The very first Ariel Kill Him recording made its way to the small town of Hörby in February 1999. David Lehnberg and Mikael Månsson at The Diving Empire had been friends for a while and got to know each other through David’s newly founded band, Leiah. David had recorded some songs at a friends place and he didn’t really think they fitted into the Leiah ‘sound’ so he was looking for someone to put it out under the pseudonym Ariel Kill Him. Mikael really liked it and didn’t hesitate to offer David to record a full album for release on his label.
After recording a low budget album (She Wears The Stars Like Him) on his own he joined forces with producer Magnus Björk in mid 2001 and recorded his second solo album, this time on Kasual Recordings, a newfounded label run by Mikael Månsson and Johannes Svensson. The result was ‘Alpha is Down’, released a couple of months later that year. The record was an instant success and grew to be the best selling release in the label’s history. It was also released on vinyl on the German independent label Strange Fruit and got licensed to Howling Bull Entertainment for the Japanese market.
In November 2003 the recording of the third AKH album was completed, again with producer Magnus Björk behind the knobs and together they have created an epic follow up to ‘Alpha is Down’! Once again David has reinvented his sound and even though some of the new material may be a bit more introvert than previous works it’s still the same Ariel Kill Him we fell in love with in the beginning. ‘In the Pyramid’ also takes a turn towards a more electronic sound and a lot of effort has been put into the production to make every single song amazing enough to stand on its own. Musically you will find everything from epic ballads to minimalistic songs accompanied only by an acoustic guitar. ‘In the Pyramid’ is an album you might have to listen to many times to understand but it will definitely grow on you...
Up until now, Ariel Kill Him hasn’t done any extensive touring but a European tour is scheduled for September and we are hoping to be able to bring him over to other parts of the world as well. He isn’t new to this though, after roughly 15 European tours and thousands and thousands of miles in the van with Leiah he sure knows what he’s doing! They have done shows with The Get Up Kids, As Friends Rust, Hot Water Music, Grade, etc and are pretty much a household name in the European indie scene.
Ariel Kill Him shouldn’t be categorized as a side-project, to put it simple you could say that David is getting an outlet for all the ideas he don’t want to use for Leiah.
Source: http://www.arielkillhim.com/
