VIUDA NEGRA was born in the beautiful Andean city of Quito, capital-city of Ecuador, in 1996. The majestic mountains only worked as the perfect background for this progressive-metal band to come to existence; after years of playing in low-profile bands, with a love for 80's rock as common denominator, VIUDA NEGRA's members gave their first concert together in a small bar called "La Nota" (The Note), on February 2nd of the mentioned year. The band performed together for 2 years, after which the original line-up dissolved. Santiago Silva (vocals) and Johnny Gordon (drums), the only remaining members, performed with several other musicians in an effort to find the right musicians for their project. Many of the songs they wrote and played during this period would appear in the band's first full-length. VIUDA NEGRA were finalists, between 2000 and 2002, of two of the first Rock Concerts organized in Ecuador the principal objective of which was to promote national bands, part of a rock movement that was growing. 25000 copies were produced with the finalist's songs of one of this concerts, “Fioramusica”; this record contained VIUDA NEGRA's song "Pretendo", making the band known among the ever-growing rock and metal audience in the illustrious city. November, 2002, marked an important date for VIUDA NEGRA, as they were invited to open for the worldwide known, acclaimed power-progressive-metal Brazilian group ANGRA during their “Rebirth” tour. The band gave a tremendous performance which won several fans and critics over. In 2003 the band signed a contract with "Corporacion Cultural Ecuador" , and in October they released their first full-length, “El Final del Silencio” (The End of Silence).The group toured the geographically-varied, magnificent country to promote the CD. Most of the music media and press gave the album rave reviews, and praised the band for being one of the first to truly attempt to play an Ecuadorian version of progressive-metal. Later on, next year, VIUDA NEGRA won a survey to represent Ecuador as the opening act for Finnish metal masters NIGHTWISH when they visited "America's Light", as Quito is known for having been the pioneering city to revolt against the Spain during the years of the Colony. The band performed in front of 10.000 fans who rallied behind the ever-improving metal outfit. 2006 saw VIUDA NEGRA concentrating on the writing and recording for their next album. They worked with producer Thiago Bianchi, who had previously worked with bands such as ANGRA, SHAMAAN, among others. The album was recorded in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and released on 2007, again to great critical acclaim. VIUDA NEGRA's music, a perfect mix of power and progressive metal, with elements taken from some of the genre's masters, among them SYMPHONY X and, most of all, DREAM THEATER, seems only to improve with time. It's a safe bet that the Andean metal musicians will help a lot in opening the eyes of the metal world to the recently-born, but tremendously-promising musical scene of one of South America's smallest yet more diverse and beautiful countries.
