Lux Occulta

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Lux Occulta (which is Latin for "hidden light" or "the secrets of light") is a Polish avant-garde metal band, founded in late 1994. Their work, also strongly influenced by progressive metal and black metal, commonly incorporates elaborate arrangements often featuring multiple sections and unpredictable time changes.

The band was started when guitarists Peter and G'Ames, formerly of Blaspherion, asked Jaro.Slav, the vocalist of Haemorrhage, to join their new project. Jackie (bass guitar) and Aemil (drums) joined the band few weeks later, followed by keyboard player U'reck after the band's first rehearsal session. After the recording in 1996 of the band's first full album, Forever Alone, Immortal, Aemil was replaced by drummer Kriss. The band's second album, Dionysos, followed in 1997. In 1998, after the release of Maior Arcana, G'Ames and Jackie were asked to leave the band; their replacements were guitarist Vogg and bassist Martin, also of the Polish death metal band Decapitated. A lengthy recording succession with the new lineup yielded My Guardian Anger, which was released in 1999. The latter half of 1999 was plagued with accidents, though, as Kriss suffered from a broken arm, leading his doctors to question whether he would ever be able to play drums again, and U'reck broke his leg shortly thereafter, forcing the band to retire from touring for several months. After several months' hiatus from performing, the band played Poland's Metalmania festival in 2000 alongside acts such as Opeth, Behemoth and Tiamat, which drew the attention of the Portuguese label Maquiavel Music Entertainment. The next month they were signed to the label for a two-album deal, and the first of their albums on MME, The Mother and the Enemy, appeared the following year. The band has been mostly dormant since 2002, although in 2012 they posted a message to their MySpace some years afterward indicating that they were working on new material and looking for a new drummer.^[1] In 2014, they released their fifth studio album Kołysanki, which drastically departed from the avant–garde/black metal sound in the band’s previous albums.

Current members

• Jarosław "Jaro.Slav" Szubrycht – vocals (1994–2002, 2011–present)
• Jerzy "U.Reck" Głód – keyboards (1994–2002, 2011–present)
• Wacław "Vogg" Kiełtyka – lead guitar (1998–2002, 2011–present)
• Maciek Tomczyk – rhythm guitar (2012–present)

Former members

• "Aemil" – drums (1994–1996)
• Grzegorz "G. Ames" Kapłon – lead guitar (1994–1998)
• "Jackie" – bass (1994–1998)
• Piotr "Peter" Szczurek – rhythm guitar (1994–2001)
• Krzysztof "Kriss" Szantula – drums (1996–2001)
• Marcin "Martin" Rygiel – bass (1998–2002)
• Rafał "Kastor" Kastory – rhythm guitar (2001–2002)

• Forever Alone, Immortal (1996)
• Dionysos (1997)
• My Guardian Anger (1999)
• The Mother and the Enemy (2001)
• Kołysanki (2014)

• Maior Arcana: The Words That Turn Flesh into Light (1998)

• The Forgotten Arts (1995)