I am my own Montresor / Nekros

Genre: Progressive Metal
Starting Date: 2010-02-25
Current Members: Damien Mack, Frank Clark, Cyril Mailly, and Devrim Şirince.

Nekros is a Canadian progressive metal band from Toronto, Ontario, formed in 2010. The band was originally founded by Stormy Sweisfurth when she was only 16 years old, a few days after the first tour was announced the current lead singer and electric guitarist Frank Clark joined the band. In the later months Frank assumed the leadership role, which led to a new direction for the band entirely.

In the first few years, the band had a rather unstable lineup (mostly on drums); consisting mostly of Frank Clark and Damien Mack. Frank prefers to play lead guitar and only sing on soft tracks, however he has been known to sing death metal vocals (death growl) when he needs to. Since the band reorganized itself, and members Devrim and Cyril joined, the band has finally been more stable than it has in years, other than some record delays everything else has been consistent. Cyril replaced Frank as the main singer, and they finally had a world-class drummer.

Nekros style is artistic, focusing more on technique and talent, in all areas including the writing and album design. Frank prefers musical solos from himself (guitar) as well as the bassist and drummer. However, Frank is known to change his music preference frequently, which results in many fans losing their interest when the next album is significantly different. However their are some small traits to Franks writing, such as: He prefers writing in a depressing tone where it feels like all hope is lost, even his love songs are about not being able to express yourself and becoming lonely, other songs are about mental disorders, being oppressed, and being helpless to your fate; this all before he switched from progressive rock to a more brutal metal sound.

Early years, Montresor

When the band was first formed, Frank Clark and Stormy Sweisfurth were the sole members. With Frank as the lead singer and guitarist, and Stormy as the main drummer also performing acoustic guitar on some covers. The original name of the band actually was “You Killed Claudia”, until Frank changed the name following Stormy's departure from the group. Before that however, they hired Frank's friend Daniem Mack as the bass guitarist, backup singer, as well as the rapper (for some covers). In the middle of their first world tour, Stormy left the band for personal reasons leaving everything to Frank. He soon started heavily drinking and becoming addicted to smoking, having problems coping with the loss of the drummer for the tour. After the world tour, and the release of two singles during said tour; another drummer was found to replace the original founder. Although this member, Michaela Harlow, only played a dozen shows of the Europe tour and found her way onto only one recording. She left because of Franks inability to allow other people to manage the band; this caused some rumors at the end of the tour that the band was going to split up, but Frank dismissed this rumor by releasing the long awaited album and stating that the band would only try to pursue new musical goals. Frank released two more singles that contained the last songs off of the album and stopped booking rock shows, and planned a metal tour alongside his wife.

On Montresors fourth tour (The second being the world tour, and third being the Europe tour) they performed alongside Michaela Harlow's new band “Blunt Whisper” In January 2011, celebrating the two of them having been married despite all the challenges. The next tour was different from their previous shows and records, as the band performed heavy metal opposed to rock. This tour was never finished however, ending in Helsinki on March 23rd, 2011.

Nekros

During the fourth tour Michaela and Frank broke up and filed for divorce, even though none of the shows were cancelled and the tour continued anyways until the end of March, when they divorced months earlier. Frank decided that he was done with the “light” prog rock style metal that he was doing with the band and decided to change the name of the band once again to something more dark. Nekros, he got the idea from Greek literature, was going to be a progressive death metal band with black metal influences; focusing on darkness, death, serial killers, and intense personality disorders. Frank had only released one single under the new band during the tour with Blunt Whisper; also under the new label, and it is the first of a 12 track concept album about a young boy with severe metal problems. During the end of the same tour, Frank found another replacement drummer named Evelyn Valentine who helped finish the last shows and performed on one of the new recorded tracks. She was planned to be the main drummer during the next world tour with black metal band “Grishnackh”, but was replaced only a few days before the first show in London.

The tour with Steve Shamsadeen [Grishnackh] started on April 12th 2011, he was performing a “Dismal Tomb” tribute tour; a tribute to another black metal band. Even though Evelyn Valentine [Nekros] was replaced as drummer, she continued as female lead vocalist, and was the lead dancer. Devrim Şirince was the new drummer, recruited from the metal band “† Souls Of Darkness †” just before the first show. He also replaced Damien as the primary backup vocalist, with Damien instead only playing bass guitar and also rapping on select covers.

Judas

Five days after the start of the tour with Grishnackh, Evelyn Valentine left the band, determined to re-join the group at a later date. Before her departure however, she made her way onto one recording (“Consent to Madness”), which was released on the single “The murder by the road” followed by the instrumental track “Drive-by”. That single was the follow-up to it's predecessor “The monster beside me”, which are both part of the musical epic “Judas” which is a 12 track concept album written and produced by Frank Clark, with the help of Steve Shamsadeen. Frank had originally thought of the idea to write an album about a disturbed little boy with severe mental problems, however later on he decided that getting another musician to contriute to the writing would improve the quality of the record. Frank himself wrote the first eight tracks and released them in singles, featuring different metal musical sub-genres for each record. Steve wrote the last four tracks as well and performed as a guest on most of the song recordings, and the both of them designed the final album artwork. Frank considers this album to be the most “dark and gritty” record he has ever released.

Near the end of the tour with Steve and his band, which saw Steve's ex-bandmate from “Martyrium” join back up with him, Frank hired a new lead singer who also plays back-up guitar. Cyril Mailly was the first bandmember to replace Frank as the lead singer of the group, Cyril originally was from the punk rock band “Living Nightmare”. Damien also started learning and playing the piano around this time, in preparation for the next tour.

