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AGE OF NEMESIS is a Hungarian
progressive rock-metal band
that formed as NEMESIS in the summer of 1997.
The band's founding members were:
Zoltán Fábián
- guitars
György
Nagy - keyboards
Ákos Thorday (R.I.P.) -
vocal
György Pethe
- bass
Mihály Szerecsen - drum

ZoltánFábián
/ GyörgyPethe / Mihály Szerecsen
György Nagy / ÁkosThorday
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Five musicians decided that they were going
to explore their own path in the music labyrinth of the world.
They focused their attention on ensuring that their music express
only their own emotions and moods. They didn't want their creative
process to be influenced by day-to-day trends in popular music.
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They
released their self-titled debut album themselves in 1998. In
1999 they signed a recording contract with GU^LA Records Ltd.
Their second album "Abraxas" was released that same
year. By the time the 1999 Hungarian 'Progfest' club tour
came around, NEMESIS was already one of the headline bands. |
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In
1999 they signed a recording contract with GU^LA Records Ltd.
Their second album "Abraxas" was released that same
year. One of the interesting features of the album is that it
contains a series of six related, yet individual tracks, comprising
over 30 minutes in all: a concept work titled "Psychogeist",
based on a psycho-thriller story. |
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NEMESIS
was also very well received as support band at King's
X's Budapest concert. By the time the 1999 Hungarian
'Progfest' club tour came around, NEMESIS
was already one of the headline bands. From the autumn
of 1999 to the end of 2000 they played three national tours
along with other well-known Hungarian bands. Differences of
opinion in personal and musical views caused the original line-up
to split by mutual agreement on December 16, 2000. |
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The
name 'NEMESIS' was retained by the band's principal songwriters:
guitarist Zoltán Fábián, and keyboard player György Nagy. Lajos
Gulyás, the band's manager (who firmly believed in the
band and had been its devout helper since the release of their
first album) helped Zoltán and György in re-forming NEMESIS.
As a result of their steadfast work, on February 24, 2001, the
band was reborn with three new members.
The new line-up reads as follows: |
Nemesis' II.lineup (from
left to right)
László Nagy, Zoltán Kiss, Csaba Berczelly,
Zoltán Fábián, György Nagy |
Peter Linka |
Csaba Berczelly had played for years with Zoltán Fábián and
György Nagy in a band called Jericho and later in a group
called Wellington. Vocalist Zoltán Kiss worked with Belfegor
and later Classica. László Nagy is a truly versatile drummer
who's at home in all musical fields. He's played in many types
of bands from traditional-rock to folk-rock, and everything
in between. NEMESIS' previous two Hungarian albums are available
in many countries outside Hungary through Periferic Records.
However, in April 2001, the new line-up moved into a studio
to re-record English versions of the band's two previously
released Hungarian albums. Australian Peter
Linka translated the Hungarian lyrics into English
and worked closely with the band on the English recordings.
Since the band's line-up had radically changed with the new
formation, both the vocals and the music were re-recorded
and re-mixed for the English versions.
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NEMESIS
wanted to get their English recordings known and recognized
outside Hungary, so they produced a Promotional CD titled "For
Promotional Use Only", which they sent to over 80
record companies and music magazines world-wide.
The new line-up first performed together live, very successfully,
in May 2001 at the second Hungarian 'Progfest'. During the summer,
they appeared at various festivals throughout Hungary (i.e.
Pepsi Island... etc.).In the meantime, the new line-up has begun
its own creative process.They are preparing an instrumental
album. This is being perceived as a project-band, and the album
will be released under the band name GODDESS NEMESIS, in reference
to the core-band. |
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The Promotional CD lead to a contract with
the U.S. based The Laser's
Edge label. Nemesis' first English album " Eden?"
was released on September 3, 2002 in over 16 countries worldwide.
According to the plan their second English album "Psychogeist"
is due for release in March 2003. |
Another result of the Promotional CD: Nemesis'
"Eye of the snake" was included as the 13th track
on a CD of unsigned metal bands in Rock Hard, Germany's biggest
selling metal magazine. Based on that track, readers
of Rock Hard chose Nemesis as the best unsigned band of 2001
from among about 26 bands in all. This recognition came
with a prize of free studio time in the Woodhouse
studios in Hagen, Germany. The band recorded two covers
there: Queensryche's "Mission" and Rainbow's "Gates
of Babylon". They were produced by Siggi Bemm, a big name
in the international metal world. . In the future, Siggi and
the Woodhouse crew are going to help promote Nemesis in Germany. |
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In
December 2002, the new lineup's first album
"Terra Incognita"
was released in Hungarian. This is a 67 minute concept album,
based on a single story. The band has also recorded an English
version of this album, which has not yet been released. |
Nemesis's next project will be an instrumental album titled.
They finished a 10 track demo recording with the title: "Abnormal
Smile". Zoltán Fábián Nemesis' guitarist
and principal songwriter has begun writing his first solo
album. This will be a guitar-oriented instrumental CD.
