Old Night is a doom metal band from Rijeka, Croatia. The band was formed in 2015. by Luka Petrovic, best known as the lyricist and one of the main composers of Ashes You Leave. The band originally started as a solo project. The main idea behind this band was to make innovative and original music, completely unencumbered by other people’s expectations, but with the legacy of Ashes You Leave intact. Although Old Night is mainly a doom metal band, the music itself is highly influenced by progressive rock, blues and atmospheric music in general.
As faith would have it, the idea of a solo project was discarded and from 2016. onwards, Old Night is a full-fledged band. Nikola was the first to join the fold and with Luka on bass the rhythm section and the backbone of the band was complete, but the band found its distinctive voice when brothers Hanzek joined as guitarists and singers. Their distinctive vocals and singing style added a new dimension to the music of Old Night. The lineup was rounded when Bojan Frlan, best known as the lead guitarist of Croatian underground legends Castrum and Grc, joined the band’s ranks as the third guitarist.
With an amazing lead singer and two backing vocals, three guitarists, personal and heartfelt lyrics and the music that is often – lacking a better word for it – a journey, Old Night has a truly unique music style in today’s music world.
Old Night signed a record deal with Rain Without End Records / Naturmacht Productions, and their first record, “Pale Cold Irrelevance”, was released in August 2017, and the record was really well received by both the media and the audience. The band released their first music video, for “Architects of Doom”, in support of the record and the video was even nominated as a single of the week on the largest Croatian portal dedicated to music – Muzika.hr
In the autumn of 2018, the band returned to the G.I.S. studios to record their second record “A Fracture in the Human Soul”. The record was once again mixed and mastered by Insanus in his relocated Dungeon studios in Poole, UK. Old Night’s sophomore release sees the return of the Croatian doom metal visionaries with a more focused and matures release. The band continues its journey, creating new soundscapes built on their signature sound. The record features five epic tracks interwoven with intricate guitar melodies and haunting vocals.
Two music videos were released in support of their second album, the first video release for the song “Elder” and later for “Glacial”. The second record got an amazing response from both the public and media which led to the nomination for RiRock awards. These are music awards for the hardest working regional bands in Croatia, and Old Night got the award for „Artist of the year“.
In 2022 Old Night released their most ambitious record to date for the legendary Russian record label, Solitude Productions. “Ghost Light” is the culmination but also the closure of the trilogy started back in 2017 with their first record. This intimate concept album took an even more adventurous turn in the exploration of the darkest corners of the human mind.
At the end of 2023 Matej Hanzek decided to step down from his duties as the frontmen of Old Night. This marks the only lineup change since 2016. After much deliberation as who would be the perfect candidate to fill such an important role within the band we agreed that we need not to look outside or band for such a person. Ivan Hanzek, who has been singing backing vocals since he joined the band, stepped up to fill the spot and with the recruitment of Rafael Cvitkovic on rhythm guitar the lineup was once again complete.
With the lineup once again stable the band continued working on their fourth record that should soon be finished and more details will be revealed in the coming months.
Stare into the abyss with Old Night and let the abyss stare back.
