Charcoal Hearts – Fifteen Years of Hurt

When you want to know everything about fifteen years of Officium Triste you have to go back in time a few years further. It all started in the early nineties when two brothers, Johan and Martin Kwakernaak, decided to pick up some instruments and start a metal band. Johan chose guitars and Martin bass, later on switching to drums. With some friends, amongst them bass-player Maarten van de Giessen, they formed Reïncremated. When their vocalist left they asked Pim Blankenstein to step in. As a four piece they wrote simple mid-tempo death metal and after a while they decided to look for a second guitarist. This guitarist, Gerard de Jong, was found at a gig in Rotterdam .

As things weren't working out that well musically on a Saturday afternoon in April 1994 the band had a good talk and decided to call it quits, as Reïncremated that is!

Inspired by albums of bands such as Paradise Lost, Anathema, Celestial Season, My Dying Bride and so on, the band decided to start with a new name and a new musical direction; heavy yet melodic doom/death metal. Johan came up with the name Officium Triste.

With this new boost the band immediately started writing new songs and in August 1994 the first demo, simply called “demo ‘94”, was recorded at Elektra in Sliedrecht using two 4-track recorders. This first demo generated quite some interest in Officium Triste and the band got pretty good reviews and even label interest. A new label from Rotterdam showed interest and offered the band a deal for a 7” EP. This label, named Fuck You Records, turned out to be a big joke. Officium Triste booked two days at Excess studio in Rotterdam to record their first 7” in February 1995. The aforementioned label simply didn't do anything with the recordings and after lie upon lie the band finally got their recorded material back and decided to release the EP, “Mountains of Depressiveness” on a label they formed themselves, called Weeping Willow Records. By the time the single was released on 525 red vinyl copies it was 1996. No one ever heard anything from Fuck You Records but the name Officium Triste was spreading.

Dutch label Teutonic Existence Records was quite impressed and offered the band a deal for a full-length album. As Teutonic Existence Records already released some other albums and were serious about their interest, the band accepted. Around this time the first line-up change occurred as Maarten was replaced by Johan Mijnster on bass.

In December 1996 Officium Triste once again entered Excess studios to record their debut full-length “Ne Vivam”. Recording finished in January 1997 and the album was mixed in February. Around April “Ne Vivam” was released and was received really well by the press. The band also had started playing live regularly. One of the first highlights was the support slot they got for Anathema on May 16 th 1997 at the Noorderligt in Tilburg in Holland .

In 1998 the band entered Excess for the third time to record a couple of new songs to be featured on a split MCD with Cold Mourning from California . This MCD was again released on the band's own Weeping Willow Records.

Around this time a compilation album called “New Artists Vol. II” was released by Innocent Record Productions from Rotterdam , featuring a lot of local bands. Officium Triste opened this compilation with the song ‘Dreams Of Sorrow' of the “Ne Vivam” album.

A couple of months later the band decided to call it quits. Main reason for this decision was the irritation between the members due to lack of communication. Johan, Martin and Pim decided to continue along the same line and they baptized their new act 11:59 or XI:LIX. They found a new second guitarist in Johan Tonnon and they wrote a couple of songs fairly quickly. Officium Triste had some leftover material, the song ‘Roses On My Grave' recorded during the split MCD sessions and the Chorus of Ruin cover ‘Headstone', recorded during the “Ne Vivam” sessions . Both songs were put out on CD-r as the band felt it was a shame those recordings would gather dust. When the CD-r's were done, about 7 months after the initial split, the band decided to meet in a pub for old times sake. Soon they realised the decision they made was wrong. Hence a reformation of Officium Triste, this time with 3 guitarists.

As new material was already available, the band decided to record a promo. Before the actual recordings Johan Tonnon left as he didn't feel he fitted in. So the band was back together as a five piece and the “Promo 2000” was recorded by the band themselves in January 2000. Eventually this promo found its way to the Displeased Records office who offered a two album deal. New songs were written and once again the band had a change in the line-up. Bassist Johan Mijnster left and Lawrence Meyer was asked to fill the open position. Although Lawrence hadn't played bass before he knew how to play drums, guitar and keyboard. He used to be in Liar of Golgotha and was working on his own project. Since that didn't work out that well he accepted the position in Officium Triste.

In April 2001 the band entered Valvesound Studios in Schiedam and recorded their second album “The Pathway” there. Being a new studio the band had some problems with the recordings but also the consumption of large amounts of alcoholic beverages didn't do justice to the final result. At the time the recordings were done the band was quite pleased with the result but in hindsight they could have been much better. It's no wonder Valvesound doesn't exist anymore with only one ‘proper' full-length recorded there.

In 2001 Displeased also re-released the “Roses On My Grave” CD-r as a vinyl 7” single. Furthermore the band concentrated on playing live and writing new material.

In 2003 Dutch label Badger Records decided to release Officium's debut “Ne Vivam” on vinyl in 5 different colours.

In 2004 the third full-length “Reason” was recorded in their own El Pato studio . This album was received really well and actually showed the true soul of Officium Triste. Around this time the band also did more gigs abroad.

2005 marked the re-release of the debut “Ne Vivam” on Russia 's Serpent's Lair Productions. This version contained a bonus track of a re-recorded version of ‘Mountains of Depressiveness' of the 1996 7” EP with the same title. In January 2007 the band entered the studio again to record their fourth full-length “Giving Yourself Away”. They once again had signed for two more albums with Displeased Records. This album was received very well by both press and audience when it was released in May 2007. After the album was finished guitarist Johan decided he was going to quit. At a gig in Hoorn Pim met Bram Bijlhout who he knew from his work in the band Imbolc. Mentioning the open spot in Officium Triste was something Bram didn't need to think about. He accepted the offer and made sure he learned his parts in no time. His first big gig was when Officium Triste opened for Candlemass. The first recording with Bram was a cover of Thergothon's ‘Crying Blood and Crimson Snow' for a tribute to this Finnish band. This tribute is due out somewhere in 2009.

The year 2008 marked another change in the line-up. Martin, who was unable to give all that is needed concerning drumming decided to switch to synths exclusively. With Martin living in Germany it was very hard to practice regularly and doing as much gigs as they wanted to. So the decision was made to look for a new drummer and Bram found one. He introduced his former Imbolc bandmate Ronald Lagerwaard, who proved to be a great addition.

Thank you all for the support all these years!!