The group began releasing their dark Mass albums in 2003 and have been experimenting with both sound and live shows ever since. In 2013, the ensemble joined Neurot Records to release their fifth full-length album. The label was founded by Neurosis; a band that has been influential in Amenra's style and career.
Their origins were tied to traditional sludge with hardcore elements and shorter songs. They began incorporating post-metallisms into their overall sound with the release of Mass II, the first songs displaying this change of direction being 'From Birth to Grave. From Shadow to Light' and 'Ritual'. By the release of Mass III, they had completely embraced this new sound and composed longer songs.
Their 2021 record 'De Doorn', saw them temporarily interrupting their string of Mass albums because they felt this new record was not in line with what the Masses sound like and represent, De Doorn is different from those, yet still very Amenra-like. This is in part due to second guitarist Lennart's more active contribution to the writing process, something of which he had not done much in the past for some reason. He was feeling very distraught and affected due to Oathbreaker's hiatus (a band where he is the primary composer) so the rest of his Amenra mates wanted him to channel all those dark feelings into an album, an experiment that proved successful. This record itself is also different because it was exclusively composed for a string of special live performances and was only going to be a one-off affair, not an actual Amenra record; however, it turned out to be so good to them, that it eventually became their new record. The final and more distinctive aspect of the record is that it is their first sung entirely in Flemish, their native tongue, which very much fits their music. It was their Relapse Records debut since leaving Neurot Recordings.
Recurring themes in Amenra's music are the duality of birth and death, light and darkness, and pain and sacrifice. The band uses psychological and religious motives. Though calling himself agnostic, Van Eeckhout acknowledges the presence of spirituality and religion in the band's work. Amenra often collaborates with visual artists and choreographers, including Willy Vanderperre and Berlinde de Bruyckere.
Colin's clean vocals approach is very much inspired by the one and only Maynard James Keenan from Tool, something Amenra themselves do not try to deny as they have openly covered Tool song(s), specifically on their live acoustic album. Lead guitarist Mathieu is a self-taught musician and as such, many of Amenra's signature riffing and guitar techniques were devised by him alone, he had to figure them out on his own. Additionally, since Oathbreaker is on indefinite hiatus; their vocalist Caro Tanghe and Lennart's colleague, joined Amenra's roster in 2021 as a second vocalist, something that added a new dimension to Amenra's unique sound. She has collaborated with Amenra in the past so her addition was not that unexpected or out of place/nowhere.
Their style encompasses many aspects of post and non-post-influences and even though their music is not pioneering anything or creating new genres; it's still rather unique and uncomparable, proving to be very influential in the atmospheric and post-scenes, with even some 'copycats' springing around. They have a penchant for quiet clean guitar melodies passages wherein Colin's clean vocals are featured very prominently; sometimes singing, sometimes whispering intertwined with emotional and colossally heavy riffing sections wherein Colin screams at the top of his lungs using a quasi screamo-esque shriek that sounds very desperate and pained in nature. Their riffing style is comprised of semi-melodic sludge patterns, memorable and crushing in nature, very distinct and punctuated by Mathieu's own style.
Members:
Colin H. van Eeckhout (Kingdom) - vocals;
Mathieu J. Vandekerckhove (Kingdom) - guitar;
Lennart Bossu (Living Gate, Oathbreaker) - guitar;
Tim De Gieter (Doodseskader) - bass;
Bjorn J. Lebon - drums;
Caro Tanghe (Oathbreaker) - Vocals.
Former members:
Vincent F. Tetaert - guitar;
Kristof J. Mondy (RDS 220) - bass;
Maarten Kinet - bass;
Levy Seynaeve (Living Gate, Wiegedood) - bass.
