Cape Town’s industrial dark rock/metal quartet of Terminatryx celebrates the worldwide release today of their Lucky 13: Anthology I on this suitably spooky Friday the 13th, November 2015. The 13 track digital collection celebrates the band’s 13th anniversary and includes tracks from across all albums including the self-titled Terminatryx debut of 2008, Remyx v1.0 from 2011, and Shadow from 2014. This first Terminatryx collection is being released by Fangoria Musick – the digital audio imprint of the world’s foremost name in Horror since 1979 (visit the Fangoria announcement here). The band founders had this to say:
“In the mid-‘90s I spent several years in Europe with my band V.O.D (Voice Of Destruction), playing drums – here we recorded for our German label and did a full tour with Katatonia and In The Woods supporting our Bloedrivier album. We were quite saturated and I was relieved to return home. During my first year back I spent time having fun with a solo project F8, using a bass guitar I bought in the UK.
I had no serious plans to start another band. But after meeting Sonja at Oppikoppi Trek 2000, within a year or two she indicated she wanted to do something band-wise; something SA music never really had; an electronic / hardcore blend with female vocals. I constructed some songs and approached it all as just some fun with my new girlfriend. Never did I expect us to reach thirteen years, outlive dozens of bands, release 3 albums, open for Ministry or win international music video awards! Time surely flies when you’re having fun!” ~ Paul Blom (writer/instrumentalist/backing vocals, Terminatryx)
“In thirteen years of being a member of Terminatryx there are a few things I know for certain. Nothing happens without sacrifice, sometimes even hard work is not enough and there will always be those that love you and those that hate you. If you manage to keep your head, take on good sincere criticism and ignore the rest, the experience can be amazing. The last thirteen years have been a period of learning and developing. More than anything else it has been a period of playing and creating, having fun and most of all making friends and building relationships. Out of Terminatryx came our Makabra Ensemble project and my A Murder acoustic project. Life, for me, would have been so dull without Terminatryx and here is hoping for many more years with great songs and killer music videos.” ~ Sonja Ruppersberg-Blom (writer/vocals, Terminatryx)
Images by: Dr Benway. Left to right: Sonja, Paul, Ronnie, Patrick
Long-standing band members also had some words to share, marking the momentous milestone:
“There are many things that I can say about the past thirtten years with Terminatryx. Being part of such an amazing band has challenged me in numerous ways, always with a positive outcome. For instance, drumming for Terminatryx is a ‘one of a kind’ job, with many technical aspects to consider such as in-ear monitoring when we perform live. This can be very demanding, as I have to keep constant focus – if I skip a beat, or go out of sync with the programmed backing elements, everything will fall apart. Luckily I have undertaken this challenge with a very disciplined approach, which has pushed me to become a much better drummer and musician. Feel free to buy me a tequila after a performance, not before! All the work that we have put in thus far has certainly paid off and we have an amazing team of people that we work with; from photographers, film-makers, sound engineers, designers, etc. I believe that we owe a majority of our success to these individuals that have given us their time and knowledge. I am also very fortunate to have such amazing band-members; Paul and Sonja certainly know how to spoil Patrick and I, and we are lucky to have them at the helm. I am very proud to form part of the Terminatryx machine and look forward to the next thirteen years!” ~ Ronnie Belcher (drums, Terminatryx)
“When I was approached to join Terminatryx as a performing guitarist in 2007, all I was thinking was that it would be an excellent opportunity to grow musically, and become better educated in the industry for a couple of years before the thing fell apart as most bands do. It has been both of those and so much more, minus the falling apart, amazingly. I had no long term plans or ambitions with the band, yet I find myself still here… despite even announcing my resignation in 2012. Funny how that worked out! These people are just too magnetic. Paul and Sonja’s devotion to each other spills over into their band as well, and obviously touches those who are attached to it. In that regard, my education continues still, but it’s become about more than just the industry; but about something far more important – people.” ~ Patrick Davidson (guitar, Terminatryx)
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