Vrede - Vocals Vemod - Guitar Sygmoon - Keyboards Gard - Bass Armoth - Drums
The nucleus of the band Antestor (Vemod, Pilgrim, Martyr and Paul W.) formed in 1990 in Norway, with their musical style being a blend of Death and Thrash Metal (shown in their first demo - released in Autumn 1991). Nevertheless, in the Spring of 1992 due to personal commitments the band broke up.
During the spring/summer of 1993, the band reformed, calling themselves "Antestor", With Armoth (drums) and Gard (new permanent bass player), and released a demo entitled "Despair" soon after. An aggressive new style had now developed, incorporating death/doom metal influences. The band progressed further slowly and at the end of 1994 entered the studio 'Norsk Lydskole' to record nine songs for an album with the title of "Martyrium", which they hoped would secure the band a record deal though unfortunately Antestor's style did not fit in with the trends of the time.
In July 1995, the band replaced their guitarist Pilgrim with the new blood of Erkebisp and consequentially changed their sound too. Influenced by Norwegian legends and folk songs, the compositions became more atmospheric and melancholic, leading the band to coin the term "sorrow metal" to describe their creations.
From that point the band began to create around that concept, refining themselves both technically and musically, though Erkebisp left the band in the winter of 1996/97 leaving the remaining members of the band to continue developing in the musical path they had steered into. Lyrically, the band steered away from the well worn paths of occultism and violence, concentrating more on the self and one's emotions: despair, sorrow, ennui, coping with life and facing death and what happens hereafter.
In the Spring of 1997, Antestor entered "Studio S" to record this new material under the working title of "Kongsblod" (King's Blood) and soon signed with Cacophonous. The album was re-worked and given the title "The Return of the Black Death", with cover art by fantasy artist Joe Petagno.
ANTESTOR Prof. Dahlsgt. 3 0355 Oslo Norway
Source: http://home.no.net/nordicm/bands/antestor/biography.html