The beginning of UNDERCROFT is marked by the appearance of their mythical 2 first demos "To Final The Battle" the pioneer one, appeared in May of 1993. Then came "Demons Awake. Revenge is Near" in November of the same year.
That led them to the their debut album, called "Twisted Souls", this one was recorded in 1995. After many shows both in northern and southern Chile, an opening act for KREATOR at their second chilean visit, in the now dissapeared venue "Manuel Plaza". It was also their first international visit, playing opening act in Buenos Aires, Argentina for the swedish act Therion. Two years later, in 1997, the album "Bonebreaker" appeared. During these period their played together with Morbid Angel during their first chilean visit, in the Monumental Theatre.
In September of 1998 the album "Re-Demolition" is released, which is the re-edition of both demos of the band, plus some tracks taken from the recording of "Bonebreaker" adding a Napalm Death cover song (Unfit Earth).
After a break, UNDERCROFT recorded one of their best work to date, "Danza Macabra", released in August of 2000. The album marks some changes in the line-up, bringing more of the force and power that has always characterized the band. This album was a great step for UNDERCROFT. The line-up was: Claudio Illanes on Guitars, Pablo Cortez on Drums and Alvaro Lillo Voice and Bass. A complete Chilean tour followed the realese of "Danza Macabra" taking the band to the most prestigious venues in Santiago and other Chilean cities. For the live gigs they began to use a guest guitarist, to give the live performance the same sound and power as the studio recording.
After the success of "Danza Macabra", UNDERCROFT decided to expand their frontiers. With decision and great sacrifices they left Chile for Europe in March of 2001, specifically for Sweden. Where they recorded a new album, 11 new songs with the famous swedish producer Daniel Bergstrand (STL, Meshuggah, In Flames, Stuck Mojo, Lord Belial, among others) at Studio Dug out in Uppsala. After the recording of this new album, which took three weeks to complete, they came in contact with several people, playing some gigs in Sweden, Poland and Germany.
They attracted the attention of several Record Labels, and they decided to sign a Record deal with PAVEMENT/CRASH MUSIC to release this new album. The album was out on the record stores in April of 2002, and it was called "Evilusion". On the chilean territory, the album was released by WAR Discos, the label that has released all the previous material of the band.
UNDERCROFT returned to Chile and a full tour was made, including Santa Cruz (Bolivia). The band returned again to Europe and started their campaign on November 2002,
The band has an infamous reputation as a great live act, playing the Close-Up party gig, the biggest metal mag of Scandinavia sharing the stage with celebrities Amon Amarth and Merciless. Continuing the tour through Sweden, Germany, Poland, Belgium.
Undercroft took some time off and recorded 3 new studio tracks in the Kick That Ass to the moon Studio, together with markus Geiger and recorded a complete live show at the prestigious Fuck Christmas fest in Hamburg Germany on December of 2003, showing the bands strength as alive act. An album of the recording was released in 2004. The title "Bastard…. live in Hamburg". The album contains the 3 new songs and a video of the Evilusion song.
After an impressive performance at the Fuck Christmas Undercroft was invited to play the Fuck Eastern Fest on April of 2004. After a great show the band attracted the attention of the the german label Tiefdruck Musik and signed a deal with them a couple of months later. The first fruit of their cooperation will be a re-release of the Evilusion CD which is almost impossible to find in stored since the demice of Pavement/Crash music. The album will feature a totally new artwork, 3 live songs, 3 new songs and will be remastered in Germany. Release date was August of 2004. The band did some serious touring to support the re-release of the album.
After a hectic period in wich the band played great shows with Suffocation (US), Pungent Stench (A), Crowbar (US), Hatesphere (DK),Dies Irae (PL), Kataklysm (CAN), they began the production of their 5th studio album together with the production team of Markus Geiger and Jan Rubach at the Rekorder Studios in Hamburg Germany. That production had counted with a guest musician in the vocals, because about some personal problems between Alvaro Lillo and Undercroft, both sides had decided to go separate ways In september 2006 the album was put on the market by the German label Tiefdruck Musik and distributed by Universal under the name of "Lethaly Growing". The band also performed in some small festivals like the United Forces Festival and opened Immolation, Grave and Krisiun in Hannover.
In the beginning of the year 2009, Undercroft started to work on new music for the next album. The most important thing these days is the fact that after all Alvaro Lillo is back in Undercroft with that, the Mercenaries of Death are preparing their 6th attack to this earth, recording a next compilation of maledictions. The band has been long time out of their land, for that, UNDERCROFT is announcing the Fuckin Chilean Tour 2009 !!! -" Together with Claudio Vasquez, we built an Historical Fuckin Tour in Chile "-. At this time the new album " Ruins of Gomorrah" is already recorded, mixed and mastered by well known producer Daniel Bergstrand at the Dug Out Studios in Uppsala, Sweden. Now the band is looking to get a label and working on the first video from this new album. Soon more info.stay alert !!!
UNDERCROFT - SHORT PROMOTIONAL VIDEO
_
The current Line Up :
Alvaro Lillo / Bass & Vocals
Claudio Illanes / Guitars
Pablo Cortes / Drums & Percussions
UNDERCROFT live in Hamburg GERMANY by BLACK SHADOWS
undercroft666@gmail.com
