Primordial Black Metal / Co. Dublin

1997 – If one productive thing came from 1997 it was the long overdue exit of the malignant cancer within the band, i.e. the drummer. For various legal reasons and much wrangling Cacophonous released into the arms of those sapphic splendours… Misanthropy Records. An album seemed a long way off when we inked some sort of deal so we recorded in about six hours a version of “To Enter Pagan” from our demo for a split 10″ with Katatonia from Sweden. The recording proved somewhat of an abortion and also marked the last appearance of the drummer. Now we were drummerless, however a guy who I had known since 1989 who I had linked up with Geasa sprung to mind, it seemed at the time we didn’t really have a choice. With pressure from Misanthropy looming and some shows with the reformed Mayhem in the UK looming that Winter, in September Simon O’Laoghaire joined the band on the drums. And these very Mayhem gigs marked the appearance guesting on the bass of our now new second guitar player Fergal from Arcane Sun. The gig turned out ok, what surrounded them was indeed a nightmare what with our new drummer doing his best Shane McGowan impression and all manner of other things. 1997 finished with the knowledge that in February of the following year we were going to record our second album in Academy studios in Yorkshire… we also knew we weren’t prepared! An understatement!

1998 – Looking back “Journeys End” was and is a very dark album, obscure and obtuse in many ways and somewhat hesitant in affirming any uplifting qualities. In retrospect I think the previous two years of bitterness and frustration helped mould the sound. Yet once it was recorded it was like a weight from around our necks, with relationships improving and a unified focus becoming apparent we could move on ahead. My biggest regret at this time is the changing of the cover from the one on the promo of the CD or on the now vinyl to the brown non-descript album cover… basically we were blackmailed, Tiziana hated it and wanted it changed, yet it was advertised in many places with the other cover, bullshit of course. Needless to say the album was released to critical acclaim but due to that change and the impaired German distribution it remained that, a critics choice. However what had one time seemed impossible, i.e recording a new album had been achieved, we could move onward and upward. It was becoming clear that things were not as they had been at Misanthropy Records and before the years end it became clear that we were going to have to move on and find a new label. Misanthropy was ceasing operations, Tiziana tired of the music industry in all it’s forms basically wanted out and rather than flog a dead horse she decided to end it all, a decision I still totally respect. It was at this time that our ill fated tour with Menhir from Germany and Thyrfing from Sweden was falling apart… it in fact never did happen, but Mr. Guido from Hammerheart was first to offer the band a contract upon discovering Misanthropy was to end, we decided as we knew him from the old Bifrost underground days and looking at Hammerheart as a fast growing company to go with them… so I booked the studio for March 1999, we were going to record a new long mini-CD… force ourselves to work with deadlines and prove to some people, most of all ourselves that we were not going to disappear without trace again…