About Diabolique

Diabolique

Diabolique were formed out of the ashes of Liers in Wait in early 1995, when the two guitarists Kristian Wahlin and Johan Osterberg started working on songs and concept for a new band. The name was derived from the classical french horror movie, "Diabolique/Les Diaboliques" (1955). Needless to say, in the beginning Diabolique primarily drew their influences from horror movie soundtracks, but also from bands such as Black Sabbath, St Vitus, Neurosis, Swans, The Sisters of Mercy and Fields of the Nephilim. The early material was defined by the dense monotonous mass of eerie melodies that comprised a background to Kristian Wåhlin's deep, haunting voice. After a number of different drummers and bass players - including Daniel Erlandsson (drums, now Arch Enemy) and Alf Svensson (bass, ex-At the Gates ) - Hans Nilsson (drums) and Bino (bass) joined in May/June 1996 thus completing the most prolific Diabolique line-up to date.

In July '96 the band entered Los Angered Recordings, Gothenburg, in order to lay down 5 tracks for promotional purposes. This recording scored them the deal with Black Sun Records, and was also released as a mini-CD on the French Listenable Records under the title "The Diabolique" 2 years later. The fall of '96 was spent rehearsing for the recording of the debut album, "Wedding the Grotesque". On January 2nd '97 the sessions started at Berno Studios, Malmö. 9 Songs were recorded, including stand out tracks such as "Blood of Summer", "The Unchaste Bittersweet" and "Sorrows Piercing Art". "Wedding the Grotesque" was released in June '97. The response was not quite as good as expected, but the album sold very well.

During the last months of '97 the band went into an intense songwriting period. Out of approximately 25 songs, 11 were picked out for the recording of the second album. Since Wedding the Grotesque was compiled of mostly very old songs, some of them dating as far as back as the early '90s, the difference between old and new material became more than evident on 1998s The Black Flower. An album exploding with passionate, driving and intense gothic rock, 80s melancholia blended with 60s psychedelia and 70s type arrangements. Not unlike bands such as The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Sisters of Mercy, Cocteau Twins and Depeche Mode. "The Black Flower" has the energy, drive and conviction as that of a debut album. It shows a band that needs to prove themselves to the world. The album received excellent response, but unfortunately Black Sun had a distribution problem at the time of release. Consequently, "The Black Flower" never got any proper distribution whatsoever. In January of '99 the deal with Black Sun expired.

However, the band kept rehearsing and working on new material, and in April of 1999, they decided to go with Necropolis Recordsout of Fremont, CA. The deal with Necropolis was only to be signed given the condition that the band would be granted enough studio time to record both a new full length and a mini album at the same time. The label obliged, and in June of 1999 Diabolique entered Berno Studios once again. This time with the purpose to lay down 18 new songs. In the end these sessions would result in the "Butterflies" ep as well as the album"The Green Goddess".

After the mixing of "The Green Goddess" was done in November of 1999 the band immediately started writing new songs.

Due to the huge amount of material being written the band decided the right thing would be to record two albums. In June 2000 the band hit the studio again to record 22 songs. This project dragged for some time and after a couple of weeks of recording during the summer and autumn of 2000 the rest of the work was postponed to 2001. Even though a rough mix was made in September 2001 the recording was never properly finished. This was what effectively killed the band at this point and led to a break on an indefinite basis.

However, the band never officially broke up, and have actually more or less been keeping active during the past years. There have also been serious discussions regarding the finishing of the last studio recording.

At the present (November 2007) Kristian and Johan are in the process of writing material for a new Diabolique album to be recorded during 2008.

