Affiliated project

WhileHeavenWept

A major chapter in the musical lives of Scott Loose, Michelle Schrotz, and Trevor Schrotz, connected closely to Bravemusic but standing firmly as its own band.

Read the connection Listen on Bandcamp
While Heaven Wept backstage in Athens, Greece, March 2026
Athens, Greece · March 2026 Trevor Schrotz · Michelle Schrotz · Rain Irving · Tom Phillips · Jim Hunter · Scott Loose

Where the paths meet

A separate band, a shared history

While Heaven Wept grew from the same Northern Virginia musical world that shaped Arise From Thorns and Brave. Scott joined the band in 1998. Michelle and Trevor became long-standing members in the early 2000s, carrying that connection through recordings, festivals, and tours in Europe and the United States.

Tom Phillips also belongs to the earliest part of the Bravemusic story through his time in Arise From Thorns and Brave. Those relationships make While Heaven Wept an important branch of this history, even though the band remains wholly its own project.

Not a Bravemusic project, but an essential part of the musical history behind it.
Scott LooseGuitars · Member since 1998
Michelle SchrotzKeyboards and vocals · Since the early 2000s
Trevor SchrotzDrums · Since the early 2000s

Beyond Virginia

From the underground to a wider stage

1998A lasting lineup takes shapeScott joins during the period surrounding Sorrow of the Angels, beginning a connection that continues today.
2009Vast Oceans LachrymoseThe core lineup heard by a new international audience comes fully into focus.
2011Nuclear Blast and the roadFear of Infinity arrives through Nuclear Blast, followed by a European run and ProgPower USA.
2014Suspended at AphelionA single expansive composition pushes the band further into progressive and orchestral territory.
2018European stages againThe Vast Oceans lineup returns for dates in Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain.
2026AthensWhile Heaven Wept returns to Greece for Up the Hammers Legacy, reconnecting the same musical family onstage.

Selected listening

Four points in the journey

2003Of Empires Forlorn

Scott on guitars, with additional keyboards from Michelle. The record that opened the band to a much wider international audience.

 2009Vast Oceans Lachrymose

The full Scott, Michelle, Trevor, Rain, Jim, and Tom lineup captured in its defining era.

 2011 · Nuclear BlastFear of Infinity

A concise and emotionally direct record that carried the band onto larger stages.

 2014 · Nuclear BlastSuspended at Aphelion

A forty-minute work in eleven movements, expanding the band’s progressive scope.

Onstage

Two moments, sixteen years apart

Triumph: Tragedy: Transcendence

Hammer of Doom III, 2009. The performance was released as a live album in 2010.

Vessel in Athens

Up the Hammers Legacy, March 2026. The most recent chapter in a relationship stretching back decades.

Another affiliated branch

As the Sea Parts

A Virginia melodic death metal project with roots in the 1990s and a later return featuring Scott Loose. Its full story will remain distinct from both Bravemusic and While Heaven Wept.

Visit As the Sea Parts

AS THE SEA PARTS is a Virginia-based melodic death metal band that was founded by Paul Vanderslice in 1995. Later that year, Paul teamed up with Erik Sayenga (WARTHRONE, KRISTEL DAWN, ex-DYING FETUS, ex-WITCH-HUNT) on a three-song demo/EP entitled ‘Trilogy of Sorrow.’ The EP was released on cassette, and drew influences from the emerging death/doom scene in Europe as well as the classic Tampa Bay area death metal bands from the early 1990's. Shortly after, AS THE SEA PARTS was joined by guitarist Scott Loose (BRAVE, STELLAR DEATH, DAY OF DEPARTURE, WHILE HEAVEN WEPT), and bassist Jason Ian-Vaughn Eckert (AURORA BOREALIS, TODESBONDEN), and the band began working on a follow-up EP roughly titled '...And the Journey Begins'. The recording was never completed, and in 1999 the band went on a seemingly indefinite hiatus. In 2019, Paul completed writing a new album and resurrected the band with Erik Sayenga and Scott Loose. The new album is entitled ‘Psychosis,’ and picks up where the band left off in the late 1990s – drawing influence from the classics of the genre, while also fusing elements of old school melodic death metal with some aspects of epic death/doom and black metal. A new single has been released on June 4th 2021 titled Psychosis. The new album is set for independent release late 2022/early 2023.

While Heaven Wept has existed in various forms since 1989 and co-founding guitarist/composer Tom Phillips has been the one constant for the past 30 years. Since the beginning, there has been a wide range of influences, transcending forms, styles, and genres from epic metal to kosmiche musik, prog to neo-romanticism.