Official Site
Bandcamp
De Evenmens
Amenra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
ik hier nu kniel
en geef aan jou
mijn hart mijn ziel
ik zie ik zoek
een god van vlees en bloed
al die mij ontviel
een gevallen doek
en voor jou viel
met hart en ziel
zo voor jou viel en
ik mijn dank aan jou
in tranen giet
zie hoe ik de asse
de urne aan je gaf
ik zie ik zoek
in stilte.
mijn eigen graf
ik ben de kilte,
de keizer van grote spijt
en zie hoe mijn kroon
van ijzer
mijn huid aan flarden snijdt
ik voelde
hoe niemand ons begrijpt
en volgde.
mijn wil. mijn wonder
door bliksem en donder.
door liefde en leed.
verbonden
in evenwicht.
en doelgericht.
in èèn oogopslag gekroond
heers jij. net als ik
over het verloren woord
verkoren door
de hoeder. de moeder
die van ons elk beviel
en heers ik
in dit vrije huis
en heers ik
op dit open erf
tot ik sterf
ik neem afscheid van
dit stervend lichaam.
dit stervend hart.
de dagen. zwart.
ik verlies me in het vuur.
elk uur. het grote lijden
tegemoet
te voet. met jou erbij.
en ik hou moed.
verrezen. de hemel
ingeprezen.
onze tijd. samen.
de eenzaamheid.
al mijn liefde gegeven.
ik loop het onzichtbaar licht
tegemoet. en ik hou moed.
verbrandt
de stilte
verbrandt
die eenzaamheid
en op de as van wat toen was
is nu gebouwd ons aller huis
ons aller huis
ik vond het in de ogen
van mn medemens
klimmend klauwend uit de
dieptes reikte het de hand
het maanlicht voor altijd nu in
mn huid gebrand
verbonden. schuilend in het
huis die eeuwig warmte gaf
nu hier in deze nacht
ik had het niet verwacht
ook hier in deze nacht
ik had het niet verwacht
ik zie je in de ogen
van mn medemens
en laat daar zo mn hart mn huis
nu even onbemand
zoals de ziener zoekend tracht
en zo zijn pijn verzacht
ik had het niet verwacht
ons aller huis
het houten kruis
de verkoolde kelk
de moedermelk
met hart en ziel
de god van vlees en bloed
ik hier nu kniel
het gevallen doek
en jouw grote pijn
laat niemand zijn
The song De Evenmens by Amenra is a solemn, introspective piece that reflects on the human experience of pain and loss, as well as the search for meaning and connection in the face of mortality. The lyrics express a deep sense of longing for a higher power that can provide comfort and guidance in times of darkness and despair. The phrase "met hart en ziel" (with heart and soul) recurs throughout the song, emphasizing the depth of emotion and commitment to finding a sense of purpose in life.
The first verse speaks of offering one's heart and soul to a god of flesh and blood, a tangible presence that can be felt and seen, rather than a distant, abstract concept. The loss of loved ones is acknowledged, with the metaphor of a fallen cloth implying a sense of finality and irrevocability. The second verse continues this theme of searching and seeking, with a reference to the singer's own grave. The singer describes themselves as "de kilte" (the coldness) and the "keizer van grote spijt" (emperor of great regret), struggling to come to terms with their own mortality and the inevitability of loss.
Line by Line Meaning
met hart en ziel
With all my heart and soul
ik hier nu kniel
I am kneeling here now
en geef aan jou
And give to you
mijn hart mijn ziel
My heart, my soul
ik zie ik zoek
I see, I search
een god van vlees en bloed
A god of flesh and blood
al die mij ontviel
All those who escaped me
een gevallen doek
A fallen cloth
met hart en ziel
With all my heart and soul
en voor jou viel
And fell for you
met hart en ziel
With all my heart and soul
zo voor jou viel en
So fell for you and
ik mijn dank aan jou
I pour out my gratitude to you
in tranen giet
Pouring out in tears
zie hoe ik de asse
See how I give the ashes
de urne aan je gaf
The urn I gave to you
ik zie ik zoek
I see, I search
in stilte.
