Congress are without doubt one of the most respected, longest lasting underground hardcore bands from Belgium. The band started way back in 1993, when all hardcore activity was at an alltime low in Belgium. The band first recorded a four-song demo with a different singer (which would later become the added bonustracks on 'The Other Cheek'), and in 1994 the band released their debut 7" 'Euridium' on what was then still called Warehouse Records later to become the Goodlife label. 'Euridium' hit hardcorescenes worldlike like a bomb, thus introducing the musical style typical for Congress and what would later become wellknown as 'Edgemetal', a combination of the straightedge/drugfree lifestyle and deathmetal music which was the trend in their H8000-area. Soon, through the release of 'Euridium' on CD and relentless touring of Europe, Congress set a very strong live-reputation for themselves, resulting in the nothing short of amazing full length debut album 'Blackened Persistance' (1995). This record is still one of the genredefining records. 'Blackened Persistance' is Goodlife's logical bestseller to date and was recently rereleased in the fall of '97 with six live bonussongs for CD-ROM-video, which enables the listener or rather, viewer to watch the band play live on their computer screen on five different locations! 1996 saw the release of Congress''The Other Cheek'-CD. 'The Other Cheek' is nothing short of a brilliant record, again recorded at Midas Studio in Belgium, a studio that saw it's reputation rise along with Congress' fame, 'The Other Cheek' was another climax in Congress' short but happening story so far... In the meantime, members of Congress also started playing in bands like Liar or Goodlife's Deformity, with whom Congress did a split 7" in the summer of '97. After a quite calm period, the band made it's re-appearance with their most recent, best written and produced album so far 'Angry with the Sun'. (1998).The record was released may 1st and got tremendous response and reviews worldwide. They were asked to tour during alongside New Yorks hardest All Out War and played on some of the big festivals with success. In 1999, Congress recorded four new songs which appeared on the Australian Trial and Error label, the complexity and variety of these songs made the foundation of their yet-to-come-full length which would appear in 2000. Trouble within the band lead to the departure of rythm-guitarist Michaël which concentrates now on his deathmetal band Deformity, the band thought it was better to go on with more motivated and likewise-minded musicians so Pedro (formerly from Spineless and Natural Order) joined in. UXJ, long-time friend and member from the start, decided to follow his metal-buddy and so Vez became the four-string-man. With this line-up, the band decided to hit back hard to the gossip-machine some HC-scenes have become and recorded their latest album "Stake Through The Heart". A record that will slap everybody in the face who claimed Congress was history,brutal and heavy with thoughtprovoking lyrics. This record will set the future of the band who have been struggling for their share in this scene full of contradictions, during their 10-year long existence. Only the real quality survives and Congress is living proof of this. Check out their brand new CD/LP ' Ressurection' on Goodlife/Eye Spy.