In Age and Sadness biography so far...

It has been almost 3 years now since 2 guys started talking about their musical ambitions, which later resulted into a formation called SOHAITAN. Richard (who at that time had been playing guitar for some years) and Pepijn (doing the grunting part) clearly were into the same kind of music and thought it would be cool to start up a death metal band. All they needed was another guitarist, a drummer and a bass player. A schoolmate of Pepijn who had been playing guitar for several years, was looking for a band to play in. Although he wasn’t really into extreme metal, he accepted the offer to let him play in this not yet completed project. It’s a common known fact that drummers are really hard to find, and it wasn’t very different for this band. A friend of Richard and Pepijn said he would like to join them as a drummer....but he didn’t play any instrument at that time. Nevertheless, they took him into the band and borrowed a drum computer from Roland’s older brother. Although they didn’t have a bassplayer yet, practising begun in Richard’s garage. The garage wasn’t very sound-isolated, so the neighbourhood soon started wondering what was going on next door. Though rehearsing with four members went well, they realised that for playing live a bassplayer was needed. After a few sessions with female bassplayer Barbara, they had to conclude that she didn’t have enough spare time on her agenda to be part of the band. Samuel, who also had played in Richard’s former band “Homicidal Temptations” was found as a reliable musician and completed the formation. At that time the band didn’t really had a name yet, but after discussing a truckload of possible designations, SOHAITAN was considered best in everyone’s opinion.
SOHAITAN was an Eastern-European or Asian god, the god of death, destruction and chaos. As seen this evil god isn’t very well known, there isn’t very much information available. But what we know of this god is that he is often displayed with horns, an axe in one hand, a shield in the other, riding on a black Frysian horse. It wasn’t very odd that this was one of the most feared gods hundreds of years ago. A very suitable name for a death metal band, so they thought...

After almost a year of practising, problems relating to usable space and angry neighbours forced the band to look out for a different rehearsal room. They moved to a place at the edge of town, where no-one could complain about the noise and where there was enough room for all 5 members and their equipment.
In the beginning of 2003 the band recorded a 7-track demo called “Shreds of Darkness”. It was recorded in their own practising space with a 4-channel mixer. Although the sound was dramatic, the demo was a stunning succes in the local scene. It was around that time when they did their first gig. At the highschool Pepijn and Roland attended at the time, they played with an alternative band called VIA. That band had to quit in 2004 and the remaining members formed a new band called “Mood0”. They are still good friends and the bands played together on the FD’03 and FD’04 fest. At the highschool gig video footage was recorded, the one and only video until this day. After the gig SOHAITAN was a settled name in the local scene, for it had never seen a band that extreme.
The second gig was just a few months later, at the local “Flakkeese Dagen” fest. This is an annual 2-day festival where local bands come and play for a relatively large croud. At FD’03, SOHAITAN was the only extreme metal band around and a lot of people were impressed. Little did anyone know or expect that this would be the last SOHAITAN gig ever...

The problems begun when Ivo told the other guys that he was no longer able to keep up with the increasing complexity of the new songs, mainly because he wasn’t really an experienced drummer. Because of the split-up of his former band BLACK FOREST (gothic metal), Niels Jordaan was left without a band. Pepijn asked him if he wanted to do some jamsessions with SOHAITAN, to find out if he liked the band. Niels was quite a bit more experienced, his addition to the band would later prove to be a good decision for the band’s progress. With the luxury of having Niels as drummer, SOHAITAN got an energy boost and instantly sounded a lot more bombastic and professional. But the problems weren’t over yet. Samuel now and then missed a weekly rehearsal and didn’t contribute to the rent for the practising space. The guys felt that he wasn’t really into the band anymore and saw no other option besides kicking him out. Pepijn, who also had a tiny bit of guitar experience, bought a bassguitar and an amp and from then on combined bass and vocals.
With the lineup dramatically changed, as well as the general idea behind the music, the members didn’t feel comfortable with the name SOHAITAN anymore. The new material also differed a lot from the old songs. They went from Six Feet Under-like old school death metal to more progressive death/doom metal which reminds most listeners of Opeth and My Dying Bride. After a while Niels came up with a new, more appropriate name: IN AGE AND SADNESS. Although 3 of the 4 members came from the original band, they saw the new formation as a new band. This was the silent death of SOHAITAN...

After a few months of weekly rehearsal sessions with Niels, the band sounded like they never had before. A new song was written in the meantime, which was a good concept of how IN AGE AND SADNESS music would sound like from now on. They did a gig as a try-out for the new line-up, which went quite well. The future did look pretty bright at that time, but then in July of 2003 disaster struck... Niels had not been feeling so well for a couple of weeks and decided to visit a doctor for advise. The news he recieved was devastating, as Niels was confronted with the horrible reality of cancer. The band found out via ex-drummer Ivo (a close friend of Niels and also the boyriend of Niels’ sister), who came report the news during one of the weekly rehearsal sessions (the band had been practising without Niels since a few weeks now). Things went awfully quiet there for the rest of the evening.
Everyone was in some sort of shock and there wasn’t going to be any reheasing activities for the next couple of weeks. The only thing all the other members could think of was Niels, also the big question was wether IN AGE AND SADNESS could or should live on after this incident. As Niels found out more about his disease, he contacted the other members and told them his future wasn’t so sure anymore. The local scene was seriously saddened when they took notice of the news and gave their best wishes and support.
After a while Niels got treatment and cures, he had to visit the hospital several times a week and sometimes had to stay there for a couple of days. He decided to cut his hair, before the cures would do that for him. His physical condition was fluctuating, mostly he had to stay indoor. The other members visited him now and then, when Niels was able to cope with it.
After a lot of discussions the remaining members decided not to quit. With the band left without a drummer during Niels’ abscense (at least for that moment), they started writing new material instead. One whole new song was written, other concepts were made. All without drummer co-operation. A guest-drummer was invited to do some practising, but the band never intended to replace Niels. Niels’ importance was felt during his abscense.

Then at the end of 2003, Niels was recovering from the cures and starting to feel better and better. This ofcourse being a huge relief for his loved ones and the other bandmembers! Niels slowly started to practice drumming and after a while he was around his old level again. This wasn’t just a new start for Niels, but also for IN AGE AND SADNESS. Already on the first rehearsal session since his return, Niels played the new song written during his abscense flawlessly.
Other songs were completed and a new setlist was made. Four songs with a total running time of around 25 minutes were chosen to be on the new demo, which they started recording in February. With the help of Arwin Troost (BLACK HORIZON, BUITEN ADEM) they got a 16-channel mixer and recording mics. Arwin also helped tuning the sound and setting everything up. He could be seen as the producer of “Tragedy of the Commons”, as the demo was designated later on. The demo was released on Februay 25, 2004 and was recieved quite positively by the media. The demo has been reviewed on dozens of websites all around the globe, also Dutch metal magazine Aardschok placed one in their December issue of 2004.
The first try-out was a gig in Krimpen a/d IJssel, which went pretty well. The band started doing gigs again, including the 2004 edition of the Flakkeese Dagen fest.


With the increasing amount of gigs, reviews and newspostings, IN AGE AND SADNESS is becoming a familiar name within the underground scene. New material has been written over the past half year and the band is currently in the studio recording their first full-length. The future looks bright at this point, but as we have learned in the past; that is never a free ticket to succes...

December 2004