Among the first Dutch black metal bands in the early nineties, Countess have always set themselves apart from other bands by a fierce loyalty to their old school influences. For almost three decades, while fashions came and went, Countess stayed true to their vision and thus earned a worldwide cult status in the metal underground.

In spite of their sworn allegiance to metal orthodoxy, Countess have never shied from innovation. In 1994 they created the first black metal song with Dutch lyrics (Bloed In De Sneeuw), in 1995 the first black metal love ballad (Blood On My Lips) and in 1997 were the first band to take a rocking approach to the genre (Hell's Rock & Roll).

Over the course of 31 years and 16 full-length albums, Countess' sound has evolved from the raw black metal of the early releases towards a more traditional heavy metal-influenced style, culminating in a seamless integration of heavy and black metal elements.

In 2014 the band returned to the stage after a long period of not having played live. Since then, Countess have performed impressive shows at numerous prestigious metal festivals in their own country, Belgium, Germany, Denmark and Finland.

Countess currently consists of Mortüüm (drums), Orlok (vocals, bass), Valgard (guitars) and Häxa (keyboards). The band's most recent full-length album Banners of Blood was released on February 11, 2021.

March 11, 2023

New EP 'Live By The Sword' to be released March 24

On March 24, we will release a new EP entitled 'Live By The Sword'. The EP features five songs: three band new ones, inlcuding the first song written for the band by our guitarist Valgard who joined us in 2019, and two new versions of older songs. These are 'Desisdaimonia' that was originally released on our sophomore album in 1994 (and played live last year for the first time since 1995) and 'On Wings Of Defiance', the title track from our 2011 full-length.

Track list:

1. Raven Banners Fly (3:50)

2. Spectre (4:33)

3. Ballad Of Sigrid The Haughty (7:03)

4. Deisidaimonia (4:45)

5. On Wings Of Defiance (8:42)

The EP will be available on all major digital platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer as well as on our official Bandcamp store.

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