Asrai

Asrai, the gothic rock band from Schiedam in the Netherlands, assembled during 1985 yet required several additional years before locking in a lasting name and committing early material to tape. Between 1989 and 1994 the group proved especially active on the demo circuit, issuing four recordings in fairly rapid succession: The Blue Tape, So Clear That You Couldn't Tell Where The Water Ended and the Air Began, Love Is a Lie, and Live In a Package. Their first full-length album, As Voices Speak, surfaced in 1997, coinciding with the signing of an initial album contract through Poison Ivy. Further adjustments to both personnel and musical direction preceded a new agreement with Transmission Records, which delivered the follow-up album Touch In the Dark in 2004. By 2006 the lineup had settled around vocalist Margriet Mol, guitarist Rik Janssen, bassist Martin Kooy, synth and violin player Manon van der Hidde, and drummer Karin Mol, leading the ensemble to Season of Mist for its third album, Pearls In Dirt. European distribution of that record began on November 12, 2007, while the United States received it on November 20th.