Keep of Kalessin spawned back in 1994, under the name Ildskjaer, by hand of Ghash and Obsidian C. , later joined by Vyl and Warach. The band´s violent yet dark and epic Black metal as well as the somewhat mysterious monicker and lyrics, are inspired by the work of fantasy of the American writer U. Le Guin ´The Earthsea Quartet´. With this concept in mind, the guys recorded the first demo ´ Skygger av sorg´ in the Fall of 1996, though several problems in finding a proper rehearsal room made this task rather difficult and as a matter of fact the lack of practice resulted in an untight performance on tape and a consequent limited spreading of it. Only some ten labels and magazines received it and the response was surprisingly positive, gracing the band with a contract from Italy's Avantgarde Music. The debut album ´Through times of war´ was recorded in summer 1997 in Brygga studios, Trondheim and presented the band with a crystal clear yet heavy production on some ear-blasting music which has been often compared to Mayhem's opus ´De mysteriis´. A couple of years later, after some pretty successful gigs played around Norway together with Bloodthorn, the quartet returned with ´Agnen. A journey through the dark´, again recorded in the much appreciated Brygga studio. With this second album the band actually took much distance from the now trendy Norwegian Black metal style, picking up influences from the Thrash and Death metal genres thus establishing a rather Swedish oriented sound. But the guys did not forget their roots and therefore they took part in the much anticipated Mayhem tribute album released by Avantgarde itself. Their superb interpretation of ´Buried by Time and Dust´ put them right up there with the likes of Emperor, Gorgoroth, Dark Funeral, just to name a few of the top class bands also appeared on this ambitious project.
In the year 2000 the line-up split due to personal reasons, but guitarist and songwriter Obsidian C. wouldn't let that stop him. He continued to make Kalessin-style music and developed his own style even more. This ultra-fast, brutal and yet melodic style needed a drummer, but in the small town of Trondheim he was unable to find one that could keep up with his riffing. Almost three years would pass and then he was offered the job in Satyricon after he had auditioned and played the ass off some 30 other guitarists from all over the world who had applied for the job. As soon as he was a part of Satyricon he was also in contact with one of black metal´s fastest and most brutal drummers, Frost! Frost heard the new Keep Of Kalessin material and immediately said yes when Obsidian C. asked him to do the drumming on his new MCD. Touring with Satyricon also made it possible for Obsidian C. to recruit the legendary Attila Csihar who did the vocals on Mayhem´s ´De Mysteriis dom Sathanas´.
