MEMBERS Melanie van Hoof | Vocals Danny Bouman | Guitar, Grunts, Screams & Vocals Daniël Woort | Guitar Robert Blokdijk| Synths and Piano Stefan Terlouw | Bass Guitar Bas Polder| Drums Biography 2012 Ashen was founded as a Symphonic Metal band, August 2004 in the high north of Holland, Den Helder. First shows were given in February 2005. Within that year there were a few changes in the bands formation, and with winning the semi-finals of 'Noord Hollands Glorie', Ashen became a well know name in the northern Metal scene. After doing around 20 shows, the bands first Demo was recorded and released at the end of 2005.   In 2006 Ashen joined a band contest. Competing against 20 bands, they were awarded first prize; the  prestigious "Popprijs 2006 award". Unfortunately the organizer tried to make money out of the band and after months of though attempts to receive the prizes that they won, they gave up the battle and started to focus on their music again. During all that, the band wrote a title-song for a Dutch horror movie "The Fading Horizon", directed by Ranil Gort.   In 2008 and 2009 the band sort of fell into a hole, and tried to get back out of it. But in the summer of 2009 the drummer and bass-guitarist decided to leave the band. Ashen didn't give up, never did and never will. They started to write new material and started the search for new members.   Just before the start of 2010, the auditions for a bass-guitarist were successfully closed, which gained them a great musician; Stefan Terlouw (Ex-In Aetherium). A few months after that, Bas Polder (Ex-In Aetherium, Ex-Yaotzin) joined Ashen as their drummer. With this new formation, Ashen is back with even more power then before! Ashen shared the stage with bands like: Asrai, Autumn, A New Dawn, Trisomy, Magion, Annatar and many more. Performing at various stages and festivals like: Midwinter Fair at Archeon, Gothic Fantasy Fair at Rijnhal, De Kade, and the Darktime Fairytales festivals. Their music is best described as "Symphonic Metal" with its Symphonical strings and choirs, the combination of classical and powerful vocals of Melanie, grunts and screams, heavy and dynamic drums, earthshaking bass guitar riffs, and heavy melodic guitar lines. Inspired by all sorts of bands and styles, the band created their own sound through the diversity in their shows, which is, next to a powerful wall of classical underlined guitar violence, a strong visual appearance in which the front man and woman form a striking centre of the confident, energic band. Let the music lead you through the enchanting songs of love and hate, happiness and sorrow, to be blown away by the compelling sound of Ashen!   We are working on our EP which will be released before summer. The release was delayed because Danny broke his ankle in December, but after 2 months he is now walking properly. We can start doing shows again so, check out the Live section on our website for upcoming shows!