Derketa

Derkéta is a doom influenced death metal band from Pittsburgh, PA. The name Derkéta was taken from Stygian Mythology; she was the goddess of death of a blood drinking cult. The band was formed by Sharon Bascovsky (vocals & guitars) and Terri Heggen (drums) in late 1988, first rehearsal took place March of 1989.



The bands 1st offering was in the form of a 1989 2-song rehearsal that was recorded on a 4 track . Kim August from Ultimatum ‘Zine assisted on the bass tracks for that recording. In February '90, the band released a 4-song demo entitled "The Unholy Ground". Shortly after, an offer from Seraphic Decay Records came into play, Derkéta re-recorded two demo songs and released the Premature Burial 7" in July of 1990. In 1991, the bass was assisted by Mary Bielich but nothing permanent to complete a full line-up.



After tension in the band formed, Terri joined up with Mary to form Mythic, which later disbanded. Sharon continued to write songs and has since been the sole driving force behind Derkéta's sound and main song writer. Originally, Derkéta was well known in the underground as the first all female doom/death metal influenced band with low guttural vocals; but shying away from the novelty of that was hard felt to keep a line up. Sharon recruited long time friend Jim Sadist, drummer of the unholy NunSlaughter to record three songs. In November of 1999, two of the songs were released for a Split 7" with the evil gods NunSlaughter on Deliria Noise Outfitters, Ordealis Records re-released this evil split on picture disc. Rhia from Somnus was asked to contribute haunting keyboards for the intro of the Begotten Son 7".



Due to time restraints and distance, a last minute decision led Sharon to work with local drummer Jeff "The Troll" to record "Your Rotting Flesh" for the Mad Max Impaler of Trendies tribute, released December 2001 by Master of Bestial Mockery. The next recording was the first recording featuring friend Heather Crotsley on bass, "Spirits in the Morgue". This song was released December 2002 on Iron Bonehead Productions and is featured on a 4-way split 7” with Gravewurm, Witchburner and Sado-Maniac.



Necroharmonic Productions has re-mastered all of Derketa’s recordings as of 2002 to CD quality and released the “Goddess of Death” comp CD. To clear up some confusion, Derkéta and Mythic are not the same band and Sharon has never participated in any Mythic writings or recordings. Mythic was led by Dana of now Demonic Christ which had a completely different writing style . Derkéta still existed during the days of Mythic but had not released any recordings due to a permanent and solid line-up that never was established.



In late 2006, Sharon and Terri decided its only right to reform the original lineup to record the long awaited album. Currently Sharon is in the process of writing songs for the first full length release entitled “In Death We Meet”, which promises to satisfy long time fans who have waited many years for a Derketa album. Rest assured there are no musical changes from the early days of Derketa as we feel bound to stay true to ourselves and no others. Our musical beliefs are cemented in the early years of death metal and we will never be a slave to trends.



If you would like to contact Derkéta, you can send an email to sharon@derketa.com.



Sharon is also playing bass for the ultra heavy band Eviscium with Mark Mastro from the cult band Rottrevore. Be sure to check out Eviscium's website for info and live shows. www.eviscium.com