Mistr a Markétka - 1994
XIII. stoleti
XIII. Století (The thirteenth century) is a Gothic music band from Jihlava in the Czech Republic. The history of the band is one of numerous personnel changes, splits and reunions. XIII. Století arose from the punk band HNF, which was an abbreviation for Hrdinove Nove Fronty (Heroes of the New Front), but in 1992, with the release of the album Amulet, there was a drastic change of style and a new name. The punk icons were exchanged for old castles, mysterious creatures from the thirteenth century, werewolves, fairies, demons and Rosicrucians.
Two years after Amulet, which was still dominated by guitars, the band released the album Gotika in 1994. Despite the title it was not entirely successful among Gothic music fans. Especially the song Mistr a Markétka, based on The Master and Margarita, had to suffer because it was considered being flat, commercial pop music. The piano was put clearly on the foregrounds and inspiration for the themes was sought in literature. The songs ranged from pop to complex instrumental parts, and the parts of Margarita in the song Mistr a Markétka were performed by the opera singer Karolina Husáková.
Only one year after this album the band would become popular in Gothic circles by recording much darker albums as Nosferatu (1995), Werewolf (1996) and Ztraceni v Karpatech (Lost in the Carpathians) (1998). In 2003, the band split up to come back again in 2008, but today there is hardly any news to find about XIII. Století.
XIII. stoleti - Mistr a Markétka
XIII. stoleti
Technical details
Album
Gotika
Musicians
Petr Štěpán - vocals, guitar, songwriter
Pavel Štěpán - drums
Jiri Sindelka - bass
Michal Kourek - guitar
Karolina Husáková - vocals
Label
Monitor