of Attila Csihar (Mayhem), Henri TSK Sattler (God Dethroned) and Angela Gossow (Arch Enemy).

After a long break to dedicate to her family, Tristessa announced she was entering the studio to record new Astarte’s album, ’Blackdemonium’, which would contain 9-10 tracks of black/death metal music with some thrash influences.

On August 2014 Maria Kolokouri, better known as Tristessa, founder and heart of Astarte, died after losing his long battle with leukemia. Read our tribute here.

Read the interview with Astarte in Metaladies

Lineup:
Tristessa – Vocals, bass, guitar
Derketa – Keyboards
Hybris – Guitar
Ice – Drums
Lycon – Guitar, bass

Former members:
Kinthia – Vocals, guitar, keyboards
Nemesis – Guitar, keyboards
Katharsis – Keyboards
Psychoslaughter “Aithir” – Drums
Iraklis – Drums
Hybris – Guitar
Ivar – Drums

Discography:
1997, “Dancing In The Dark Lakes Of Evil” (Demo, as Lloth)
1998, “Doomed Dark Years” (LP)
2000, “Rise from Within” (LP)
2002, “Quod Superius Sicut Inferius” (LP)
2004, “Sirens” (LP)
2007, “Demonized” (LP)

Related links:
Astarte at Reverbnation
Astarte at Facebook
Tristessa at Facebook
Astarte at Twitter
Tristessa interview at Metaladies
Tribute to Tristessa at Metaladies

Vídeos

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2 comments

  1. Tristessa, very hotdamn is raising a kid of the hall of fame Shagrath Dimmu Borgir breeder.

  2. fuck,I love them,

    the band is good,do they play live somwhere in holland?
    Awsome stuff.
    I became a fan I want more of them.
    Tristessa is one of a kind I love her here voice is good.

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