| aïboforcen, the full story .... ::- Benoît BLANCHART (music, synths, sampling) and Séba DOLIMONT (lyrics, vocals, sampling) started their first sonic experimentations in 1993 in Charleroi, Belgium. After a first demo tape "Black Slang" and various compilation appearances, the duo signed to Celtic Circle Productions who released their debut album "Elixir Lytique" (lethal elixir). A rather dark electronic album revealing already a very diversified and open-minded approach of music and vocals. Lyrically, the album dealt with mostly negative aspects of life. It's a kind of approach towards a scary and exciting phenomenon: Death... They placed the lethal aspect in various contexts according to what they see, hear, read, feel and experience. And the famous French artist Françoise Duvivier gave a perfect visual interpretation of their world through her highly expressive collages that have been represented on the booklet of the album. The debut album was co-produced by Peter J. from PAGE 12 and aïboforcen also collaborated on that first album with Sabotage?, Pierrepoint and Ionic Vision for guest vocals, remixes and co-production. ::- Several months later, the band's sound and image had evolved so much that aïboforcen released several new tracks next to a bunch of remixes of their best tracks off the previous album by artists like Leaether Strip, Regenerator, Xingu Hill, VNV Nation, New Mind, Fiction 8 or yet Neuroactive, plus a guest vocal appearance of PSYCHE for the dance remix of the track "The Dying Rose" that was also shot on video. "Face (of) Death" revealed a much more dancefloor oriented and synthetic music approach with a larger place given to the male & female vocal duality featuring Anne-Laure H. as 3rd member of the band. "Ghost Of My Life" and "The Shepherd's Deathline" became club hits in Europe and America and brought the band to perform here and there in Belgium, France and Germany. ::- Conceptually, "Face (of) Death" was the second part of the band's trilogy around Death. It depicts a better dominated approach of the black queen in a face to face type of attitude. Opening the transition towards the third and last album around the them where nobody fears Death any more, and is simply prepared to land on the other side... After the mismanagement and eventual demise of their label Celtic Circle Prod., the band recovered all rights on their back catalogue and entered a phase of deconstruction: new line-up, release of a side-project called "[IN]TERNAL" on Zoth Ommog, etc. Meanwhile Benoît and Séba (both founders of the band) appeared on cover compilations (Kraftwerk and Sisters Of Mercy) and conducted a few remixes for other artists.
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