The debut CD of Night Conquers Day is entitled "The First Snowfall". It was released in December 1997 on Hammerheart Records (Holland). It was recorded throughout 1996 by ourselves. When recording began we were a 3-piece:
Mikael - Drums, Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Tim - Bass
Greg Herman - Guitar
And then Raistlyn joined in on Keyboards. During the recording sessions in 1996, Greg disappeared. He simply stopped showing up to record/rehearse. He had laid scratch tracks for the songs while I recorded my drums, but that was it. His playing does remain on one song on the debut CD because it was the one song he wrote the music to and I think it's a killer death metal styled song ("Provoker Be Hunted"). We kept it on the CD because Greg was with me and Tim from the creation and because of his constant rehearsing with us, it allowed me to practice the drums a LOT and I became a much better and tighter drummer because of him. The song "Banished From My Eyes" is a "Tim song" - he wrote all the music on that one and he plays one of the guitar tracks on it too. Same goes for "The First Snowfall" - Tim wrote most of that songs music. I, on the other hand, wrote ALL the lyrics and came up with the themes and such. I wrote the rest of the music (minus Greg's song aforementioned). Raistlyn did start to record with us and his keyboard playing adorns the CD with the incredible Intro, his instrumental "Nightfall's Promise", and in parts of "The Storm Before The Calm". But Raistlyn was a bit strange and maybe slighty schizophrenic - a true genius - and it was difficult to work with him. He was better composing on his own (which he is doing today in a project he calls Delinked) as the stuff he comes up with is totally amazing. We completed the CD without him, but kept his amazing Intro and Instrumental piece. They are masterpieces. The debut CD is a metaphorical symbol of a way of living. Winter metaphors relate to personal individualism and isolation, and they are also literal since I grew up in a region that is known for its winters. We get a lot of snow here in Rochester, NY. I personally love winter and prefer it over summer and the hotter months. After the album was recorded, I made a rough mix tape that I sent to a bunch of labels and it was Holland's Hammerheart Records that signed us in early 1997. We went to Watchmen Studios in Lockport, NY and mixed it with Doug White. I worked with the label on the layout. It was done the same old-fashioned way as the Buried Beneath CD - cut and paste. It is also adorned with photos taken by Evil Eye of a first snowfall in Rochester in the early 1980's. Throughout 1998 we played shows locally opening for Averse Sefira and Ancient (nor/usa). I handled all the promotion and mail. Hammerheart treated us great at this point and we even received a nice check for royalties.
This CD, and the 2nd CD, are long out of print. Hammerheart Records screwed us over on the 2nd CD, and a few years later they folded.
The 2nd CD is, in my opinion, a master opus of atmospheric black-death! But I am biased. It was our best recording with a complete line-up and a lot of rehearsal behind us. I had also completed my home studio (with Justin & Gregg's labor as well). I hated the way the drums came out on the debut CD. I mic'ed it myself with 9 mics and then mixed it down to 2-channel stereo. It sounds too tinny and my fills are lost. Doug did what he could to salvage the mess I'd made recording. The drum set I had didn't help things since it was old, falling apart, not properly tuned and had rust in some parts. Anyways, we decided to record the drum tracks in Watchmen Studio with Doug White this time around. And we did that. Gregg recorded his drums to a scratch track I did. And Gregg did a scratch guitar track for me so I could do the drums on "Dream Sleep Sorcery". That was Tim's song and he insisted I play the drums because he liked the way I played it better. So my drumming is on only that song. Then we took the reels home and we recorded everything else in my studio Mortuary Temple (which was in the basement of my house beside an old pioneer cemetery). The line-up on this CD is:
Mikael - Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards (and Drums on "Dream Sleep Sorcery:)
Tim - Bass
Justin Carder - Guitar
Gregg Garbach - Drums
Everyones performance is stellar. I think we created a truly original epic style that since has become widespread. I mean really....how many band had songs that were each 10+ minutes a piece? in 1995-1999?This album continued with a theme of rebellion, angst, individual freedom and intellectual anti-christianism. Each song an epic with a lot of variation, atmosphere, thrash, blackness, death, doom - cult. It was released April 15th, 1999. Like the first CD, it is adorned by a beautiful gatefold painting by Kris Verwimp, both based on sketches by Mikael. And we got great reviews everywhere. But......the label claimed low sales. In reality....they wanted to focus on the new trend at the time and we were never paid and dropped from the label even after being told in person that we were a go for a 3rd CD. Whatever. Piss off. Tim ended up quitting and we split up soon-after. He quit the night before we were going to open for Mayhem on their "Chimera" tour in November 1999.
