Advocatus Diaboli – 30 Farewell & Origins | A 30 years retrospective release
Advocatus Diaboli was founded in 1996 by Tom as a project. Shortly afterwards, Chris joined and soon became a defining member.
Together with Tom, he continues to form the duo Advocatus Dei, which was revived in 2025.
To mark the 30th anniversary, the special album "30 Farewell & Origins" is being released. The focus is deliberately placed on the origins of Advocatus Diaboli. A large part of the material comes from the 1997 demo "Darkside of Spring", which had originally been planned as an official album. A record deal was already in place at that time, but the album was never released by the label.
The album is complemented by early recordings from the founding year 1996 as well as selected tracks from the later demos "Escapatience" (1998) and "Tanz mit mir" (1999). The selection consciously concentrates on songs from the band’s creative core phase and on material recorded either by Tom alone or together with Chris.
"30 Farewell & Origins" is released digitally and available on all major platforms such as Spotify, YouTube, Amazon and Apple Music.
The collection also includes two completely new tracks, “Vergiss mich nicht” and “Auf die Barrikaden”, marked as featuring Advocatus Dei. Both songs additionally feature the regular guest singer Anja from Advocatus Dei. As Tom and Chris have been active again as a duo under the name Advocatus Dei since 2025, this designation is the logical and consistent way to present the new material within the anniversary release.
For mixing and mastering, Tommy Steuer returns. As former head of the label Sonorium, he was already closely involved in earlier Advocatus Diaboli releases. He is responsible for the production of the new songs as well as for the mastering of the historical demo recordings, creating a cohesive and contemporary sound throughout the album.
"30 Farewell & Origins" is not meant to be a best-of compilation. It is conceived as a conscious retrospective, a document of origin and, at the same time, a farewell. The later albums - "Enter Your Forest" (2001), "Sterbend durch die Sonne" (2004) and "Sternenmarsch" (2006) - are deliberately not included, as they remain available separately.
Tracklisting - 30 Farewell & Origins
1. Vergiss mich nicht (feat. Advocatus Dei)
2. Auf die Barrikaden (feat. Advocatus Dei)
3. Mistress of the Dark (Early recordings, 1996)
4. Search the Stars (Early recordings, 1996)
5. The Night (Demo Darkside of Spring, 1997)
6. Heaven (Demo Darkside of Spring, 1997)
7. Days (Demo Darkside of Spring, 1997)
8. Never Paradise (Demo Darkside of Spring, 1997)
9. You and the Sea (Demo Darkside of Spring, 1997)
10. It Never Comes Again (Demo Darkside of Spring, 1997)
11. Give Me (Demo Darkside of Spring, 1997)
12. Escapatience (Demo Escapatience, 1998)
13. 1998 (Demo Escapatience, 1998)
14. These Fields (Demo Tanz mit mir, 1999)
15. Violation (Demo Tanz mit mir, 1999)
16. Susanne (Demo Tanz mit mir, 1999)
