LE GRAND GUIGNOL

Le Grand Guignol biography
LE GRAND GUIGNOL is a progressive-extreme-metal band formed in Luxembourg in 1996.

The band was first formed under the name VINDSVAL, under which they released a first demo in 1997. Their music was still mostly extreme/black metal at that time, even though their progressive/experimental inclinations were starting to show through.

According to the band's website, LE GRAND GUIGNOL "soon discovered their passion for outré compositions, preserving the harshness of extreme metal, yet adding wickedly catchy tunes, symptomizing in deep-felt emotions and thus creating gloomy atmospheres, which the band refers to as 'grotesque metal'".

Their first album with this approach was released in 1999. "Imperium Grotesque" was received with enthusiasm by the music world.

After years of live-performances, personnel change and dedicated studio-work, VINDSVAL decided to change thier name into the more musically-and-lyrically-coherent and more theatrical LE GRAND GUIGNOL, near the end of 2006. LE GRAND GUIGNOL means, literally, "the big buffoon". For a more historical understanding of the name, "The Grand Guignol" was a theatre (Le Theatre du Grand-Guignol) in Paris which, from 1897 to 1962, specialized in naturalistic horror shows, hence its name often used for graphic, amoral horror entertainment.

According to the band's website, "just like its namesake, LE GRAND GUIGNOL are ready to rise the curtain in order to let the public partake in their enrapturing tales of madness. Prepare for something different, something new, for a band which leaves the trodden paths in order to freely express their creative vision of heavy music. Eclecticism and excellence go hand in hand as they take the listener to a musical journey beyond belief."

The band released their debul album under this new name, "The Great Maddening", in 2007, to excellent reviews from the press and music world. Its mix of theatrical elements with metal and classical orchestration create an experience not unlike those lived in the theater after which the group is named.



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Approved by Prog-Metal Team.



Discography:
The Great Maddening, studio album (2007)
...