The Albums

"The Diabolique"

Recorded at Los Angered Recordings, Gothenburg July 1996
Released on Listenable Records in May 1998 Tracklisting: Stealing the Fire from Heaven, Blood of Summer, Beggar whipped in Wine, Sorrows piercing Art, Deep Shame of God

This is the first recording of Diabolique, intended for promotional purposes. The 5 songs featured are among the first ones ever written by the band, with some material even dating as far back as 1993. Consequently the songwriting is still very raw and unsharpened, the songs are long and production is quite messy. The mixing of this recording was delayed and eventually coincided with the mixing sessions of "Wedding the Grotesque". For this reason the mixing was handled by Hans and Bino, together with the producer Andy LaRoque.

"Wedding The Grotesque"

Recorded at Berno Studios, Limhamn January-February 1997
Released on Black Sun Records in May 1997 Tracklisting: Dark Man, Shaven Angel Forms, Blood of Summer, Sacrificial Highway, The Unchaste Bittersweet, Sorrows piercing Art, The smiling Black, Beggar whipped in Wine, The Diabolique

The first full length was recorded in Berno Studios during the winter of 1997. This album showed a major improvement over the demo primarily in terms of production and songwriting.

"The Black Flower"

Recorded at Berno Studios, Limhamn April-May 1998
Released on Black Sun Records in February 1999 Tracklisting: Catholic, Dark Rivers of the Heart, Absinthe, And deepest Sadness, Yesmine, Eternal Summer, Cannula, Morphine, A golden Girl from Somewhere, Silver, Play in the Dark

The sophomore effort is the album that truly defines the Diabolique sound, and marks a huge improvement over the previous releases. Probably the best known Diabolique album to date.

"Butterflies"

Recorded at Berno Studios, Limhamn June 1999
Released on Necropolis Records in May 2000 Tracklisting: Rain, Losing You, Butterflies , Stolen Moments, Summer of her Heart, Beneath the Shade

The bands second ep is a 6-track affair continuing in the same style as "The Black Flower" but with a cleaner production. Recorded during the "The Green Goddess" sessions, this mini album contains a majority the songs written straight after "The Black Flower".
This release got a great review in the well known american magazine Playboy...

"The Green Goddess"

Recorded at Berno Studios, Limhamn during June-November 1999
Released on Necropolis Records in 2001, Orion Music in 2002 Tracklisting: On through the Night, Remedy, Innuendo, White Nights/blue Lights, Models, Winterblue, Elysee, All for You, Snowblind, Substancer

Originally intended to go under the title "The Last Song" this is indeed the last Diabolique release up to date.

"The Red River Sessions"

Recorded at Berno Studios, Limhamn during June-November 2000, September 2001
Unreleased
Tracklisting (select): Coal of December, Valium, Inseparable, Light of Day, Thorns that bind Us, Solar Fire, Burn Daylight, Codeine

The last proper studio recording of Diabolique, featuring no less than 22 songs. Originally intended to be released as two separate albums. However, due to the massive workload represented by over 20 songs the recordings never quite came to a satisfactory result. During a couple of weeks in September 2001 the last vocal tracks were laid down and a rough mix was made, but the outcome was still not even close to making it to a final release. Musically the recording marks a return to a sound that lies somewhere inbetween "The Black Flower" and "Butterflies". This recording will be properly mixed and released someday...

"The Black Sun Collection: Wedding The Grotesque/The Black Flower"

Recorded at Berno Studios, Limhamn January-February 1997 & April-May 1998 Released on Blackened Records in March 2005 Tracklisting Disc 1: Dark Man, Shaven Angel Forms, Blood of Summer, Sacrificial Highway, The Unchaste Bittersweet, Sorrows piercing Art, The smiling Black, Beggar whipped in Wine, The Diabolique Tracklisting Disc 2: Catholic, Dark Rivers of the Heart, Absinthe, And deepest Sadness, Yesmine, Eternal Summer, Cannula, Morphine, A golden Girl from Somewhere, Silver, Play in the Dark

A double cd-release featuring both "Wedding The Grotesque" and "The Black Flower". The release is a result of the british label Blackened buying the rights to the whole Black Sun catalogue.