In silence.
mijn eigen graf
My own grave
ik ben de kilte,
I am the coldness,
de keizer van grote spijt
The emperor of great regret
en zie hoe mijn kroon
And see how my crown
van ijzer
Of iron
mijn huid aan flarden snijdt
Cuts my skin to pieces
ik voelde
I felt
hoe niemand ons begrijpt
How nobody understands us
en volgde.
And followed.
mijn wil. mijn wonder
My will. My wonder
door bliksem en donder.
Through lightning and thunder.
door liefde en leed.
Through love and pain.
verbonden
Connected
in evenwicht.
In balance.
en doelgericht.
And purposeful.
in èèn oogopslag gekroond
Crowned in one glance
heers jij. net als ik
You rule. Just like me
over het verloren woord
Over the lost word
verkoren door
Chosen by
de hoeder. de moeder
The guardian. The mother
die van ons elk beviel
Who gave birth to each of us
en heers ik
And I reign
in dit vrije huis
In this free house
en heers ik
And I reign
op dit open erf
On this open field
tot ik sterf
Until I die
ik neem afscheid van
I say goodbye to
dit stervend lichaam.
This dying body.
dit stervend hart.
This dying heart.
de dagen. zwart.
The days. Black.
ik verlies me in het vuur.
I lose myself in the fire.
elk uur. het grote lijden
Every hour. The great suffering
tegemoet
Towards
te voet. met jou erbij.
On foot. With you by my side.
en ik hou moed.
And I keep my courage.
verrezen. de hemel
Risen. The heaven
ingeprezen.
Praised.
onze tijd. samen.
Our time. Together.
de eenzaamheid.
The loneliness.
al mijn liefde gegeven.
All my love given.
ik loop het onzichtbaar licht
I walk the invisible light
tegemoet. en ik hou moed.
Towards. And I keep my courage.
verbrandt
Burns
de stilte
The silence
verbrandt
Burns
die eenzaamheid
That loneliness
en op de as van wat toen was
And on the ashes of what once was
is nu gebouwd ons aller huis
Now our common house is built
ons aller huis
Our common house
ik vond het in de ogen
I found it in the eyes
van mn medemens
Of my fellow human
klimmend klauwend uit de
Climbing clawing out of the
dieptes reikte het de hand
Depths, it reached out its hand
het maanlicht voor altijd nu in
The moonlight forever now in
mn huid gebrand
Branded on my skin
verbonden. schuilend in het
Connected. Hiding in the
huis die eeuwig warmte gaf
House that gave eternal warmth
nu hier in deze nacht
Now here in this night
ik had het niet verwacht
I did not expect it
ook hier in deze nacht
Also here in this night
ik had het niet verwacht
I did not expect it
ik zie je in de ogen
I see you in the eyes
van mn medemens
Of my fellow human
en laat daar zo mn hart mn huis
And let my heart, my house stay there
nu even onbemand
Now momentarily unmanned
zoals de ziener zoekend tracht
Like the visionary seeking
en zo zijn pijn verzacht
And so his pain is eased
ik had het niet verwacht
I did not expect it
ons aller huis
Our common house
het houten kruis
The wooden cross
de verkoolde kelk
The charred chalice
de moedermelk
The mother's milk
met hart en ziel
With all my heart and soul
de god van vlees en bloed
The god of flesh and blood
ik hier nu kniel
I am kneeling here now
het gevallen doek
The fallen cloth
en jouw grote pijn
And your great pain
laat niemand zijn
Let no one ignore it
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Bjorn Lebon, Colin H. van Eeckhout, Lennart Bossu, Mathieu Vandekerckhove, Tim De Gieter
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@relapserecords
AMENRA’s first release for Relapse Records is at once a departure and a momentous act of deliverance. Stepping outside the run of albums titled Mass I-VI, De Doorn casts a 21-year journey from the heart of Belgium’s crusading hardcore scene to world-renowned, spiritually guided innovators in an enthralling new light.
