Celestial Ode

Celestial Ode was formed in Athens, Greece, in 1996 by guitarists Themis Gourlis and Dionisis Koutris. They were influenced by bands such as Judas Priest, Annihilator, Pantera, King Diamond, Helloween and Testament among many others. Four years passed until they settled with a steady line-up when teaming up with vocalist Manos Xanthakis. A couple of local club gigs took place before Celestial Ode entered Power Studios in July 2000 in order to record their eponymous five track EP together with producer George Stratakis (of Rust fame). The recordings were finished in January 2001 and it was released as a cd-r later that year. Bass player Stefanos Kopanakis was recruited during the first half of 2002, and drummer Kostas Exarchakos shortly afterwards. In late summer 2003 the band shot their first video clip for the song "Merciless Attack" which was presented to the public in mid October. In March 2004 Celestial Ode took part in the second edition of the Dark Metal Fest in Athens together with bands like Wastefall, Hyperion and Marauder where they tried out three new songs. This was the live debut of the band's new drummer Nikos Moiras who had joined the band a few months earlier. In September 2004 the band did their first live show outside of Athens as they travelled to Lamia together with Ravencult and Sickening Horror. In November their song "The Altar" was featured in the Helenic Forces Compilation vol. 1 by Kostas Kousiouris, sharing disc space with bands such as Marauder, Crystal Tears, Dream Weaver, Clairvoyant, Strikelight, Arkenstone, Denial Price, Elwing, Bloodstained, Divine Requiem, Litany, Stendor, Human Genom, Admonisher and Static Progress. In November 2004 Celestial Ode supported James Rivera's of Helstar fame new band Distant Thunder at their Athens gig. A long period of silence then followed, during which both bass player Stefanos Kopanakis and drummer Nikos Moiras left. In April 2008 the band finally issued an update on their website, announcing the recruitment of new drummer Nikos Argiropoulos.