Ne Obliviscaris (band)

Formation and early years

Ne Obliviscaris were formed in April 2003 by vocalist Xenoyr and bassist Adam Cooper, later adding a second guitarist and a female soprano. Current vocalist/violinist Tim Charles followed in September 2003. The band went through a number of lineup changes before releasing an independent demo, The Aurora Veil, in 2007. The demo featured three songs which would later appear on their debut album. Their music, whilst being firmly rooted in extreme metal, shows influences from a range of musical styles, including death, black, thrash and melodic metal, as well as classical, jazz, avant-garde and flamenco.

Drummer Dan Presland left the band towards the end of 2011 and was replaced by Nelson Barnes. However, due to the distance between Queensland and Melbourne, Ne Obliviscaris parted ways with Barnes and Presland's return to the band was announced on 24 August 2012.

Portal of I (2012–2014)

Released 7 May 2012 Portal of I was the first full-length album by the band. The release of the album was delayed due to the departure of their guitarist, Corey King, in 2007 and the search for a replacement. Benjamin Baret later joined as the lead guitarist, but was subject to lengthy delays in his visa application process.

The album received generally positive reviews with Metal Injection praising the composition and the musicianship of the album

The band toured in support of the album, which took them overseas for the first time, with the band playing in Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Thailand. They were also the headlining act for Progfest 2012 around Australia.

And Plague Flowers The Kaleidoscope from Portal of I was included in a teaching curriculum at Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the song being analysed for its composition

Citadel (2014–present)

Recorded during 2013, Citadel was released through Seasons of Mist on November 7, 2014. The album reached number 42 on the ARIA Albums Chart.

The album was generally well received, with Metal Hammer giving it a four out of five rating. Metal Injection again praising the complexity of the arrangements

In June 2014, the band announced a crowdfunding campaign to support a world tour with an initial target of $40,000 AUD. This target was reached in just two days, reaching a final figure of $86,132 AUD and breaking the Australian record for crowd-funding in the process.

The subsequent world tour saw Ne Obliviscaris return to Asia supporting Fleshgod Apocalypse as well as their first tours of Europe, the UK and North America where they supported British band, Cradle of Filth. They also played in India for the first time, where they headlined the B-School of Rock at the Unmaad Festival in Bangalore.

In July 2016, the band began a headlining tour of North America. with headlining shows in the U.K and Ireland following in October 2016 with Atlanta-based band Oceans of Slumber as support. Also announced were further European tour supporting Enslaved between September and November 2016, and headline shows in Australia at the end of November and beginning of December 2016.

On 26th of January 2017 the band announced that they had parted ways with bassist Brendan "Cygnus" Brown.

Use of Crowdfunding

In addition to the campaign to fund their world tour, the band announced in March 2016 that they were starting a subscription based service through the Patreon micro-payments platform. This was in part inspired by Thy Art is Murder frontman, CJ McMahon, quitting the band for financial reasons. The decision to use Patreon generated some controversy on social media platforms to which vocalist and violinist Tim Charles responded.

Timeline