Deeply rooted in death metal with firm beliefs in Viking mythology, AMON AMARTH formed in 1992 in Tumba, Sweden, a southern suburb of Stockholm. They began writing material with lots of melodies, harmonies and lyrics about Vikings and the northern gods. In summer 1993 they entered Lagret Studio to record the never released demo "Thor Arise". The band continued to rehearse and writing stronger material and again entered the studio. The result was the second demo "The Arrival Of The Fimbul Winter". This time the band was much more satisfied with the sound and songs and launched it to an unsuspecting underground. The response was overwhelming, quickly selling out of the first pressing and secured them a one off deal with Singapore's Pulverised Records.
This time they decided to use Abyss Studio, owned by Peter Tägtgren of Hypocrisy, and during five days in November 1995 the MCD "Sorrow Throughout The Nine Worlds" was recorded. The five track recording contained three new songs plus two re-recorded tracks from the band's second demo. The MCD was released in April 1996 and continued the band's build to world dominance. June 1996 saw the exiting of drummer Nico who was quickly replaced with Martin Lopez. During this time labels began to show interest and after much consideration the band chose to sign with Metal Blade. In March 1997 AMON AMARTH entered again Abyss Studios to record their Metal Blade debut "Once Sent From The Golden Hall" with Peter Tägtgren. The result proved that they were destined to become force of fury in the Swedish Death Metal scene and beyond.
After the recording of "Once sent...", guitarist Anders Hansson quit just a month before their first major tour with Deicide, Six Feet Under and Brutal Truth in June 98. They quickly recruited Johan Söderberg to make the line-up complete. The line-up was now solidified. "The Avenger" was recorded at Abyss Studios Sweden February to March 1999. Produced by the band, the seven track album is a lesson in pure Viking aggression and brutality blurring the line between death and black metal. The tour following this release was the X-mas massacre festivals, headlined by Morbid Angel.
In November 2000 the band entered The Abyss Studio for, as it would turn out, the last time. This time they recorded the album "The Crusher" (released in 2001). Living up to it's name, "The Crusher", the album is the most brutal album the band has produced so far. This release gave Amon Amarth the opportunity to tour a lot more than before and right after the recording they went on their first headlining tour through Denmark and Germany with Purgatory and Seirim. That tour ended up with great succes and they also managed to be the first metal band entering the German stages for the century. 00.05, 01 of January in 2001 in Guben. Then they went on the No Mercy Festivals 2001 with bands like Marduk and Vader. In the fall of 2001, AMON AMARTH was supposed to support Marduk on their American tour, but due to the events of September 11th, that tour was postponed until January 2002, and if that wasn't enough, Marduk couldn't make it over to the states. So AMON AMARTH got to headline their very first US tour, supported by Diabolic from Tampa, FL. The tour was a huge success, but unfortunately the tour agency decided to cut the tour short with one week. Returning to Europe, AMON AMARTH was offered the possibility to headline their own full European tour, and in April 2002 they went on the road together with Swedish "gore-masters" Vomitory. During the tour the band kept writing new material for an upcoming album.
August 2002 started with the bands second appearance at Wacken Open Air. Approximately 12 000 people saw the show, and the response was overwhelming. Almost going straight from Wacken to the Studio, AMON AMARTH began recording their new album "Versus the World" on August 7th. This time, however, the band had to use a new studio, since Peter no longer produces or records any bands, except his own, in his studio. The choice fell on Berno Studio in Malmö, and it turned out to be a great choice. Berno Studio has a great reputation in the scene and AMON AMARTH found it to be very easy to work with both Berno (owner, engineer) and Henrik (engineer). Recording in a new studio gave new dimensions to the bands sound. During the recording, the band managed to squeeze in a trip to Germany and the Summer Breeze festival, where they made a successful appearance.
AMON AMARTH toured incessantly to promote this album (3 American and 2 European tours, no less), the press woke up to their qualities, and legions of followers put the band on one level with those acts who had dominated the scene for years on end. This set the stage for "Fate Of Norns", AMON AMARTH's breakthrough album and highest charting release to date. Once again recorded at Berno Studios, "Fate Of Norns" saw the band touring Europe and America to ecstatic response from their fans, as well as conquering several new territories, such as Iceland, Mexico, Ireland, Poland, Croatia, and Norway. One of the highlights of the "Fate" touring cycle was undoubtedly when over 30,000 rabid fans gathered in front of the stage at 2AM to celebrate their heroes at Wacken Open Air 2004.
As a tribute to their loyal following, the band released a 3 DVD set entitled "Wrath Of The Norsemen", comprised of five full shows, in May 2005. With no less than six weeks in the German Music DVD Charts as we speak, the momentum gathered by the band by now is one that marketing strategists and industry people would kill to be able to reproduce. Talent, perseverance, and hard work do pay off after all. Which brings us to "With Oden On Our Side"…
In January 2006, the band started writing the follow-up to "Fate Of Norns". Being able for the first time to concentrate 100% on the music, the sessions proved fruitful, as guitarist Olavi Mikkonen confirms: "We nailed down all ideas we had from the past year and we rehearsed 5 days a week, 9 to 5. At the end of the month we had finished a 5 song demo." After a two-month break, the band returned to write the rest of the material: "We started up where we had left off and began working on all new ideas we had. Again 5 days a week, 9 to 5. This time around we had 4 new songs and the album was written. We had never written an album under these intense circumstances, but we found out that this was totally right for us." The new masterpiece "With Oden On Our Side" was born.
