Månegarm

After wisely discarding their original name, Antikrist, following their first month of rehearsal in later 1995, vocalist Svenne Rosendal, guitarists Jonas Almquist and Mårten Matsson, bassist Pierre Wilhelmsson, and drummer/vocalist Erik Grawsiö had become referred to as Månegarm — the vampire wolf of Norse legend that’s prophesied to devour the moon once the time of Ragnarök submerges this world beneath the oceans! Obviously, this moniker announced Månegarm’s newfound dedication to Viking steel, that they proceeded to refine from their house bottom of Norrtälje, Sweden, during the period of a set of demonstration recordings: 1996’s Vargaresa (Wolf’s Trip) and 1997’s Ur Nattvindar, documented following the installment of brand-new bandmembers Jonny Wranning (vocals) and Markus Andé (electric guitar, replacing Matsson). The next demonstration noticed folk music components gaining more surface inside the band’s complicated sound, because of the addition of violins and feminine vocals within the studio room, and it had been this intrinsically Scandinavian fresh sound that got Månegarm a agreement with Displeased Information a short while later on — although they’d need to audition fresh singers once more, employing Stockholm-based Viktor Hemgren, prior to starting focus on 1998’s established debut recording, Nordstjärnans Tidsålder. The name, which means English because the Age group of the Northstar, happily proclaimed the group’s Viking metallic mission to a bunch of fresh enthusiasts, who eagerly embraced its impressive marriage of dark metallic ferocity and indigenous folk music, powered home just as before by the program feminine vocals and violins performed by Ymer Mossige-Norheim and quickly to become long term member Janne Liljequist, respectively. But dangling onto their male vocalists continuing to pose challenging for Månegarm, therefore after firing their latest frontman, Hemgren, halfway with the recording of the sophomore recording, Havets Vargar (indicating Wolves of the ocean, in case you had been wondering), it had been determined that drummer Grawsiö would deal with all vocals for the recording that would ultimately emerge in the entire year 2000. This elicited no issues through the band’s faithful enthusiasts, so after going for a brief break to recharge their innovative batteries, exactly the same lineup surely got to work on following full-length Dödsfärd (Loss of life Journey), that was released in 2003 and boasted both a larger selection of tempos (sub-light rate ones, to become precise) and much more clean vocals combined in with lingering dark metallic croaks. Both of Månegarm’s right now legendary demos had been remastered and released on Compact disc in 2004, and their 4th record, Vredens Tid (Age Wrath) arrived the next year, quickly becoming hailed as Månegarm’s finest recording so far, and leading to their 1st ever concerts for the Western event circuit that summer season. Månegarm’s following launch — a folk-infested EP entitled Urminnes Hävd (The Forest Program) — designated the end of the romantic relationship with Displeased, and the beginning of a fresh one with Swedish label Dark Lodge, which quickly bore fruits in 2007 using the release from the group’s sixth recording, and arguably greatest however, Vargstenen (Wolf Rock).