7 years ago: “Night Sky Transform” was released!
Greetings,
we would like to take a moment to celebrate with you the 7th anniversary of our debut album “Night Sky Transform” by sharing a few memories and some possibly not-so-well-known facts!
The recording
Released on the 20th of August 2012 on vinyl format via 7 Degrees Records and two days later digitally, its recording sessions took place in Autumn 2010 at Northside Studio with our friend Miltos Schimatariotis who has also performed the electronic parts (he came back on that role recently for our forthcoming fourth album!) and mixed/mastered the whole thing over the next season until the summer of 2011.
It was an important milestone for the band since “Axiom”‘s recording has been quick and dirty – as it was originally destined to be a demo.
Choosing Northside Studio was a no-brainer as Miltos is a childhood friend of our guitarist Thanos and the studio’s location was extremely convenient as it was a couple of minutes’ drive from Thanos’ residence of the time, therefore making it easy to transport equipment.
The studio’s location in a calm, remote, almost countryside-like suburb and its cozy facilities were perfect conditions in order to focus on the recording and be in a stress-free state of mind.
Nikos trying out the kit at Northside Studio before recording the drums for “Night Sky Transform”
The line-up
The band line-up at the time was:
— Nikos Megariotis – drums
— Thanos Mantas – guitars, bass, music, vocals on “The Fermi Paradox”
— Panos Agoros – vocals, lyrics
Sadly this was the last recording featuring Nikos on drums, as around 2012/2013 he sustained a hand injury forcing him to stop playing.
Nikos’ drumming is one of the highlights of the recording and possibly his best performance to date (check also out his playing and screaming at INJEKTING KHAOS self-titled MLP – full disclosure: it’s been co-released by my record label).
His style was very personal: instinctive, chaotic and passionate. Listening back to the tracks after all those years we still don’t know exactly what he played at some parts!
DEPHOSPHORUS circa “Night Sky Transform”. L to R: Thanos Mantas, Panos Agoros, Nikos Megariotis. June 2012 photo shoot at Mount Pentelikon by Konstantinos @ Viral Graphics.
A special guest
We were also extremely excited to have a very special guest on this one, as our friend Ryan Lipynsky (Unearthly Trance, The Howling Wind, ex-Thralldom, etc) has written the lyrics of “Unconscious Excursion (The Hidden Galactic Truth And A Sphere Full Of Sorcerous Solutions)”, as well as recorded the vokills and a stellar guitar solo at his compound in New York circa February 2011!
It was a real pleasure and a great honor as we’ve been longtime fans of him/his bands (by that time I had already named my cat Ryan!) and the song’s music -composed by Thanos- has a very distinct Unearthly Trance/Thralldom vibe. All hails Ryan!
The full session
As some of you may not know, the N.S.T. recording sessions have produced a total of 14 songs: the album’s 10 songs plus the 3 songs of the split-7″EP with WAKE (Canada) on 7 Degrees Records, as well as “Stargazing & Violence” from the split-7″EP with GREAT FALLS (U.S.A.) – the latter has been released as part of the excellent Hell Comes Home 7″ boxset but also available standalone.
The two split-7″EP’s have been released respectively on April and June 2012 and have helped pave the way for the album’s more refined approach compared to “Axiom” mini-LP‘s rougher sound.
The way that the split 7″EP’s happened is that first of all, WAKE were label mates at 7DR and as we were already in touch.
Packaging of the WAKE/DEPHOSPHORUS split-7″EP out on 7 Degrees Records
Concerning our participation to the Hell Comes Hole vol.1 series, my brother Roderic Mounir from Knut after listening and digging “Axiom”, put us in touch with a Swiss compatriot of his who relocated in Ireland and was about to start a record label. Enter Joel with whom we are still in touch and fans of his work with Hell Comes Home.
When we were about to be matched with another participating band in order to share a 7″EP, we instantly picked GREAT FALLS as we loved their music as well as being huge PLAYING ENEMY fans – the highly influential previous band of guitarist/vocalist Demian Johnston and bassist Shane Mehling. The guys also accepted to be matched with us making this thing happen.
Packaging of the GREAT FALLS/DEPHOSPHORUS split-7″EP, part of Hell Comes Home vol.1 series
The promo-CD-R’s that we’ve mailed to labels featured a pro-printed booklet and the following tracklisting of the complete session:
- Uncharted
- Cold Omen
- Starless
- Night Sky Transform
- The Fermi Paradox
- The Astral Putsch I
- Identifying The Encapsulator
- The Astral Putsch II
- Stargazing & Violence
- Unconscious Excursion
- Aurora
- Unit
- The Final Computronium
- The Cosmologist
The artwork
“Night Sky Transform” cover artwork by Viral Graphics
The task of designing the album’s artwork and layout has once again been assigned to Konstantinos Psichas from our comrades Viral Graphics who at the time had already helped shape the band aesthetics with the band logo, “Axiom”‘s artwork/layout and the split-7″ with Wake.
The cover artwork’s central concept – a figure hanging headfirst above the cosmic abyss – is based on an old mental image of mine that I used to invoke during my formative years as a student in Paris in the early-mid 90’s. The same concept has also inspired a few years later “Above The Threshold”‘s lyrics, the opening track of our latest album “Impossible Orbits” (“Hanged upside down, Suspended from the limbs, above the threshold, bottomless chasm, separating dimensions”…).
The scene continues inside the gatefold where the figure after plunging into the abyss has started its voyage.
“Night Sky Transform” inner gatefold design by Viral Graphics
Concerning the physical release, we have continued our flawless collaboration with 7 Degrees Records who have spared no effort in order to produce a highly collectable and enjoyable vinyl record.
“Night Sky Transform” sigil designed by Viral Graphics
— The gatefold vinyl jacket was printed on high quality, sturdy paper (not the kind that’s easily torn into seam splits).
— We’ve had for the first time a 180g pressing for heavy duty spinning!
— Except an insert with the lyrics, the whole package included a poster with the “Skull” design (also printed as a t-shirt for the album release and relevant TS/vinyl bundles), as well as a download code. Concerning the latter and as the code redeeming URL is no longer valid, you may contact us for a replacement bandcamp code.
“Night Sky Transform” LP packaging
The artefacts
The record availability status for all you collectors out there is that all 3 vinyls spanning the N.S.T. recording session are still available either directly from us or via 7 Degrees Records.
- Panos/Dephosphorus, Athens 22/8/2019
DEPHOSPHORUS 
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