2 death
Exactly what does it take to be a pioneer? For some, it can simply be the result of releasing one, maybe two, influential records, never to be heard from again. For others, however, it is an ongoing endeavor which continues long after the initial wound is made on life's jugular. Guitarist/vocalist/songwriter, Chuck Schuldiner, first set the heavy metal underground aflame in the early 80's with his seminal metal outfit, Death, a band that has achieved unparalleled status as one of the genre's most respected and influential acts. Despite the early acclaim and attention, Chuck had no interest in resting on his laurels and the musical prowess and originality he had already become known for were pushed further and further, consistently remaining ahead of the times. And now, in 1998, having seen fourteen years and six albums of setting new standards for metal, Schuldiner has proven yet again with no room for debate, that his reputation as a pioneer is no fluke.
Death's history dates back to 1983 when Chuck formed Mantas together with a couple of high school friends and started gaining much notoriety within the underground tape trading circuit. Soon after the band's name was changed to Death and several more self-released tapes followed. It was the blistering 3-track Mutilation demo that drew Combat Records' attention and Death was subsequently inked to the label. The debut album, Scream Bloody Gore, surfaced in '87 and has since then become a metal classic. Even now it is impossible to get through a live Death performance without hearing the crowd chant for incredible songs like "Zombie Ritual". The following year saw the release of their second album, Leprosy. Though certainly not lacking ferocity in any manner, Leprosy contained material which was much bolder and musically adventurous, foreshadowing progression to come. Over the course of the band's next four albums (Spiritual Healing - 1990, Human - 1991, Individual Thought Patterns - 1993 and Symbolic - 1995, through Roadrunner), the musical and lyrical boundaries continued to expand while the gap between brutality, progression and tradition started to close. It was at this time, primarily around Human, that Schuldiner had truly captured Death's essence and distinctive style; a style that major publications like Guitar World (ranked amongst the top 100 most important guitarists in rock), Bass Player and Modern Drummer have stood up to recognize. Death's rabid fan base is in no way confined to The United States, though. Their headlining tours have dominated world-wide for many years now, touching upon mainland Europe, Japan, South America, etc...
After the release of Symbolic, for the first time in Chuck's adult life he was free of any/all contractual obligations with record labels. It was truly a new beginning; a time for decisions to be made and doors to be opened. At that time a bold choice was made to write music for another metal project Chuck had wanted to pursue appropriately named Control Denied. The musical direction in C.D. was even more melodic than Death and most notably, Chuck was not the vocalist. Instead a more traditional style (ala Iron Maiden, Queensryche, Nevermore) was incorporated. After an album's worth of material was laid to tape Chuck surprised the metal masses again by announcing that he was putting C.D. on hold so he could complete a new Death album, which he had started working on right around the time Symbolic was released. Schuldiner explains, "Timing is everything when it comes to music. I was feeling music bubbling to the surface that was unmistakably Death and the fans have always been so supportive of what I have done, it just felt right. It was time to seek out a new recording contract for the band. I haven't given Control Denied up and I plan to release material in the future, but only after everything with the new Death album is done."
Having always been about high standards, both musically and professionally, for the new album, The Sound Of Perseverance, Chuck sought out the best, feeling and knowing that this is to be the most important release in his 14 year career. Shannon Hamm and Scott Clendenin (both from Control Denied) were recruited first and soon after Richard Christy (dubbed at Holland's Dynamo Festival by many as "the most amazing drummer to come along in the last decade") was added to complete the strongest Death line-up to date. A demo was recorded in Chuck's home studio and solicited to labels worldwide before a logical choice was made to sign with Nuclear Blast Records.
3 Immortal
1990: Founded by Abbath (bass and vocals) and Demonaz (guitar). Earlier the band went under the name "Amputation". The brilliant concept of this band was all based upon Blashyrkh, the name of all the sacred places Demonaz and Abbath found when walking in the wilderness surrounding their homes in Os. Blashyrkh is a fictional realm of demons, grim nature and northern blizzards. The line-up also contained two other members as well: Armagedda (drums) and Jørn (guitar). Musically and visually inspiration sources were bands such as: Bathory, Celtic Frost and Venom.
1991: Their first demo "Suffocate" was released early '91 and later that year followed up by their second effort, "The Northern Upins Death". A short time after this release Jørn got kicked out. Later the band was approached by the French label "Listenable Records" as they were impressed by their latest demo. They got the opportunity to do a 7" single and started to create songs like "Unholy Forces of Evil" and "Cold Winds of Funeral Frost" which later would appear on their debut album as the song "Cold Winds of Funeral Dust". The 7" was recorded and released during the winter 91-92. They also had some very special photo sessions that winter.
