The Withering Beauty

After the brake-up of Sullen previous band "In Emptiness" and the slumber of his project "Senium" he, Fernando (Drums) and Xavier (Keyboards) talked about keep on working together and form a project that better reflected their feelings and passion, and an idea was born in autumn of 2010. The concept being formed during this season directly influenced the members when choosing the name for it. "The Withering Beauty" is a direct representation of Autumn, in both meaning and symbolism. A season that embraces perfectly the desolated and nostalgic sound the band transmit. A metaphor about how everything and everyone no matter how beautiful, are in a moribund state, withering little by little, establishing the dichotomy that lies within of good and evil, beauty and decay. An analogy to the melancholic and delicate, yet elegant atmosphere of the band. The idea began to take shape and looking to give the music a more delicate touch, Sullen invited Mariana to do vocals as they wanted to work together in a project for quite some time and he understood that her style fit perfectly with the overall concept. After several line-up changes around fall of 2011, Sullen contacted long time friend Ray that was then residing in Delaware, USA. He talked to him about the project and the general idea behind it and Ray showed interest and told Sullen he wanted to be part of it as bassist. With very little experience with the instrument he quickly demonstrated his commitment to the band and fellow friends by moving down to Puerto Rico and practicing non-stop, and in no time he got the hang of it. Only guitars were missing so Sullen talked to former bandmate and old friend Juan Luis to take on lead guitar duties. This was a natural decision as Sullen having worked with him in the past on numerous occasions knew of what he was capable of, and the music and composition chemistry between them has always been excellent. They felt the need of a second guitarist and fortunately Sullen knew the right person to step in. Luis was a friend that alike Mariana also wanted to work with Sullen in a band for a really long time, but it was never possible due to transportation or conflicting schedules, but this time seem like the perfect moment to finally make that a reality. This alliance would prove very beneficial as Luis not only brought his skills in electric guitar to the table, but also his fascination for acoustic guitar and his singing voice, taking the original concept to unexpected levels. The line-up already completed began working on new material. Having Doom/Death Metal as a general foundation it was quickly evident that something interesting was happening, as every influence of every member was pouring into the composition process, everything from Doom Metal, DSBM, Post-Black Metal to none Metal music like Ballads, Trip-Hop, Shoegaze, Post-Rock and Post-Punk, 70's psychedelic and progressive rock to more ambient stuff like Darkwave and Classical music. With this rich palette of musical colors it was only logical that the main and most important aspect that joined everything together was every member feelings towards the making of saddened and sorrowful music. This was the key ingredient, their mutual love for woe, grief, despair and melancholy. Luis had to leave for personal reasons out of the country for some time so a decision had to be made. Taking a hiatus from the band without losing his place within it, Amílcar (From Death Arrangement fame) agreed to replace him until his return. In May, 2013 the band got an invitation to form part of the 5th compilation of Death Frog Studios and recorded the single "The Silence and the Crestfallen" with producer and sound engineering Héctor Santiago. After the release of the single in summer 2013 the band began receiving various offers to participate on international compilations such as the second part of "Twenty years in tears: A tribute to Lake of Tears" for which they covered the track "So Fell Autumn Rain". Sadly also at this time original drummer Fernando, bassist Raymond and guitarist Juan Luis parted ways with the band and Amílcar went on to become full time guitarist, long time friend Naelle Devannah (ex-Senium) step in to take care of the bass guitar and Xavier friend Carlos (ex-Altazor, ex-Father I Have Sinned) came to take on drum duties, thus expanding the sound and creativity of the band even more with his skills and drumming techniques. This forms the foundation of "The Venusian Guild"; 7 lone souls longing, yearning, dreaming, remembering and transforming those emotions into sonic waves of lingering and woe, a somber and bleak force of love loss and nostalgia. A sentiment, a deep fear, a regret, an apology...