This album also took 3 tries to get a perfect sounding mix. The first mix I remember as terrible, and I don't think I even kept that master. But I did keep the 2nd mix done in February 1999. The guitars are louder and drums lower I believe. The mix on the CD is the 3rd and final one we did. Maybe some purest out there will prefer this slightly different mix of the CD.
"Rebellion Is The Art Of Survival" 2nd mix 1999
(same tracklisting)
DOWNLOAD HERE
Night Conquers Day Compilation appearances............
A Call To Irons: A Tribute To Iron Maiden - 1999 Compilation 2-CD tracks
1. Where Eagles Dare (Maiden-cover)
2. The Perseverence Of Ignorance
DOWNLOAD HERE
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| Our page in the CD booklet for the Iron Maiden Tribute CD 1999 |
Another compilation appearance took place as the band was falling apart since the Comp came out in December 1999. It was a free CD that came with your purchase of Ablaze Magazine, a killer European underground black/death metal mag. It features a whole host of various bands from all over the place. The Night Conquers Day track is "Rebellion Is The Art Of Survival", the title track from the 2nd CD. But because the original song length was 10+ minutes, it took up too much space on the comp so it's edited down to a 4 minute version that fades out 1/4 way into the song, so you miss 3/4 of the song. But it's a cool time capsule of December 1999 including other bands like Buio Omega, Hecate Enthroned, Angelcorpse, Wallachia, Ancient, Riger, Vintersorg, Svartahrid, Lux Occulta, Obsidian Gate, Necrodeath, Furthest Shore, Saxorior, Mortician & more. See the pics below for tracklisting.
Ablaze Magazine - Dec 1999/Jan 2000 Issue - Free Compilation CD
DOWNLOAD HERE
And lastly I have a Compilation CD we were on that came out in 1998 and it was a collaboration of 3 labels: Hammerheart, Ars Metalli and Invasion records. We had our song "The Storm Before The calm" from our debut CD on there. The label chose that song. There's some killer artwork for the cover of the comp and some of the other bands on here are killer and obscure. At least our song doesn't fade out - it is complete! And we're aside other great bands like Nocturnal Breed, Gates Of Ishtar, Menhir, Christ Agony, Mithotyn, The Everdawn, etc. A cool rare CD compilation long out of print and forgotten.
Circle Of The Tyrants - Compilation CD 1998 (no, it's not a Celtic Frost tribute, just a comp)
DOWNLOAD HERE
And just some more pics of Night Conquers Day from various photo sessions......all photos by Evil Eye.
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| Tim & Mikael, 1997, pic on back cover of "The First Snowfall" CD |
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| Mikael, 1997, pic in "The First Snowfall" CD booklet |
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| Gregg Garbach, drums, 1998 |
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| Tim Miller, bass, 1998 |
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| Justin Carder, Guitar, 1998 |
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| this is the pic in the see-thru tray of "Rebellion..." CD'99 |
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| Night Conquers Day 1998 |
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| Mikael, Gregg, Tim, Justin in 1998 |
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| In the old 19th century pioneer cemetery next to Mikael's old house in 1999. |
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| Mikael, 1998 |
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| 1997 pic from "The First Snowfall" photo sessions |
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