New albums, More delays

After the tour with Steve ended on the first of June, eight days later the tour with Ani and Kai Grafton with their band “Feral Angel” started. Frank postponed the release of the “Judas” album, but still released “Tenebrous” after many delays, selling out on the first day. Frank at the time said he is nearly done with his new “Progressive metal / Hardcore punk” crossover album (which included re-recordings of the Effexor album “Burn”) and has to record only a few more songs, he as well has written some upcomming songs for a DSBM album titled “Suicide”. Fans were confused why Frank delayed the original album, for the new album with Cyril Mailly and the DSBM album when he has still not even finished what he intended to do; however Frank assured them that all the albums will “be ready when they're ready”.

Frank Clark (2010-03-30 - current) - Lead Vocals, Lead Guitar
Damien Mack (2010-05-31 - current) - Bass Guitar, Backup Vocals, Piano Player, Rapper
Devrim Şirince (2011-04-11 - current) - Drums, Backup Vocals
Cyril Mailly (2011-05-12 - current) - Lead Vocals, Electric Guitar
Evelyn Valentine (2011-03-20 - 2011-04-17) - Drums, Lead Vocals
Michaela Harlow (2010-10-04 - 2010-10-22) - Drums
Stormy Sweisfurth (2010-03-25 - 2010-07-20) - Drums, Acoustic Guitar

Session Musicians
Steve Shamsadeen - Helped write and record the album “Judas”
Joris Lucassen - “Shades of a fractured mind”
Michaela Harlow - “Shades of a fractured mind” (2010-11-11, after she left the band)
Rasmus Sokolov - “Final Solution”
Almost Alice (Ani Salter, and Stormy Sweisfurth) - “Difficult Words” (2010-10-02, with her new rock band)

During Franks leadership role of the band, they have succumbed to various negative feedback and complaints. Frank Clark is notorious for making inflammatory statements to the press about previous band members, other rival bands, and events he disagrees with. His childhood is of shady origin and further implicates his aggressive behaviour, some of the most critical people have noted; “Frank is a violent person, he always has been and he always will be; its his way or the highway.” John Scaffold of the Toronto Reporter

Some people report that Frank has changed, and is very nice; but the majority seem to think that he may be hiding something. “I had the pleasure of meeting him the other night, after his show in Montreal; he is a very charming guy, I don't know why so many people have this beef about him.” anonymous girl in Toronto

You Killed Claudia/Montresor
Once the original band leader Stormy Sweisfurth left the band, of which she claims was her own idea, the band took a turn for the worse. People noticed that Stormy had begun drinking heavily, and was upset during most of her last shows with the group. Obviously, most of the fans blamed Frank for wanting to change the sound of the band. Stormy had envisioned a more modern rock band, but Frank was set on releasing a progressive rock album no matter what; he had already begun the writing without even asking for Stormys input. This obviously, led to her departure and the name change shortly after. Originally, people were confused, Stormy was gone, and Frank was no longer playing modern rock covers, instead opting for more depressing and emotional songs. Then after that came the actual name change, further alienating the fans. Then finally, the coup de grâce; Frank had once again reformed the band and once again changed the name, this time to “Nekros”. Frank has said that the feud with Stormy is over, and the two of them are friends and have been for quite a while. Even though the rock scene has passed for them, many of the core and original fans are still disheartened that their favourite rock group has left the scene for more metal pursuits.

Feeney Danielson/Equimanthorn
Frank has known Feeney for most of his childhood, maybe not in person, but who wouldn't know the bass guitarist for the most popular metal band on the planet (at that time). Of course, Frank, unlike many other people, can't stand Feeney and he can't stand his band. Frank has been very vocal in his dislike of him, and tries to demean him every chance he gets. He has stated on many interviews that; “Feeney is an idiot, he can't play for crap, he can't write for crap, he can't do anything. Yet people love him so much. It sickens me. He even stole Daves [Megadeth] lyrics for Hangar 18 and claimed they were his own, only changing maybe four words. Fucking dumbass. Did he really think no one would notice?” Frank Clark on the lyrics contest

Steve Shamsadeen/Black Metal
Even though Steve and Frank are good friends, and have toured together, Frank is still a person of concern. Frank writes black metal, however, he does not stay true to the genre; Frank writes black metal in the sense that he wants the same “gritty vocals, distorted guitar, and violent lyrics” which he has, but then includes other more clean sections of “Thrash”, “Progressive”, and other sounds that are more ture to the progressive metal genre. Frank has dubbed this “Progressive Black Metal”, which has angered a lot of black metal bands and fans claiming that he is going to bring the genre to the mainstream. Even though Frank is aware of the complaints, he stated that he would still release the “Progressive Black Metal” album Judas, and would continue to write black metal afterwards; regardless of what anybody else says. “I care about releasing music, writing, and making money. Thats exactly what these “true” black metal musicians claim that they hate, even though thats exactly what they do. They are hypocrites pure and simple. So I'm not going to cancel my album, and I'm not going to stop writing black metal, and I'm going to continue to make money off of it regardless of if you like it or not. Black metal was “big” back in the old days when churches were in deep trouble, now its just like any other genre. Its just music.” Frank Clark on Black Metal

Kevin Streun/Emprie Records
When Frank was releasing his rock album and singles, he was signed by the record label “Empire Records”. With them he had a good relationship with the CEO and owner Kevin Streun, even though the manager mixed up some record orders, the band and label shared a quality relationship, that is until Frank ripped up the contract in favor of another one; which was 20% higher in terms of royalties. Kevin felt betrayed he said, and the two haevn't been on very good terms since.

18 wheeler luxury rig

Released by Empire Records

Released by Duck's Records

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