Kaiaphas

Who is Kaiaphas?

Lord Kaiaphas was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. When he was six years old, he went to live in Washington D.C., U.S.A., where he grew up. Most of his family members were musically inclined. His grandmother, on his father’s side, was a very famous soprano opera singer during her youth. It was not surprising that Zhyin would develop a strong passion for music. Throughout his teenage and adolescent years, Zhyin played drums and sang for numerous rock and metal bands, recorded several demo tapes, and played dozens of gigs.

Zhyin began his professional music career when he joined the Norwegian black metal band Ancient in 1995. The band’s leader, Aphazel, was impressed by the work Zhyin had made with his prior American black metal bands - Grand Belial's Key and Thokk, so, therefore, Zhyin became the obvious choice to replace Ancient’s previous member, Grimm. At this time, Zhyin changed his name to Lord Kaiaphas and began performing solely as a vocalist/frontman. Drumming duties then became strictly for studio recordings. Thus, a drummer was always hired for live shows.

During his time with Ancient, he recorded two full-length albums for the well-known American metal label, Metal Blade Records. These albums were The Cainian Chronicle and Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends. Zhyin also appeared in three music videos from Ancient, Lilith’s Embrace, Willothewisp, and Um Sonho Psycodelico. In 1997 the band went on a European tour with Bal Sagoth and Dark Funeral. Later that year, the label Mordgrimm Records released the Of Rape and Vampirism CD from Zhyin’s former project, Thokk. The material from this CD came from their A Trance for the ever-toiling Witch demo which was recorded in 1995. In 1998, he went on an Ancient mini tour in America as well as another extensive European tour alongside Belphegor and Behemoth. Shortly after this tour, Zhyin left Ancient.