France's notoriously eclectic (and divisive) the Old Dead Tree were founded in 1997 by vocalist/guitarist Manuel Munoz, guitarist Nicolas Chevrollier, bassist Vincent Danhier, and drummer Frédéric Guillemot, with a view of smashing the conventions of extreme metal by infusing it with goth, darkwave, and even dark pop elements. Unfortunately, the group's happiness over divulging its music for the first time via 1999's The Blossom demo was immediately crushed by the subsequent suicide of drummer Guillemot. But this tragic event also served to drive the Old Dead Tree onward, and they drafted new drummer Franck Metayer to perform on the 2003 concept album The Nameless Disease, which was inspired by and dedicated to their fallen friend's terminal depression, with production duties handled by former Holy Moses guitarist Andy Classen. There followed two more genre-bending albums -- 2005's The Perpetual Motion and 2007's The Water Fields -- that earned the group both critical accolades and vociferous antagonism, but it was ultimately the familiar old motive of growing "musical differences" that ironically drove the Old Dead Tree's bandmembers apart in 2009. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia