Thy Catafalque is an avant-garde metal band formed in Makó, Hungary, later based in Edinburgh, Scotland, after the relocation of its founder.

Thy Catafalque
OriginMakó, Hungary
GenresAvant-garde metal, experimental rock, post-black metal
Years active1998–present
Labels
  • Beverina
  • Blood
  • Casus Belli
  • Epidemie
  • GS
  • KaOtic
  • Kattran
  • Season of Mist
  • Soyuz
  • Symbol of Domination
MembersTamás Kátai
Websitehttp://thycatafalque.bandcamp.com/

History edit

The band was formed by Hungarian musician Tamás Kátai, along with a bandmate from a previous group, Gort. In their early years, the band started off as an "Avantgarde post-black metal project". As time progressed, the band left most of their traditional black metal influences behind for an "extreme variety of songs" in their 2004 album, Tűnő Idő Tárlat.[1] In February 2009, the band was signed to the avant-garde independent record label Epidemie Records. They have had a number of guest musicians over the years, including vocals by Ágnes Tóth of neo-folk duo The Moon and the Nightspirit.

In 2009, they released their concept album Róka Hasa Rádió, about "the relationship between the ever evolving, solid and massive physical matter and the fragileness of humans and all living spirits, throughout distant childhood memories and scientific explanations of nature. Revolving, rotating movements of past and future, colours, sounds, long lost scents by a strange transmission from a timeless radio."[2] It features a mix of atmospheric instrumental music, Hungarian folk elements and traditional black metal, making it very experimental.[3] The album narrowly missed the winner's place in the 2009 HangSúly Hungarian Metal Awards, which was won by Dalriada.[4]

In 2011 the band signed to Season of Mist.[5] Their fifth album entitled Rengeteg released in 2011, was the first Thy Catafalque album written and recorded by Tamás Kátai alone without János Juhász, who did not contribute to the recording this time.[6] Sgùrr was next released in 2015.[7]

In 2020, the band released the Zápor EP via GS Productions on CD and via Casus Belli Musica and Beverina Productions in vinyl.[8] Kátai originally intended the band as a studio-only project, but a number of musicians who were eager to hear Thy Catafalque songs played live reached out to him in 2021 to suggest a live performance with a revolving door of musicians; this eventually took place at the Fekete Zaj festival in Sástó, Hungary; Kátai himself played took part on bass on a few songs. The performance was released as a live album called Mezolit - Live at Fekete Zaj.[9]

Members edit

Former members edit

  • János Juhász – guitar, bass guitar (1998–2011)

Mezolit live performance edit

  • Gábor Dudás - vocals
  • Lambert Lédeczy - vocals
  • Gyula Vasvári - vocals
  • Martina Veronika Horváth - vocals
  • Ivett Dudás - vocals
  • Ádám Forczek - vocals
  • András Nagy - vocals
  • Bálint Bokodi - vocals
  • András Vörös - vocals
  • Zoltán Vigh - guitar
  • Antal Mór Szűcs - guitar
  • Gábor Vári - guitar
  • Zoltán Kónya - guitar
  • Botond Fogl - guitar
  • Dániel Szabó - guitar
  • Krisztián Varga - guitar
  • Péter Erdélyi - guitar
  • Rajmund Katona - bass
  • Tamás Kátai - bass, vocals
  • György Kantár - bass
  • Gergely Cseh - bass
  • Michaela Bos - cello
  • József Kun - drums
  • Árpád Szenti - drums
  • Márk Potkovácz - drums
  • Tadeusz Rieckmann - drums

Discography edit

Albums edit

  • Sublunary Tragedies (1999, KaOtic Productions / GS Productions)
  • Microcosmos (2001, KaOtic Productions / GS Productions)
  • Tűnő Idő Tárlat (2004, Epidemie Records / Blood Music / GS Productions)
  • Róka Hasa Rádió (2009, Epidemie Records / Soyuz Music / GS Productions)
  • Rengeteg (2011, Season of Mist / Blood Music)
  • Sgùrr (2015, Season of Mist)
  • The Early Works (2015, Blood Music)
  • Meta (2016, Season of Mist)
  • Geometria (2018, Season of Mist)
  • Naiv (2020, Season of Mist / Kattran Records / Symbol of Domination Productions)
  • Köd Utánam (2020, GS Productions)
  • Vadak (2021, Season of Mist)
  • Mezolit (Live at Fekete Zaj) (2022, Season of Mist)
  • Alföld (2023, Season of Mist)

EPs edit

  • Zápor (2020, GS Productions / Casus Belli Musica / Beverina Productions)

Demos edit

  • Cor Cordium (1999)

References edit

  1. ^ "Thy Catafalque". avantgarde-metal.com. 10 October 2007. Archived from the original on 17 August 2010. Retrieved 23 December 2009. Originally Thy Catafalque has been intended to be an Avantgarde post-black metal project
  2. ^ "Interview with Tamás Kátai". Archived from the original on 2 October 2011. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  3. ^ Reuter, Swen (22 July 2009). "Thy Catafalque - Róka hasa rádió". powermetal.de (in German). Weihrauch Medien Verlag.
  4. ^ "Dalriada készítette az év metal lemezét". Kultúra.hu (in Hungarian). Hungarian Ministry of National Resources. 10 March 2010. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011.
  5. ^ "Thy Catafalque (news, biography, albums, line-up, tour dates) | Official Season of Mist band". Season of Mist. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  6. ^ "Thy Catafalque Reveals New Album Details - in Metal News ( Metal Underground.com )". Archived from the original on 2012-10-11. Retrieved 2011-09-07.
  7. ^ "Thy Catafalque - "Alföldi Kozmosz" (audio) (premiere)". PopMatters.com. 19 August 2015. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  8. ^ Islander (June 24, 2021). "Thy Catafalque: "Vadak"". No Clean Singing. Archived from the original on June 29, 2021. Retrieved May 19, 2023.
  9. ^ "Így kell meghódítani egy makói kisszobából indulva az egész világot! – Kátai Tamás-interjú". March 26, 2022.

External links edit