History Sorrows Path

Sorrows Path was formed by Takis Drakopoulos (bass) and Kostas Salomidis (guitar) in Athens, GR, back in November 1993. Both being inspired by bands like Memento Mori, Solitude Aeturnus and Candlemass and shortly after Angelos Ioannidis (vocals) and Kostas Farmakis (drums) joined them, the band began rehearsing and composing material.

During 1994 and 1995 Sorrows Path performed live in several gigs that by that time were being held in local clubs such as Rodeo, An Club, Στον Αέρα etc. In the meanwhile, on January 1995 "Sorrows Path", the band’s first demo, was released but shortly after that, Kostas Farmakis decided to leave the band (sometime in autumn 1995). At the fall of 1995 and while the band was in a search of a new drummer Takis Drakopoulos tragically dies of a serious brain disease leaving the remaining members numb.

After putting themselves together the band decided to move on and so after recruiting Stavros Giannakos on bass and Gregory Vlachos on drums continued rehearsing and performing live at various venues and events such as Qualisound Festival, Rainbow Club, etc. The result of their efforts was a promo tape released in May 1996, simply entitled “Promo 96”, which was aiming in signing a deal with a record label. During the following year (1997) and after being in touch with record labels and promoters, the band entered the studio to record some new material which was never released. In 1998 the band decided to take a break for about 2 years due to the mandatory military service that the band members had to undergo.

In the rise of the new millennium and while the band started to work again, Sorrows Path co-founder, Kostas Salomidis, was almost paralyzed because of a neck problem which was caused a few years by a devastating motorcycle accident. After 5 rough years of courage and pain, with medical treatment, family support, and with the help of God or Fate, Kostas partially recovered, being able to make some “noise” with the guitar! So in May 2005 everyone in the band was more than enthusiastic to the idea of rehearsing after 7 years of doom!

By the end of 2005 the band was back in action in order to catch up with the time lost all these years. Old songs were being rehearsed once again, while new songs and were put together for future release. That was the time when the band decided to release the re-mastered version of their first demo along with their ’96 promo tape.

In the meantime, some personal problems forced Gregory Vlachos (drums) to leave the band and on December of 2005 Fotis Mountouris replaced him. In the same month Sorrows Path agreed with Eat Metal Records in releasing the remasters.

On April 2006 Sorrows Path hit the stage after 9 whole years as the opening act for the masters of Doom Metal from Texas, Solitude Aeturnus at 7 Sins Club (formerly known as Underworld Club). On the very next day the remasters were out from Eat Metal Records entitled “Resurrection”.

For the next two years, the band spent time composing and preparing 12 new songs for public release. During that time Sorrows Path performed many gigs all over Greece, either supporting well known metal bands like Memory Garden, Pagan Altar and Brocas Helm, or sharing the stage with some of the most popular Greek bands. At the summer of 2008, they entered Fragile Studios in Athens to record their first album with well known Greek metal producer, musician and composer Vangelis Yalamas (has collaborated with Duncan Patterson (ex-Anathema) and Joey Vera, Ray Adler from Fates Warning, plays and composes for Fragile Vastness and Jazzment Day), who also taking part in this album as a guest musician, playing synth and making some arrangements.

With the entrance of 2009, a new guitarist Giannis Tziligkakis (Ominous Sky) joined Sorrows Path in order to fulfill the band’s vision for a solid and heavier sound that the new material demanded. From that time, the band spent many hours rehearsing in order to work out the chemistry between them. By the end of the summer 2009 everything was ready! The recordings, mixing and mastering of the new album The Rough Path of Nihilism was completed! All the artwork and photography for this album has been made by one of the most prominent artists in Greece, Seth Siro Anton of Septic Flesh (also worked for Paradise Lost, Moonspell, Soilwork, Exodus).

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