Ritual, remembrance and hard-won rebirth have always been at the heart of Amenra’s colossal, soul-purging approach. Centered around frontman Colin H. Van Eeckhout, but marked out by a transcendent unity of purpose, their albums have acted as totemic, personal marker points, a means to process individual grief as a shared, cathartic experience. Their live shows are acts of incendiary, communal exorcism that reach a cusp of sublime, out-of-body experience. A closely knit collective, they transport you to a febrile state where confrontation of pain, transformation and true healing can occur.
Amenra have always been profoundly bound to their hometowns around Flanders, the weight of that area’s war-torn history. The sacrifice and sense of a larger purpose that bridges the fragility of humanity and the pull of an immaculate ideal is carried as an ever-present resonance. No more is this apparent than in the spectacular, commemorative events the band have performed in recent years – to mark ending of the First World War; the band’s 20th anniversary; and the departure of long-time band member Levy Seynaeve. At the SMAK Museum Of Contemporary Art in Ghent’s 19th-century, monument-strewn Citadelpark in May 2019, they offered a communal recognition of loss and letting go. Here, audience members were invited to make their own offerings, placing personal notes of acknowledgment in wooden structures created by Indonesian artist Toni Kanwa Adikusumah, before they were brought out into the park and set alight as an act of recognition and release – a forging of hope from the flames.
Written for the purpose of that rite, De Doorn (‘The Thorn’) occupies a place between Amenra’s recorded and live work, less a testimony to the band’s individual bereavements, more an invitation for others to come forward, and to pass through darkness into light. Where the Mass albums have taken the form of solitary struggles whose fearless honesty has aligned itself to the most intrinsically human of chords, the dynamics of De Doorn are as stricken by destiny as ever, but sonically looser. Guided to a lesser extent by the band’s characteristically immense, behind-the-beat traction, it’s more lush, immersive, steeped in sonorous, cathedral-echo ambiences amplified to the point of static-infected instability and carrying passages of deeply intimate spoken-word that feel like being drawn in to the most hallowed of confidences. Its themes of dialogue and the passing of knowledge are echoed in the combined vocals of Colin and Oathbreaker’s Caro Tanghe. Her spectral presence on the opening Ogentroost acts as both counterpoint and complement to Colin’s stricken howl as the song cycles between enervation and helplessly compelled momentum. Their whispered devotions in the following, vast, hallowed atmospheres of De Dood In Bloei leave you feeling as though you’re bearing witness to the most private of conversations.
The first Amenra album to be sung entirely in Flemish, De Doorn imparts a universal power by digging deep into local customs. Not just allowing for a greater range of expression through the intimacy, allowances and layers of meaning granted by your native tongue, it takes inspiration from Flemish forms such as Kleinkunst, a folk-based musical wave driven by storytelling, and the passing of wisdom through generations. Yet as with every Amenra release, De Doorn is an act of observance that recognises the path travelled by fully experiencing the moment, as a rite of consummation, reckoning and deliverance. That state of transition is exemplified in the closing Vor Immer, a hushed, plaintively wracked coda that bursts into newborn, world-in-your eyes transfiguration where sheer, sense flooding experience becomes a blazing threshold where rupture and rapture become one.
The thorn is the most potent of symbols – in religious terms, a reclamation and an agony as a mark of transformation. It’s the nagging reminder of vulnerability and it’s the violent protector, without which beauty cannot thrive. For the cover of De Doorn, it’s been cast in bronze – a thing of value and a memorial, each band member given their own piece to symbolise their own pain and their belonging to the greater whole. In bronze, it is both nature and something else – a mark of singularity and a portal to a continuity that we all share. As Amenra have acknowledged once more, it’s one that hears our call, even when we feel we are at our most alone.
