Lycanthia

Lycanthia
Origin	Sydney, NSW
Genres	Doom metal
Years active	1996 – present
Labels	None
Associated acts	Elysium, Dungeon, The Veil, Myraeth, Nevetherym, Katabasis, Hemina, Decayed Divinity, Leicohtica, Rituals of the Oak, Kimaera
Website	http://www.lycanthia.com
Members	Vanessa Black, Andrew Craig, Giv Gariano, Jennifer McCaffrie, Stephen Mikulic, Lee Tassaker
Past members	see left

Band Members

• Current Line-Up
  • Vanessa Black (violin, flute, vocals)
  • Andrew Craig (drums)
  • Giv Gariano (guitar)
  • Jennifer McCaffrie (keys, vocals)
  • Steven Mikulic (guitar)
  • Lee Tassaker (vocals, bass)

• Former Members
  • Christian Raw (drums) (2007 - 2009)
  • Samantha Kempster (violin) (2003 - 2009)
  • Sabine Hamad-Linfoot (keys, vocals) (2005 - 2008)
  • James Wright (drums) (2003 - 2007)
  • Mandy Andresen (keys, vocals) (2001 - 2005)
  • Chad Halford (guitar) (2000 - 2001)
  • Vanessa Ritchie (keys) (1998 - 2002)
  • Andrew Habib (guitar) (1998 - 2000)
  • Matthew Taylor (guitar) (1998 - 2002)
  • Lachlan Donaldson (drums) (1996 - 1998, 1999 - 2002)
  • Beau Dyer (drums) (1999)
  • Natalie Crawford (vocals, flute) (1996 - 2000)
  • Oliver Heinbach (cello) (1998)

Band Information

Lycanthia is a doom-laden Gothic metal band from Sydney which has existed in various forms since 1996. A demo was issued in 1997 and the band has played live infrequently since 1998, when the album was recorded with the line-up of Tassaker, Taylor, Armstrong, Crawford and Donaldson, with Oliver Heinbach providing cello. Vanessa Ritchie later joined as specialist keyboards player but by late 2001 only Tassaker, Ritchie and Donaldson remained of that line-up as various guitarists had come and gone and Crawford was replaced by Mandy Andreson. Donaldson left to be replaced by Elysium's Beau Dyer and then rejoined, only to leave again after Lycanthia's performance at the 2001 Metal for the Brain.

The band endured considerable downtime after this as the line-up of Tassaker, Gariano and Andreson sought further membership but by mid-2003 was playing live again thanks to the addition of one time Dungeon guitarist Mikulic, drummer Wright and violinist Kempster. With this line-up the band contributed the track 'Inferno' to the promo compilation Underearthed in 2002.

A four-track EP was planned for early 2005 but Andreson left Lycanthia and the release was delayed. In April 2005 it was announced that Sabine Hamad-Linfoot, formerly of Lebanese Goth-metal act Kimaera, had replaced Andreson. Lycanthia released an EP in late 2006, although live appearances were curtailed when Hamad-Linfoot was forced to return to Lebanon to await a visa. In her absence, Wright left the band, however, Hamad-Linfoot's November 2007 return brought the band back to the live arena, with Wright's seat filled by Christian Raw. After some interstate touring in 2008, Lycanthia was named as an opening act on a proposed tour by Mayhem but the tour did not proceed; the group played two shows on Dismember's July 2008 Australian tour.

In December 2008 it was announced that Sabine Hamad-Linfoot would be departing Lycanthia; she has since joined Rituals of the Oak. 2009 was spent reconsolidating with Kempster leaving for Myraeth to be replaced by Vanessa Black, McCaffrie from Leicohtica taking over from Hamad-Linfoot and Nevetherym's Andrew Craig replacing Raw. A new album has been started with Simon Gruer from Avrigus producing and the band was to support Paradise Lost in February 2010, but that tour was cancelled.

Discography

Album:

	2000	Myriad	self release

EP:

	2006	Within the Walls	self release

Compilation track:

Year	Track Title	Album Title	Label
2004	"Within the Walls"	Underearthed 2	independent