Turkish Black Metallers EPISODE 13 Venture Westwards Into Mainland Europe

EPISODE 13, one of the longest-running and best-known black metal bands in Turkey, will make its Western Europe debut with a headlining appearance at The Rock in Copenhagen, Denmark on July 24. Although the band has previously toured in Eastern Europe and is used to playing large festivals within Turkey, EPISODE 13 has not previously ventured this far west.

Drummer Nursuz commented: "EPISODE 13 has been wanting to play in Western Europe for some time now, but it has not been the easiest of things for us to organize. It's acceptable these days for black metal bands not to come from Scandinavia, but we are hampered by the fact that we come from a predominantly Islamic country. We are not political and we are anti-religious. To us, the music is everything, and getting as many people as possible to hear it is our aim. Black metal has always encouraged people to think for themselves, outside of the norm; and from the comments we receive from black metal fans that have stumbled across us when it comes to music, they don't allow themselves to be swayed by anything other than how it sounds. If they like it, they like it, regardless of anything else. But we are not nave. We know there is some resistance out there. We just hope that more people will be open enough to listen, and that EPISODE 13's music will speak for itself." Oddly enough, Nursuz went on to say, "it is the 'Forlorn Till Dawn' track from [2005's] 'Tabula Rasa' that has proved to be the most popular; which is strange since this is the only track where we included a traditional Turkish sound on the keyboards." A video for the song can be viewed below.

In a move indicative of the band's growing appeal in Europe, Netherlands-based Infernus Rex distribution has signed a deal with EPISODE 13 to distribute the group's forthcoming second album, "Pitch Black", in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg.

The band recently underwent a lineup change when Ozan Akyol replaced vocalist Tolgahan. Akyol is, in fact, the band's original vocalist, and returned to the band after a two-year absence. It was he, along with Nursuz and guitarist Murat, who first formed EPISODE 13 in 2001. Bassist Sermet has been with the band since 2007.

"Pitch Black" will be released on Raven Records in the near future, and will consist of nine tracks of aggressive black metal. "Hate Universe", a track from the new album, has been added to EPISODE 13's MySpace page.