Hard to classify, genuine, distinctive... The music of SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION (SDOS) has been described by these words for years. It’s a testament to their uniqueness, because their style and development have become unmistakable on the domestic metal scene over the years.
Doom metal beginnings were eventually replaced by more aggressive music drawing from a number of metal subgenres, be it doom, thrash, death, black, speed or heavy metal. A little from each.
The mid-nineties were a good time for doom metal, slow and hypnotic music was at its prime, so it was no wonder that a quintet of young musicians from South Moravia fell under its spell. The first joint steps were made in the band called ABYSS. When they found out that someone had already used the same name, they changed it to SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION, which also brought a new impulse, consisting in changing the language of the lyrics (Czech was replaced by English), and the five members started to work intensively.
My first encounter with SDOS music was at the beginning of the millennium through their demo “When Autumn Comes...”. The band sent it for review to the then still photocopied fanzine Pařát, which I published between 2000-2022. Since then, I’ve had a soft spot for the SDOS music, which developed quite soon - with their debut album “Moon 2002: Nocturnal Breed”, one that I consider to be the band’s best work. That’s why I initiated the release of this album on an LP by Pařát Productions in 2017.
The band, led by frontman Radek “Doctor” Zábojník, has been actually continuously active since 1996. Although the intensity of composing new music, recording it and performing it naturally decreases with age, it is admirable that the band has maintained its high quality throughout the past quarter of a century. In addition, the backbone foursome of Doctor, Canni, Vlasa and Pickard have been playing together since 2004, while Vlasa and Canni have been touring with the death metal legend HYPNOS since 2012 and 2014, respectively.
By the end of 2024, SDOS put out eight full-length albums. But now we move back in time to the second half of the nineties to listen to what preceded those eight regular full-fledged recordings.
The two SDOS demos are released on a pressed CD for the first time.
Sample:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWmElAegjuk
