The overmind and founder of Darken my Grief, he strives to leave no great words unwritten and no perfect note drift astray from the rich, brooding undercurrent of the songs. Although his soul has soared on musical catharsis whenever notes "clicked" in any of his projects, Darken my Grief is where his multifaceted musical personality feels most at peace.

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Ancient:

As he grew up, his parents discovered that his love for (making) music would prevent him from most mundane chores, such as homework or housework, so they would hide the pickup needle. But that would be no challenge for little Duddu, who would use a sewing needle directly on the spinning vinyl discs (scratching them badly in the process), keeping his ear close and just enjoying whatever little sounds he could get from the endeavor.

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His soundscape horizons broadened in steps, with just a few right songs being enough to change his musical perspective, from the early (parent-inherited) Beatles, Queen and the like, to the classic Metallica & Guns n’ Roses period, until Paradise Lost’s True Belief eventually changed everything.

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This created a brooding base on which My Dying Bride, Anathema, Edge of Sanity, and many others improved along the way, and which has been faithfully serving ever since as a pool of gloomy atmospheric inspiration, guiding darklight, and reference for musical synapses that Duddu brain-fathered.

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Darken my Grief:

Sometime during the very early 2000’s, while still a student in Sibiu, Duddu was commissioned to compose the orchestral score for a modern ballet act.

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Among the symphonic pieces that eventually comprised it, one stood out as a grey, despondent monolith. It was what would later become the very song called Darken my Grief. Another, called Abendlied, also distinguished itself by its gothic, sulking air. While hastily recorded in a more metal – albeit only instrumental – fashion at some point, the latter is yet to be released in a true form, due to its complexity.

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These were the specks around which the whole pearl that is Darken my Grief began to take shape. Mentally adding guitars, drums, and fitting voices to the original symphony, Duddu envisioned the potential for great music.

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The rest is history: he approached Boke, Raul, and Gheba and showed them the prospect songs. All of them were coming from different metal music grounds (black, extreme death, gothic), but, instead of ripping composition apart, their musical personalities clicked together and helped dress the songs in many varied grey shades. Many of those got recorded in bedroom-quality, but were good enough to transcend it and stir emotions in the soul of those who listened.

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The band’s name and symbol that "simply came" to Duddu were hastily scribbled on a piece of paper the same evening and in the same tavern where he recruited members, and, like the founding members, they just stuck.

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After a brief period of doing band things, while still on the ascent, a sundering ensued.

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"I don’t think we were ready for what Darken my Grief meant, as well as for the paths that were unfolding ahead of us, or for the toll they took. I can only hope that now, after much needed amassing of experience, we are mature enough," Duddu says.

 

Currently:

After years spent learning, maturing, changing views and understanding the context, Duddu decided to start all over again. It would not be where they left off, but from a higher level, that level at which all great things should be made.

For that, he left aside all other projects and focused on summoning the right musicians that would help put together the old songs in a modern, melancholic divination of Blightingales.

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Once finished, he found renewed joy in the fact that Boke wholeheartedly accepted to rejoin Darken my Grief for live sessions and future conjurations of awesomeness.

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He hopes that Darken my Grief will be part of the atmospheric background of gifted characters as they grow and develop, while also dreaming of a time when large audiences will sing the songs alongside the band ("at least the clean parts").

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