ARTISTS · APOPHIS

In spring 1989 five German teenagers fromed the band "Raise Hell" being inspired by bands like Destruction, Slayer and early Metallica. The band gained interest from the local press already in the first days of existence. A lot of member changes made the bands musical style change to death metal. As a result the name of the band was changed to APOPHIS. The first stable line-up consisted of Kristian Hahn (vocals), Roger Kirchner (lead guitar), Jörg Barthelt (lead guitar) and Erik Stegmaier (drums) which remained constant for more than ten years except the often changing bass player.
In 1991 the first and only demo tape "Missed Abortion" was recorded. As a special feature the buyer had to colour the cover himself.
In December 1992 the first CD "Gateway to the Underworld" which is still named the most progressive CD of the band was recorded and heavily distributed by Nuclear Blast and SPV. The band kept playing shows for the next years and shared stage with bands like Pungent Stench, Crematory and Fleshcrawl.
After Erik spent one year in America, in 1996 the band recorded the second album "Down in the Valley" which was released by Contraption Records the same year and distributed by Last Episode and IRS.
It was 1997 when the band finally found a home in the German Death Metal label Morbid records. The band went to the Slovakian Exponent Studios to record the third album "Heliopolis". The album was released in 1998 and received very good reviews worldwide. The powerful sound on "Heliopolis" underlined the uniqueness and the quality of the music of APOPHIS.
To push the album the band played a lot the next 2 years, e.g. Summer Breeze 2000 and a tour with Sinister and Disinfect. Meanwhile APOPHIS cancelled the contract with Morbid Records by mutual agreement.
In 2003 the band returned to the Exponent Studios to record the album "I Am Your Blindness" with the line up Roger (guitar, founding member), Erik (drums, founding member), Patrick (bass, ex-Dark Reality), Anton (guitar) and André (vocals). Right afterwards André left the band and Bernd filled in the gap as well as Anton was replaced by Jens on guitars.
In 2005 APOPHIS inked a deal with Supreme Chaos Records to unleash the "I Am Your Blindness" for their fans.