OSTROGOTH - Full Moon's Eyes SLIPCASE MCD

Transfer, mastering and audio restoration by Patrick W. Engel at TEMPLE OF DISHARMONY in April 2022.

After a couple of demo tapes had been recorded in previous years, by early 1983 Ostrogoth (then consisting of vocalist Marc “Red Star” De Brauwer, guitarists Rudy “White Shark” Vercruysse and Hans “Sphinx” Vandekerckhove, bassist Marnix “Bronco” Van de Kauter and drummer Mario “Grizzly” Pauwels) decided to record a first EP on their own.

The search for a suitable studio commenced and in the end they settled for the Kritz Studios in Kuurne, in the province of West-Flanders. Not only because of the great acoustics the studio produced, but most likely also because Kritz simply offered the best value for money at the time.

So, in late March of 1983 the band ventured off to Kuurne and started to record four of their original tunes : “Full Moon’s Eyes”, “Heroes Museum”, “Paris By Night” and “Rock Fever”. The former was chosen to be the title track. The recording sessions took place from Friday 25th of March 1983 through Sunday 27th of March 1983, and the songs were produced by the band, together with studio owner and producer Fritz Valcke. Fritz was also responsible for the mixing on the final day.

The cover art design of »Full Moon’s Eyes« was courtesy of Gino De Wit, a notorious biker that drummer Mario Pauwels got to know earlier on, and who showed up at rehearsals from time to time.

The initial idea if the band was to release the »Full Moon’s Eyes« EP on their own. As a matter of fact, the band had already baptized their label Ostrogoth Records and the catalogue number was to be OR 515187. It would be a limited first press of 1.000 copies.

Not much later Mausoleum Records’ Alfie Falkenbach, who had heard Ostrogoth on a radio show called “Domino” on BRT in Belgium, offered the band a contract to release the EP on his label instead.

Quite a turn of events, bearing in mind that not so long ago Mausoleum didn’t think the band was quite ready to release any kind of vinyl.

Anyhow, it was an offer Ostrogoth simply couldn’t refuse and therefore gladly accepted.

Eddy Vermeiren

Ostrogoth is an early heavy metal band from Belgium that formed in 1976. After having recorded an EP they were invited to a local radio show called Domino which was broadcasted on Saturday evening. Two of the four songs off the EP went on air and the next day they got a phone call from Mausoleum Records saying that they would cover all recording expenses and give them a contract for the EP which the band accepted. During their career Ostrogoth got to play with bands like Def Leppard, Loudness and Manowar twice. The last line-up included guitarist June Martins from Brazil and bassist Sylvain Cherotti. They did some gigs, released their last album and there were plans to go on tour in Germany and the USSR. Due to problems with visa documents for June it never happened and eventually the band was put to rest in 1988. Mario, June and Sylvain formed Hermetic Brotherhood and released one album and did a few shows before calling it quits. Peter recorded two albums with his band Mystery. Rudy Vercruysse didn't play for five years before forming Run 4 H, a band playing covers by bands like Deep Purple, Manowar and AC/DC.

Available: November 15th, 2023.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Full Moon's Eyes