AXENSTAR was formed by Peter Johansson (guitar) and Magnus Ek (bass) as a Metal-cover band 1998 under the name POWERAGE.
Singer at that time was "Mr.Eddie", the drummer and solo guitarist at that point was stand-in members Johan Burman from Chemical Co-operation and Magnus Söderman from Lost Souls. The only release POWERAGE did with this line-up was a tribute to IRON MAIDEN. "Hallowed be thy name" was recorded and appears on "Made in Scandinavia" (Tribute Records). 1999 Eddie was replaced by Magnus Eriksson (Vocals, keyboard) and Magnus brother Thomas joined on solo guitar. Pontus Jansson overtook the place as drummer in POWERAGE about the same time.
After the lineup was complete, the band started writing songs together with focus on strong melodies and heavy guitar riffs. In March 2000 they entered Studio Underground in Västerås, Sweden to record their first demo CD "The Beginning". Four songs were recorded and they began to send it out to record companies. They got some offers but none of the contracts were signed. The Beginning got excellent reviews in the Swedish Metal press.
POWERAGE have played some local live gigs with bands like The Storyteller and Stormwind only to name a few. Two new songs was recorded in January 2001, Confess Thy Sins and Seventh Labyrinth. In March 2001 they changed their name to AXENSTAR. In August 2001 the band once again entered the studio, this time in Studio Sutare for the recording of a new demo. Simply called "promo 2001". Three songs were recorded this time; "Confess Thy Sins", "King of Tragedy" and "The Cross We Bear". Once again, a demo was sent out to attract the attention of record companies and this time they got an offer they couldn't refuse. They signed with the Spanish label Arise Records and started to work on their debut album "Perpetual Twilight". The album was released in October 2002 and got really good reviews all over the world.
The second album, "Far From Heaven", was released just a year after in November 2003. In the meantime, Axenstar have also had the time to play live a number of times including the Motala Metal Festival 2002, Sweden Rock Festival 2003, and a European tour together with Falconer and Doomsword. And right now the third Axenstar album is in the making and will probably see the light of day in spring 2005.
Source: http://www.axenstar.com/
