Watch My Dying

Watch My Dying was founded in 1999 in Esztergom, Hungary. Their main goal was to mix modern death/thrash metal with progressive elements and spectacular live performances. After forming, the band started to play live and in March 2000 they made their first recording in Pont-Mi Studio in Székesfehérvár. "System Error" (Rendszerhiba) demo included five tracks with an intro and an outro. The critiques in Hungarian magazines (Metal Hammer, Rockinform, Shock!) and the feedback in the underground metal scene exceeded their expectations. In May 2000, the band entered for the Pepsi Generation Nexxt talent spotting where they took the 4th place of the 600 entrants in their category. The spotting program was broadcasted by one of the biggest Hungarian commercial television channels, RTL Klub, as a result of which the band’s name became well-known almost everywhere in the country. Meanwhile, the boys wrote several new tunes, which were played in the summer of 2001 at the Fesztergom, Gaja, Hegyalja and the Slovakian Klikk Festival. The season’s closing session was a fantastic live show on the Pepsi Sziget Festival (the biggest in Central Europe) in August. From March 2002 a manager started to work together with the band. Which resulted in a lot more concerts and more professional approaches, than ever before, including tons of club and festival (Sziget, ZED, Summerground, Fesztergom, etc) performances. The high light of the new period was the Hegyalja Festival where they reached a thousand people and presented a frenetic show. After the festival season the members of the band got their energy together and started to write new songs for their next EP (Fleshmagnet/Húsmágnes). Then, on the 5th of September they entered the Acoustair Studio, Budapest to record the new material. The whole Watch My Dying concept became more varied and catchy. With titles like Original Bodyform or Magnetic Flesh the band reached a new level of hard progression music. The seven songs of the EP, in 27 minutes, are fine examples of pure modern metal, one that possesses sheer aggression, technical wit, intelligent lyrics and a catchy song writing approach. The Hungarian version of the EP (Húsmágnes) was released in November 2002 in self-production. The critiques were surprisingly positive: in Metal Hammer the EP gets 10/10, on the page heavymetal.hu 10/10, in the Shock webzine 9/10, in the metalnews webzine 10/10. After the release of the EP the band started to play live everywhere in Hungary, where there was enough room to plug their amplifiers in. Watch My Dying soon reached a solid underground success in the Hungarian metal scene with their professional and brutal performances. In autumn 2003, the band began to work on the new material. From the autumn to early summer of 2004 Sándor Bori and Gábor Veres recorded several demos, so in July the band was ready to enter the studio and record their first full length album. Thirteen songs were recorded in the Bakery and the Grape Studio from July to October. The final result is an amazing, heavy, yet powerful material with clear and powerful sound. The songs of Klausztrofónia are more catchy and less complex than the ones on the Fleshmagnet/Húsmágnes EP. The album has a really dark, modern and depressive dimension, which makes it a perfect soundtrack for a modern thriller. Klausztrofónia appeared on the 2nd position in the Hammerworld (ex-Metal Hammer Hungary) magazine’s soundcheck. The band, which opened for bands like Opeth, Stampin’ Ground and Dew-Scented in Hungary, was mentioned by Mikael Akerfeldt as "Watch My Dying is a fuckin’ great band. On tour we got tons of demos, but this band is absolutely ready to release a record." Watch My Dying also played on the main stage of Metal Mania Festival 2005 among bands like, The Haunted, Katatonia, Cradle Of Filth, Moonspell and Apocalyptica. In the meantime two video was shooted for songs like Idomtalan and Nicht for dem Kind. In November 2005 Watch My Dying won the final of the ABC Talent Contest in Budapest, and as a result, the band played in the ABC Contest Austrian quarterfinal at Planet Music, Vienna in February 2006. At the end the band managed to get the 4th position. The band was not fully satisfied with themselves, but it was a great show with great fans, end at the end of the day that’s what really counts. In November the band organized the I. Stagediving Festival in Budapest, Kultiplex with fellow bands, like Cadaveres, Szeg, Comaah. In 2006 May II. Stagediving with a packed house in Black/Red Hall venue. First half of the year was spent with writing, composing the new material so there were just a few, but really good shows. Watch My Dying recorded their second full length release in Audioplanet Studio Hungary from July until September. Mixing and mastering was done by Jocke Skog in Fear And Loathing Studios, Sweden in September, October. At the end Fényérzékeny got released at november 10. The new album is more straightforward than the previous one, but there are plenty of new, exciting ideas. The title track, Fényérzékeny - it seems - will be the biggest hit of the band, so the new video will be shoot to this track. Háttal Álmodó is a wonderful, acoustic ballad with Gaobr’s bride’s vocal. Elsőbbségi and 9 Kapu are the most complex WMD songs ever. Media response was surprisingly great so far, and the packed concerts showed, that a bunch of new kids started to be interested at the band. The most important aspect of Fényérzékeny is the attitude. The only thing that was working in the musician’s mind throughout the writing and the recording is that it has to satisfy the band itself first and foremost. Fényérzékeny release party was held in the Kultiplex, at the III. Stagediving Festival. In 2007 band has a bunch of shows, again (including Metal Mania Festival with Testament, Korpiklaani and My Dying Bride, a last minute concert with Meshuggah, and several summer festival). Another video shoot was done by EET Film for the title track of Fényérzékeny. In May another Stagediving Fest arrived, in Black/Red Hall venue with a lot of underground bands again. Autumn/Winter of 2007 and Spring of 2008 shows, shows and shows again. Nothing can stop the touring machine of WATCH MY DYING. The highlight was V. Stagediving Festival in Budapest, in legendary A 38 Ship. Video recorded for Sztereotip (Állami Sláger) in front of a nearly packed house. The shoot streamed through MTV from June. In the end of all, there was an amazing show with german avantgarde rockers, The Ocean at 11th of May. In May WATCH MY DYING was requested to be involved in the MTV Icon Tankcsapda show with two songs. Tankcsapda is the biggest rock band in Hungary, so it’s a great honour to cover their tracks. The songs were played in August in front of 6000 people at Siófok’s beach. Autumn the band started to rehearse for their third full length record. Later the demos was delivered, so the recording started in Audioplanet and Grape studios at the end of 2008.