The Matthäus Church is about to be torn down. The local school band from 1982 that practiced in the basement shall live on, though. Amidst a time of a thousand reunions. The inventors of “Alcoholic Metal” celebrate their twentieth anniversary in spring 2002 with the release of album number 10 – “B-Day”. Let us raise our glasses to Tankard, who have continuously blessed the community with records on a regular basis. Five minimal line-up changes have done nothing to keep them from remaining an exclusive Frankfurt combo. Even the local soccer team SG Eintracht can´t keep up with that. The closest being in the seventies with dream team Grabowski, Hölzenbein, Körbel, Doctor Hammer and Doctor Kunter.

Around then a 13-year old Andreas Fritz Johannes Geremia got drunk for the first time when the Eintracht won the UEFA cup back in May 1980, their biggest success to date. Two years later future shouter “Gerre” joined forces with long haired 10th grade classmates Axel Katzmann (G) and Frank Thorwart (B), who had just founded the band we know today. At first they called themselves Vortex and Avenger until they discovered Tankard (beer mug) in a dictionary. After weeks of practice they wrote their first song, an eight minute long tune called „Ray Death”-”A boring song about nuclear war” according to Gerre.

They soon realized that they had to double the tempo. A successful formula was found and remains so until today. “Fast thrash-punk”. It was the usual screaming and pounding, however with an element of pure anarchy and fun. “We wouldn’t exist without humor” says Gerre.

After a year of finding themselves they played their first gig in a classroom on May 28, 1983. Since alcohol was not allowed in school they poured their beer in milk cartons which they consumed while playing. Guitarist Bernard Rapprich left the band beforehand because his conservative father did not want him hanging around a bunch of drunks. They’ve never heard from him since. He’s probably a brain surgeon now. The first choice for his replacement turned out to be the best one. In the parallel class was an AC/DC maniac named Andy Bulgaropoulos. He was immediately kidnapped and chained in the catacombs of the Matthäus Church, finally escaping in 1999 to Berlin to rejoin with his wife and kid.

Back to the year 1984. Tankard played at a legendary happening in Sindlingen. Other up and coming bands present were Sodom and the southern trio Destruction-rambo outfits and all. “Manfred Schütz of SPV, who was also there, made us an offer but then withdrew it after he saw us play” says Gerre with a grin. “He had the balls to say that we weren’t bad. Weren’t bad? We sucked!!”. The main reason was that Andy wore a blue sweater with some deer on it. Not very Metal. Sodom and Destruction signed up with SPV-Label Steamhammer and Tankard still had no contract. What the boys really needed aside from gigs and popular demos like “Heavy Metal Vanguard” and “Alcoholic Metal” was business sense.

Enter manager Buffo Schnädelbach. He gave up his job as banker because he couldn’t take wearing a tie all day. From then on he took care of marketing and merchandising. At first he didn’t fare to well as sixth “Beer mug” on stage (”I was allowed to sing ‘Alcohol’ and failed”) but the Frankfurt Südbahnhof was completely sold out. There were even ten police cars parked outside waiting for trouble. At this time our heroes had their first record contract and “Zombie Attack” was in the stores. Karl-Ulrich Walterbach, owner of Noise Records in Berlin, turned out to be quite a penny pincher. During one of their studio dates he even suggested they stay the nights at the local youth hostle.

At least he recognized their potential in the mid eighties. The combination of alcoholic humor, political irony, pounding rhythm and the stage presence of front-man Gerre gained them increasing popularity. In 1988 the magazine Stern described their music in the article “Heavy Metal Subculture” as a “derailing train loaded with beer mugs”.

Even prominent band Metallica, while touring Germany as support for Twisted Sister, laughed their asses off when Hetfield (”Hey, you sound like a mix between Tank and Discharge”) and Ulrich read the headline on their tour poster.

On it was printed “at war with breakdancers”. Venom, whose current album at the time was titled “At War With Satan”, probably got a kick out of it, too.

Tankard left the fight between Posers and Thrashers to the jerks of the scene. After graduation they went to Berlin to record the debut “Zombie Attack” and were more concerned with exploding camping cookers, warmed-up ravioli three times a day, broken beds, hysterical maids and the forced vacation from a slightly demolished hotel.

The concept album „Chemical Invasion” was released in 1987, during the beer crisis between the EU and BRD. Also adding to their image was the artwork by Sebastian Krüger, who also worked for the magazine “Spiegel” and drew stars like Slash, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Another trademark was producer Harris Johns. This time for B-Day Tankard tried out Andy Classen, formerly of Holy Moses.

Back on board, though, is Krüger who after a couple of years absence decided to swing his paint brush again for the new anniversary cover. His artwork on “B-Day” will include the legendary Alien and Bomber, the beer swilling supermodel on the cover of “Kings of Beer”.

