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A demo was recorded after half a year of rehearsals and after the demo, the first singer Roy left the band. Pierre was the new frontman and several gigs later, the first 7”/MCD ‘Euridium’ was recorded. This record blew up the european HC scene and many bands were inspired by Congress’sound. In 1995, the first full length was recorded for Goodlife recordings, a new local label that gave european bands a chance. ‘Blackened Persistance’ got incredible reviews worldwide and opened many doors for the band. The debut album had instant Edgemetal-classics such as ‘Lifting the Ban’, ‘Stompbox’ and ‘Grief’. The sound evolved further to metal, using deathmetal/trash riffs combined with furious speed, shrieking vocals and twisted lyrics. The ball started rolling and tours followed with Neglect, Unbroken and local mates Liar and Blindfold. In ’96, another masterpiece was recorded ‘The Other Cheek’ had 5 new songs and the very rare demo included as bonus. In summer ’97 a tour with Morning Again followed. Congress started doing well in the HC scene as well as the metalscene and many metalfests followed. In ’98 the band took revenge on the falseness of the rumour-mill driven HC scene and released ‘Angry with the Sun’. This record slapped many people in the face with it’s provoking lyrics and outspoken message. On this record, the band was heavily influenced by their roots of oldschool HC. Rave reviews in big metalzines got the band playing on the biggest festivals like Dynamo Open Air, Graspop and Dour festival. They toured along with All Out War through eastern europe promoting that record. After this busy period, the band started facing trouble: Pierre’s attitude on stage changed just like his lifestyle and a dark age came along for the band. Internal fights caused the band to nearly split but only founder bassplayer UXJ and rythm-guitarist Michael left the band. In 2000 ‘Stake through the Heart’ was released which was the most technical, varied Congress record to date but had the dark cloud of the depression all over it. The band decided to continue without Pierre and nearly broke up. Suddenly an unknown kid proposed to fill in for Pierre and after some rehearsals Tim joined the band. Tim’s voice was similar to Pierre’s but has more variety, his stage performance is also amazing. Congress picked up the pieces and played insane shows on a weekly basis just like before. Songs like ‘Seven works of Art’ and ‘Burnout’ got the kids hungry for a new record wich was recorded in 2003 called ‘Resurrection’. This record set Congress back on the map of european metalcore and got awesome reviews allover the globe. A videoclip was shot for ‘Fever Rising’ edited by longtime friend Dwid from Integrity fame. Dwid also did the sleeve of the latest record... Congress toured japan in summer 2004 with succes, played tons of crazy shows and proves that after all these years they are still head of the pack, reinventing H8000 metalcore, spreading a strong positive message. For how much longer the legend will continue, no one knows but Congress will be around for quite some time that’s for sure... |
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