Coming from Brittany (western France),
BELENOS was formed as one-man-band by Loïc Cellier in 1995.
BELENOS is the Celtic/Gallic god of the sun.
Influenced by the early Black Metal scene of Norway, the
music of BELENOS always was and remains a mix of Black Metal
(fast and dark) and Pagan Metal (dark and slow parts with
Celtic choirs) . The universe of BELENOS is like a lonely
journey through wild, dark moors and old traditions of the
Celtic lands.
After 3 demo tapes ('Notre amour eternel'
- 1996, 'Triste pensée' - 1997 and 'Allégorie
d'une souffrance' - 1998), BELENOS turned into
a real band and started to play live. In 2000 they signed
with Sacral Prod. who released their highly acclaimed albums
'Errances oniriques', 'Spicilège'
and the 2-CD demo compilation 'L'ancien temps',
which gained them many fans in France and around the globe.
At the end of 2004 BELENOS became a one-man-band again and
stopped all live activities. In 2006 Adipocere records released
BELENOS third album 'Chants de bataille'
which had been recorded with the help of session drummer
Gilles Delecroix (ex Aborted).
One year later BELENOS signed with Northern Silence Productions
who released the critically acclaimed fourth full length
'Chemins de souffrance' that same year
and in 2009 the completely rerecorded and improved version
of the long sold out debut album 'Errances oniriques'
.
In early 2010 BELENOS with a line-up completed by 3 session
members, returned to the stage to play 4 very successful
festival gigs in France.
The fifth full length 'Yen sonn gardis'
was recorded between Dec'09 & Apr'10 at BELENOS home
studio as always and mixed/mastered at the same place in
june'10 . The entire album is sung in Breton, the old Celtic
language of Brittany, which is very similar to Cornish but
is spoken by a mere 200 000 people throughout the world.
As always, the lyrics deal with classical themes such as
winter, death, pride, nature, Celtic legends and rituals,
ancient battles.
In early 2012, 'Spicilège' the long sold
out album from 2002 comes back in a new A5 digipack format
limited to 1000 copies and including new artwork, original
remastered sound and 7 bonus tracks (live, unreleased versions).
The band played in many concerts: french tour with Seth
and Glorior Belli, Hellfest, Fimbulfest (ger)...
In early 2013, 'L'ancien temps', the early
Belenos material compilation, comes for the first time in
a complete fashion. The 2013 version features "Notre Amour
Eternel" from 1996, "Triste Pensée" from 1997 and, unlike
the sold out Sacral press from 2004, also the "Allégorie
d'une Souffrance" demo from 1998, as well as 3 bonus tracks,
clocking at no less than 126 minutes.
Main concerts of this year were: Dublin, Messe des morts
(canada), Cernunnos fest, motocultor fest.
In september 2016 'Kornog' is out after
several months of recording, then a dozen of concerts were
given
May 2017 'Chants de bataille'
is 12 years later reissued with a better mix, mastering
& artwork + 5 exclusive bonus tracks
March 2018 'Best of live 22nd anniversary' is out
Argoat the new album is out september 20th 2019 with 9 new
songs
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BEST
OF LIVE 22nd ANNIVERSARY
L'ANCIEN TEMPS
YEN SONN GARDIS
CHEMINS DE SOUFFRANCE