@chvaneeckhout7016
De Evenmens
(We zijn even mens)
Hoe ik met hart en ziel
hier nu kniel
En me geef aan jou
mijn hart mijn ziel
Ik zie ik zoek
een god van vlees en bloed
Al die mij ontviel
zoals een gevallen doek
met hart en ziel
voor jou viel
Hoe ik met hart en ziel
voor jou viel en
mijn dank aan jou
in tranen giet
Zie hoe ik de asse,
de urne aan je gaf
Ik zie ik zoek
in stilte
mijn eigen graf
Ik ben de kilte,
de keizer van grote spijt
En zie hoe mijn kroon van ijzer
mijn huid aan flarden snijdt
Ik voelde
hoe niemand ons begrijpt
en volgde
mijn wil, mijn wonder
door bliksem en donder
door liefde en leed verbonden
In evenwicht.
En doelgericht.
In een oogopslag gekroond
heers jij, net als ik,
over het verloren woord
Verkoren door de Hoeder
De moeder,
die van ons elk beviel
En heers ik
in dit vrije huis
En heers ik
op dit open erf
tot ik sterf
Ik neem afscheid
van dit stervend lichaam,
dit stervend hart
De dagen zwart
Ik verlies me in het vuur
elk uur
het grote Lijden tegemoet
te voet.
met jou erbij
en ik hou moed
Verrezen. De hemel in geprezen.
Onze tijd. Samen. De eenzaamheid.
Al mijn liefde gegeven.
Ik loop het onzichtbaar licht tegemoet.
En ik hou moed.
Verbrandt
die stilte
Verbrandt
die eenzaamheid
En op de as van wat toen was
is nu gebouwd
ons aller huis
Ik vond het in de ogen van mn medemens
Klimmend klauwend uit de dieptes reikte het de hand
Het maanlicht voor altijd nu in mn huid gebrand
Verbonden, schuilend in het huis die eeuwig warmte gaf
Nu hier in deze nacht
Ik had het niet verwacht
Ook hier in deze nacht
Ik had het niet verwacht
Ik zie je in de ogen van mn medemens
en laat daar zo mn hart mn huis nu even onbemand
Zoals de ziener zoekend tracht en zo zijn pijn verzacht
Ik had je niet verwacht
Ons aller huis
Het houten kruis
De verkoolde kelk
De moedermelk
Zie hoe
met hart en ziel
ik hier nu kniel
en jouw grote Pijn
laat niemand zijn
@relapserecords
AMENRA’s first release for Relapse Records is at once a departure and a momentous act of deliverance. Stepping outside the run of albums titled Mass I-VI, De Doorn casts a 21-year journey from the heart of Belgium’s crusading hardcore scene to world-renowned, spiritually guided innovators in an enthralling new light.
Ritual, remembrance and hard-won rebirth have always been at the heart of Amenra’s colossal, soul-purging approach. Centered around frontman Colin H. Van Eeckhout, but marked out by a transcendent unity of purpose, their albums have acted as totemic, personal marker points, a means to process individual grief as a shared, cathartic experience. Their live shows are acts of incendiary, communal exorcism that reach a cusp of sublime, out-of-body experience. A closely knit collective, they transport you to a febrile state where confrontation of pain, transformation and true healing can occur.
Amenra have always been profoundly bound to their hometowns around Flanders, the weight of that area’s war-torn history. The sacrifice and sense of a larger purpose that bridges the fragility of humanity and the pull of an immaculate ideal is carried as an ever-present resonance. No more is this apparent than in the spectacular, commemorative events the band have performed in recent years – to mark ending of the First World War; the band’s 20th anniversary; and the departure of long-time band member Levy Seynaeve. At the SMAK Museum Of Contemporary Art in Ghent’s 19th-century, monument-strewn Citadelpark in May 2019, they offered a communal recognition of loss and letting go. Here, audience members were invited to make their own offerings, placing personal notes of acknowledgment in wooden structures created by Indonesian artist Toni Kanwa Adikusumah, before they were brought out into the park and set alight as an act of recognition and release – a forging of hope from the flames.