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In
the interest of finding a new label, management is putting together
another promo package comprising of material from the English
version of Terra Incognita, the instrumental demo, and Fábi’s
solo material. It will be a multimedia DVD-ROM which, apart
from the above mentioned material, will also contain 2 video
clips, photos, and some special oddities and rarities. |
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In
October 2003, Nemesis played a successful concert as a guest of
the Swedish band The
Flower Kings. |
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On
January 15, 2004, Csaba Berczelly announced that he will be leaving
the band... but he will play all previously booked gigs. |
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After
the auditions, the band decided that Gábor
Krecsmarik will be their new bass guitarist.
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On March
7, 2004, Nemesis’ third lineup came into being:
The actual lineup from left to
right:
György
Nagy, ZoltánFábián, László Nagy, Zoltán Kiss, Gábor Krecsmarik |
Apart
from rehearsals with Gábor, the spring-summer of 2004 saw the
band playing many concerts. Nemesis performed at Progfeszt in
Pécs after Devon Graves,
before Judas Priest at
the Summer Rocks Festival, and also before Queensryche.
Meanwhile, recording of the instrumental project has begun. |
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'The
Goddess Nemesis Project', is the band’s instrumental project of
2004. Recording of the album should be complete by the eng of
Autumn. Many guest artist will perform on the album:
Ildikó Györei
- Violin
Keiko Kumagai (ARS
NOVA) - Keyboards
Chris Brooks
(Mark Boals Band) - Guitar
János Péter
(Shannon.hu) - Flute
Sándor Szabó
- Acoustic Guitar
István Alapi
(Jeff Porcaro Band, Edda) - Guitar
Zsolt Nagy
(Special Guest, Varga János Band) - Keyboards
Szabolcs Mátyás
(Hot Shot) – Guitar |
After
work on the instrumental project is complete, the band will
commence writing its next album which will not be a concept
album. |
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Nemesis got to know
Lajos Gulyás who previously managed a heavy metal band
called Falanx, when thye were working on their 1st album in
the studio. Lajos and the members of Nemesis soon decided
to join forces in an effort to make the name NEMESIS better
known.The release and distribution of their first Hungarian
album "Nemesis" (1998) was organized by Lajos. The
local media soon took notice of the band and Nemesis became
increasingly well known and recognized throughout their native
Hungary. Two national tours brought about the recognition
of both the music profession and the public alike. In the
summer of 1999, Nemesis recorded their second Hungarian album
"Abraxas", which was released and distributed in
Hungary by Lajos Gulyás' own label, Gu^La Records. The profession
and the public applauded the new album, which the band played
to their growing following on a new concert tour. The recognition
gained as a result of their concerts raised Nemesis to one
of Hungary's headliner progressive metal bands. On December
16, 2000, changes in the band's line-up temporarily halted
Nemesis' momentum.However, on February 24, 2001, the band
took off again and set themselves far bolder aims than ever
before: they decided to work on developing their international
connections in an endeavor to become better known. In April
that year, they re-recorded the music of their first two albums,
and the new singer sung the vocals in English. Seven of these
tracks were compiled onto a Promotional
CD which the band and its management used to find an
international label and distributor.
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The members of Nemesis and their manager
Lajos Gulyás singed a long term contract of co-operation.
GU^LA Records Ltd. became
the official publisher of all Nemesis' music, and in March
2001, Zoltán Fábián
took over as head of the company. The Promotional CD lead
to the signing of a license agreement with the U.S. based
Sensory
label in March 2002. Nemesis' first English album "Eden?"
was released in September 2002 in over 16 countries worldwide.
Nemesis’ second English album "Psychogeist"
has not been released to date...
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Things didn’t move forward with The Laser's Edge label,
because they didn’t release Nemesis’ “Psychogeist”
album. Management broke off the contract and started a new promotional
campaign. NEMESIS made a promotional
DVD-ROM, which contained all information about the band,
tracks from the unreleased albums, videos and many more tidbits.
This time, Lajos Gulyas sent this material to management companies
and labels as well. However, nothing worthwhile happened. Hence
management decided to make a promotion package and continue
the promotion work. Apart from the DVD-ROM, this package contained
a four track compilation promo CD from the instrumental album
called “the Play is the
thing…” and another 12 song compilation CD,
with tracks from the unreleased albums, and 2 cover songs as
well. This was the “Synopsis”
compilation CD. Printed versions of the the band's biography
and discography were also enclosed. Of course, management created
websites for both compilation CD’s which could be visited
by those persons only who were interested. Management entered
into relations with VENETOWEST,
an American promotion agency. 50 promotion packs were delivered
to MIDEM in France through
this agency. At MIDEM, VENETOWEST forwarded these packages to
the labels who work bands with similar genre like Nemesis’.
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Results
of this promotion were 5 concrete contract proposals. In August
of 2005, after judicial debates with the Hungarian copyright agency
the band’s name was changed to
AGE OF NEMESIS. After this, management signed a license
contract with the American MAGNA CARTA
label for the unreleased English albums. |
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