Soror Dolorosa

With their mix of goth, darkwave, and noir-ish post-punk, France's Soror Dolorosa rose to success with their 2011 debut full-length Blind Scenes. Led by enigmatic frontman Andy Julia, the band takes influence from acts like Joy Division, the Sisters of Mercy, and Fields of the Nephilim, enduring a two-year breakup and several lineup changes before taking their place on the European rock stage. Following several well-received releases for German imprint Beneath Gray Skies, they signed with Prophecy Productions for their 2018 career highlight Apollo. The band's first lineup came together in the city of Toulouse in 2001 with Julia on drums joined by singer Christophe Guenot, guitarist Franck Ligabue, and bassist Hervé Carles, all former members of the defunct band Funeraëll. Taking their name from the novel Bruges-la-morte by Flemish symbolist writer Georges Rodenbach, Soror Dolorosa spent several years gigging and recording a pair of unreleased demos before disbanding in 2005. Following a two-year absence, a second version of the group formed with Julia acting as singer, Ligabue moving to drums, Carles retaining his role as bassist, and newcomer Emey joining on guitar. With this lineup, Soror Dolorosa finally issued their first commercial release with the 2009 EP, Severance, on U.K. indie Todestrieb Records. Having made inroads to other European markets, especially Germany and Austria, the band issued their first full-length album, 2011's Blind Scenes, via Beneath Gray Skies, an imprint of German metal label Northern Silence Productions. It proved to be a good fit and expanded their reach considerably throughout Europe. Guitarist Emey departed later that year and was replaced by Nicolas Mons, who made his debut on their 2013 release No More Heroes. Soror Dolorosa continued to tour over the next several years, signing with German label Prophecy Productions in 2015 and beginning work on their fourth LP. The concert release, Rive Gauche: Live in Paris, appeared in 2017, followed a year later by the epic, Apollo, their fourth studio album.
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