1992: Another label that early shown interest for Immortal was Osmose Productions, also French. Immortal signed a two record deal with them and headed for Grieghallen Studios in Bergen to record their first full length. Originally it was going to be called "Battles in the North" but they changed it to "Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism" as that fitted the music better. DFM is a very atmospheric album with several acoustic guitar parts. You can definitely hear the Bathory influence. All in all DFM mad a foundation for Immortal. Later this year Armagedda was asked to leave. He was a skilful drummer, but he didn't follow them mentally. His replacement was this guy named Kolgrim. He was a big failure as a drummer in the band and was fired after 6 months due to laziness.
1993: As they didn't have any drummer at the time Abbath did the skin beating himself on their second album "Pure Holocaust". During the mixing a new drummer, Erik came in to the band. He participated on the cover photo but he didn't play on the album. After the release Immortal got a lot of attention for their controversial choice of title and the fact that they claimed to play "holocaust metal" (their own style) and not black metal. This holocaust thing does of course not have anything to do with Nazism and today they have totally abandoned that term and prefer no label at all. However this was not the only reason they got much attention, because their new album was a true masterpiece of black metal or "holocaust metal".
1994: September: New material was written and again Immortal went for Grieghallen Studios and again Abbath had to take care of the drums. Their former drummer, Erik was fired one month earlier because Abbath and Demonaz wanted to move on, and Erik didn't have the right mentality or skills in order to follow them. Anyway, the album was recorded with Abbath behind the drum kit. The title was "Battles in the North".
1995: Great Immortal year. Their popularity grew and grew and after the release of "Battles in the North" they went on their first big European tour as a special guest with Morbid Angel. Hellhammer from Mayhem agreed to join in as a session drummer for Immortal on this tour. He also played on "Masters Of Nebulah Frost", the first official video of Immortal. The two songs on the video was "Grim and Frostbitten Kingdoms" and "Blashyrkh (mighty ravendark)". The last-mentioned was actually recorded in the free nature on one of the seven mountains surrounding Bergen! It's not a very professional video, but it's very cool.
1996: For six years Immortal had problems finding a suitable drummer, but at spring time '96 Horgh took contact with Abbath and Demonaz. Horgh was known to be a talented drummer, so they arranged a meeting with him. After seeing Horgh in action, both Abbath and Demonaz knew he was the right drummer for Immortal. It took them six years to find him. Three months later Immortal entered Sigma Studios to record the next full length. Now as a full band. The reason for the studio switch was that they wanted to work on the sound, the band wanted to bring forward Demonaz' Leads. Sigma has also better equipment and circumstances for recordings.
1997: In February "Blizzard Beasts" was released. It turned out to be a quite different album compared to the previous ones. Later this year Demonaz got problems with his arms. He couldn't even wash his hair. This was the worst thing that could happen to Immortal as they were just that ready for a tour. They waited, waited and waited even more. Nothing happened. After a few months they got a message from Osmose who said that they had to do a tour now. They sat down and discussed the matter with Demonaz and unfortunately he had to give up. Abbath took over the guitar playing. There're of course many skilled guitarists around, but then there was that matter of style. It was easier for Abbath to switch to the guitars.
1998: Now they were back in business, with Ares from Aeternus as session bass player. They finally went touring again and Demonaz did all the management, like selling stuff and made sure they got their money, while the band could focus on the artistic side of Immortal. Ares was asked to become a full time member of Immortal, but chose to concentrate on his main band Aeternus. In November their new album "At the Heart of Winter" was recorded, this time in Peter Tägtgren's Abyss Studios. Actually Peter contacted Osmose and said he really wanted to produce Immortal's next album and that was ok to both Immortal and Osmose. In addition to this the song "To Walk The Infernal Fields" was recorded for a Darkthrone tribute album on Moonfog Productions.
1999: "At the Heart of Winter" is released in march and it marks the start of a new era for Immortal. Many things have changed: The music to a certain point, the way the music is created, new logo and this time they used fantasy art on the front cover instead of the traditional band photo. But in all these changes they still have stayed faithful to their roots. Before they went touring Iscariah came in filling the vacant bass spot. Immortal is a productive and new songs were already written in October when they again went to Abyss Studios to start the recording of their next opus, entitled "Damned in Black". They finished the drums, bass and guitar, only leaving vocals and guitar solos for recording...
2000: ...in February. "Damned in Black" is a more brutal album than the previous and they have this time taken their style to an even higher and more out breaking level than their predecessors. This was Immortal's last album on their contract with Osmose. After a 9-year cooperation, the band signed a worldwide one album record deal with the Germans from Nuclear Blast. Immortal also celebrated their 10th anniversary this year. A special box with a live cd, photos never published before and many other rare things were supposed to be released, but I haven't seen it yet, so it's most probably canceled.
2001: Immortal was Alarm-nominated for their last album "Damned in Black". They was nominated in the class "best metal album 2000" and they won! A tribute to Mayhem was released this year by Avantgarde and Immortal participated with the song "From the Dark Past". In September they recorded "Sons of Northern Darkness" and the collaboration with Peter Tägtgren is great as he is really into Immortal's music now. The sound is greater than ever, especially the guitar sound.
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