Draft:Rorcal

Rorcal
Origin	Switzerland
Genres	Black metal, doom metal, drone metal
Years active	2006–present
Label	Hummus Records
Members	Ron Lahyani Diogo Almeida JP Schopfer Yonni Chapatte
Website	www.rorcal.com

Rorcal is a Swiss black metal, doom metal and drone metal band from Geneva, in French-speaking Switzerland. As of 2020, the quintet had thirteen releases, including five studio albums, and had performed more than three hundred concerts in Europe and Japan.

Biography

Beginnings (2006–2007)

Rorcal was formed in 2006 in Geneva, and immediately set itself the goal of producing the most overwhelming sounds and atmospheres possible. The band's first studio effort appeared in 2006, an EP entitled The Way on the Cal of Ror label, and was quickly followed by two collaborative albums: Ascension (split with Kehlvin, Division Rec., 2007) and Monochrome (collaborative audiovisual project, self-produced, 2007). Rorcal released its first proper album in 2008 (Myrra, Mordynn, Marayaa, Thundering Rec.), characterized by oppressive length and slowness.

The Way We Are, The Way We Were, The Way We Will Be is the band's first EP, released by Sigma Records in 2007. It consists of three tracks and two ambient interludes. The doom direction is already largely established, although considerably tempered by sounds drawn from post-hardcore.

Myrra, Mordvynn, Marayaa (2008–2009)

The EP Monochrome, a collaborative audiovisual project initiated by Rorcal in 2008, was released in 2008. In addition to the quintet, Monochrome brings together three Geneva musicians and a filmmaker. On the record's sole half-hour track, Rorcal's doom/post-hardcore is augmented by keyboards, saxophones and female vocals. A film illustrating the music was also made especially for the project. Also released in 2008 on Division Record, the EP Ascension is a concept album created with Kehlvin, a post-hardcore band based in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. To compose and record this doom/hardcore piece lasting just over half an hour, the two quintets secluded themselves for five days in a studio in the Jura Mountains.

Rorcal's first studio album, Myra Mordvynn Marayaa, was released in 2008 on Thundering Records. Consisting of eight tracks and three interludes, the record presents the quintet in a decidedly more doom-oriented light. Although occasional "post" elements still soften the music somewhat, Myra remains a formidable block of sound that shook things up and was praised by critics.

Heliogabalus (2010–2012)

After two years of composing and around fifty concerts in Europe, the band released its second album, Heliogabalus, in September 2010, on Cal of Ror and Division Records. It consists of a single 70-minute track revisiting the life of the Roman emperor of the same name. While composing it, the Geneva quintet decided to push the slowness and depth of its music to extremes. In this respect, the album/experiment marks a genuine turning point in the band's music. Consisting of a single 70-minute track, this sprawling piece pushes the band's sound to its deepest limits. Through the different passages and atmospheres that make up the piece, listeners are invited to descend with the musicians into the most secluded and darkest recesses of rock.

As the central theme of the piece, the band chose the figure of Elagabalus, a Roman emperor of the 4th century, whose reign remains in history as one of the most decadent of the Empire. According to contemporary sources, Elagabalus, a priest of the Syrian sun, was a teenager who ascended the throne through bloody court intrigues and completely overturned the imperial administration, replacing it with the sociopolitical traditions of the religion of Emesa, his hometown. Thus, during the four years of his reign, senators were replaced by women, the Praetorian Guard by dancers, advisers by whoever could satisfy his pederastic urges, and Christianity by the pagan and idolatrous rite of which Elagabalus was the all-powerful priest.

It was not so much the decadence embodied by this figure as the dizzying multiplicity of interpretations of the character and his actions that caught the band members' attention. While contemporary sources all regard him as one of the worst figures in Roman history, other authors have seen him as one of the most accomplished rulers, in that he lowers the ruling class beneath the people, thereby blurring conventional signals of power and creating a profoundly unifying anarchy. Through these 70 minutes of music, Rorcal thus attempts to interpret and illustrate the ambiguous life of this emperor.

Recorded between August and December 2009 at Stéphane Kroug's Wood Studio and JP Schopfer's Yellow Recording, then mixed and mastered between March and May 2010 by Raphaël Bovey at MyRoom Studio, Heliogabalus is the result of extensive collaborative work and considerable thought about sound. Both organic and aggressive, the final result combines power and spontaneity while retaining the distinctive charm of old self-produced black metal recordings from the early 1990s. Heliogabalus was scheduled for release in September 2010 on CD and double LP. Both were to be released on Cal of Ror Records and distributed by Division Records and various mail-order platforms. In addition, the packaging, designed by Ayshe Kizilçay and Diogo Almeida, received particular attention. Its format and contents were to be quite distinctive: a sealed booklet containing, in addition to the disc and credits, a series of photographs illustrating certain aspects of Elagabalus's character in a contemporary way.

Világvége and Creon

In December 2012, the band published two new songs on its Bandcamp page. In 2013, the band returned with the release of its third studio album, Világvége, whose title means "end of the world". It was announced for release on 28 February 2013 on Cal of Ror Records in CD and vinyl formats. In February, Rorcal announced the departure of singer Christophe for "personal reasons". He was to be replaced by Yonni Chapatte. In September 2013, the band made its entire discography available for free. They also toured from 25 October to 23 November in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy and Austria.

In February 2016, Rorcal revealed the release of a fourth album, entitled Creon. The album was announced in CD and vinyl formats for 25 March 2016 on the labels Bleak Recordings (PT), GPS Prod (CH), Grains of Sand Records (RU), Halo of Flies Records (US), Lost Pilgrims Records (FR), Wolves And Vibrancy Records (GER), Division Records (CH), Dullest Records (US), Longlegslongarms Records (JAP) and Unquiet Records (PL). It includes four songs lasting more than 11 minutes each.

Silence, Muladona and Mahre (since 2019)

In 2019, the band released the album Muladona based on a book of the same name written by Eric Stener Carlson. It includes read excerpts from the book in various places on the album. Each song represents one of the chapters of the book.

In 2023, the band released the album Silence.

On September 25th, 2026, Rorcal released Mahre.

Members

Current members

• Bruno da Encarnação – bass (since 2006)
• Ron Lahyani – drums (since 2006)
• Diogo Almeida – guitar (since 2006)
• JP Schopfer – guitar (since 2006)
• Yonni Chapatte – vocals (since 2013)

Former member

• Junior – vocals (2006–2013)

Discography

Studio albums

• 2008: Myrra, Mordvynn, Marayaa
• 2010: Heliogabalus
• 2013: Világvége
• 2016: Κρέων / Creon
• 2019: Muladona
• 2023: Silence
• 2026: Mahre

EPs and live album

• 2007: The Way We Are, the Way We Were, the Way We Will Be... (EP)
• 2008: Ascension (EP)
• 2008: Monochrome (EP)
• 2011: Prelude to Heliogabalus (EP)
• 2014: Világvége - Live in Geneva (live album)
• 2015: La Femme sans Tête (EP)
• 2021: Witch Coven (two-track collaborative EP with Earthflesh)

Splits

• 2011: Rorcal and Solar Flare
• 2012: Profond Barathre / Rorcal / Malvoisie
• 2014: Rorcal / Process of Guilt

External links

• Official website