Written for the purpose of that rite, De Doorn (‘The Thorn’) occupies a place between Amenra’s recorded and live work, less a testimony to the band’s individual bereavements, more an invitation for others to come forward, and to pass through darkness into light. Where the Mass albums have taken the form of solitary struggles whose fearless honesty has aligned itself to the most intrinsically human of chords, the dynamics of De Doorn are as stricken by destiny as ever, but sonically looser. Guided to a lesser extent by the band’s characteristically immense, behind-the-beat traction, it’s more lush, immersive, steeped in sonorous, cathedral-echo ambiences amplified to the point of static-infected instability and carrying passages of deeply intimate spoken-word that feel like being drawn in to the most hallowed of confidences. Its themes of dialogue and the passing of knowledge are echoed in the combined vocals of Colin and Oathbreaker’s Caro Tanghe. Her spectral presence on the opening Ogentroost acts as both counterpoint and complement to Colin’s stricken howl as the song cycles between enervation and helplessly compelled momentum. Their whispered devotions in the following, vast, hallowed atmospheres of De Dood In Bloei leave you feeling as though you’re bearing witness to the most private of conversations.
The first Amenra album to be sung entirely in Flemish, De Doorn imparts a universal power by digging deep into local customs. Not just allowing for a greater range of expression through the intimacy, allowances and layers of meaning granted by your native tongue, it takes inspiration from Flemish forms such as Kleinkunst, a folk-based musical wave driven by storytelling, and the passing of wisdom through generations. Yet as with every Amenra release, De Doorn is an act of observance that recognises the path travelled by fully experiencing the moment, as a rite of consummation, reckoning and deliverance. That state of transition is exemplified in the closing Vor Immer, a hushed, plaintively wracked coda that bursts into newborn, world-in-your eyes transfiguration where sheer, sense flooding experience becomes a blazing threshold where rupture and rapture become one.
The thorn is the most potent of symbols – in religious terms, a reclamation and an agony as a mark of transformation. It’s the nagging reminder of vulnerability and it’s the violent protector, without which beauty cannot thrive. For the cover of De Doorn, it’s been cast in bronze – a thing of value and a memorial, each band member given their own piece to symbolise their own pain and their belonging to the greater whole. In bronze, it is both nature and something else – a mark of singularity and a portal to a continuity that we all share. As Amenra have acknowledged once more, it’s one that hears our call, even when we feel we are at our most alone.
@nettlesnettles
❤
@Tokhen_
if you have the chance to see these guys live just don't hesitate its litteraly the best show I ever witness
@ivonnegarcia4002
just did for the first time this week and you are not wrong. arcane af.
@thenayancat8802
meh
@felfella69
I saw them in November 22 in Doornroosje Nijmegen, Netherlands. It was very impressive . Normaly in the Netherlands there is talking in the crowd all concert long, now, no one was talking and in full attendance to the band. Very, very cool and intense band!
@vanjatanevski962
@@felfella69 one should never talk during amenra show. and that's a fact!
@timgutjahr5889
Saw them yesterday, i expected nothing cause i didnt Really like the records (only had a Short Listen) and they totally blew me away. Such a Great Show.
@Appalachian_Hunger
Not only amazing live, but Colin sold the merch and thanked each one of us as we bought our items. Was in a small crappy venue in Texas, but to me it was magical.
@MrHMS91
he is an incredibly kind guy! I had the pleasure to hang out with Amenra in 2020 in Moscow. I was FC at the karaoke bar where band hung out after the show which I visited the previous evening. The show was one of the most impressive in my life, if you have the opportunity to visit their show - do it! But the guys impressed me so much more, I also caught the magical vibe while hanging out with the band and talking about different things with Matthew and Colin, such an incredible moment of my life! Colin struck me with his openness and sincerity, which is very unusual for a musician in personal communication - I had the opportunity to communicate with many famous musicians and there is always a feeling of distance between you. But Colin is completely on the same level with you, without any barriers, without any distance. Extraordinarily open guy and an incredible vocalist and performer, hope to see him and Amenra again and wish you to!