Italian experimental metal act Ephel Duath split up yesterday, with mastermind Davide Tiso releasing the following statement via Facebook after nearly 8 months of inactivity following a seemingly prosperous time for the band in late 2013/early 2014:
“I decided that it’s time to put Ephel Duath to rest.
“This beautiful beast has been my life companion for a very long time, I cannot see it struggling any longer and I decided to kill it myself. This post is a way to make peace with the idea itself and, I guess, a way to keep you part of this.
“For many years I felt conflicted with the idea of sharing Ephel Duath’s music with its small public, now it’s time to let go. Ephel Duath changed shape and color many times, crossing different genres and musical styles, toward the end though, it started looking too much like me and I didn’t feel like giving it to you any longer. This is the reason why this has to end, because this band mattered so much to me that I didn’t get any joy in letting it be heard and dissected by you any longer.
“As I’ve never really found a comfortable place for myself in this society, my music has always experienced the same problem. Ephel Duath never quite reached a large public and it never really exploited its potential. I suffered for that but what I know is that I’ve tried my very best to make this band work and I stand behind every record we released.
“When I started Ephel Duath I was young, naive and tremendously ambitious. Now I’m 16 years older, and still naive enough to think that songs have their own souls, I just poured too much of my own in them, and it has been brutal to let them go. A part of me was let go. A big chunk. In the end, I’m not sure it was worth it.
“I’ve a gift that I cherish deeply, I can talk through my guitar. It’s easy for me to distill my feelings through riffs and everything I say that way has more weight and impact than my own words. In order to keep honoring that in the future, Ephel Duath needs to die today and so it will be.
“Thanks for reading, I could do a long list of thanks but I choose not, now it’s my time to be ungrateful.”
The full statement is copied exactly, because the context is very important. It’s a shame, because Ephel Duath were an interesting and unique band, but it’s clear that Tiso was feeling disillusioned by the niche appeal of something that he was so obviously invested in, and was becoming too invested in music that was deeply personal. He strikes me as a particular kind of creative type, so it’s sad to see someone who is very much a free artistic spirit say that they’re not sure a 16-year career was worth it. The band released six studio albums since their formation in 2000, with their most recent being Hemmed By Light, Shaped By Darkness in 2013. We’re interested to see what Tiso comes up with next; hopefully his passion for making music will translate to a bigger audience in the future.