The depiction of the Pope smoking a joint on the Chemical Invasion cover, much to Tankard’s surprise, didn’t pose any problems. At around the same time the Magazine “Titanic” portrayed the Holy one making love to a sheep and promptly had the Inquisition on their backs. Looks like even God is on their side, as was evident at the Rock Hard show in 1990 where they were the only band that played without buckets of rain pouring from above.

The Almighty has a sense of humor, though. The hobby alcoholics failed a beer test held the same day. The beer thrashers also hold diverse records. According to (own words) Germany’s ugliest band they:

# were never bootlegged
# received 10,000 D-Marks from the Gema in 1991 because they were accidentally mistaken for the plastic combo “Captain Hollywood”
# were reviewed in an English article as “Fat ugly German bastards”, thus the self-ironic title for their live album “Fat, Ugly and Live”
# outed Assassin in their special thanks list as “poor chocolate milk drinkers
# got only 2nd place for their 100 year Eintracht birthday hymn “Schwarz-weiß wie Schnee”
# toured Japan back in 1999. Two gigs
# Never get any groupies. The audience is mainly comprised of fat dudes with smelly vests on.
# Released two Schlager cover albums under the name “Tankwart” (gas station attendants)
# Auditioned a 50-year old guitarist called “Prince of Darkness” after Andy B. left the band. He didn’t get the job. Instead the scepter was passed on to white-metaller Andy Gutjahr. (since Axel Katzmann left because of arthritis in 1995 they now only have one axeman)
# never received any recognition from the city of Frankfurt or the beer industry for their contribution to mass alcohol consumption.

Mabe this lack of recognition was due to the chaos and destruction they left behind in the television world. Gerre fell asleep with 3.3 blood-alcohol during an interview on Music Box. It was the beginning of the end for that station. For Tankard just the beginning.

In the early 90s they played a band in the series “Ein Fall für Zwei”. In it they were represented by Heavy Metal lawyer Rainer Hunold. The manager was played by Peer Augustinski. “We had a small gig in the Music Hall without pay that episode” says Gerre, who also played a statist in the series “Lindenstraße”, “But we could drink for free. And we did just that.

The production manager just shook his head the whole time”.
“It is unknown how this guy must’ve reacted when he got the bill from the Music Hall. We took a sack of potatoes from a back room and shared it amongst ourselves”.

At least the scene was already filmed where Hunold, holding a Tankard cover in his hands, asks Augustinski “And this stuff sells?”.

Yes, it does!

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TANKARD DISCOGRAPHY:

1986 Zombie Attack Noise Records
1987 Chemical Invasion Noise Records
1988 The Morning After Noise Records
1990 The Meaning of Life
1992 Stone Cold Sober
1994 Two-Faced
1995 The Tankard
1998 Disco Destroyer
2000 Kings of Beer
2002 B-Day
2004 Beast of Bourbon
2006 The Beauty and the Beer
2007 Best Case Scenario (Best of-remakes)
2008 Thirst

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Members:
Andreas Geremia
Andreas Gutjahr
Frank Thorwarth
Olaf Zissel

Former members:
Bernhard Rapprich
Axel Katzmann
Oliver Werner
Andy Bulgaropulos
Arnulf Tunn

The first years.

Therion was formed in Upplands Väsby (a suburb to Stockholm, Sweden) in 1987 by Christofer Johnsson, under the name “Blitzkrieg”. Chris was at that time playing the bass and did the vocals. The line-up consisted besides him of Peter Hansson on guitar and Oskar Forss on drums.

Peter and Chris had been jamming together in another group (a “jam-group” rather than a band would be correct to say) earlier that year and Chris had been trying to put something together with various people earlier, before Blitzkrieg finally became a reality. Oskar was an old school mate of his.

Blitzkrieg had influences such as old records by Slayer and Metallica, but sounded maybe more in the direction of Venom and Motorhead. Not many know, as they never recorded any demos and only did 2 concerts before they decided to break up in early 1988. Chris however never gave up the idea and during a few months he switched to guitar, started to be influenced by bands like Celtic Frost and reformed the band with Peter under the name Megatherion. After a while also Oskar returned to the band and there they were, same band again, but with a new name and a new death metal oriented sound. After some time they found the bassplayer that was the first one you can hear on their recordings; Erik Gustafsson, who was just leaving another young Stockholm area death metal band; Dismember. Shortly after the name was changed to Therion.

With this line-up the band recorded 2 demos (the first one had the later Dismember singer Matti Kärki on vocals in a short attempt where Chris wanted to focus on the guitar), one mini-LP and one full length LP/CD, that would make the band known as one of the most promising upcoming death metal underground bands.

The early years as recording artists.

In 1990 the vinyl only release “Time Shall Tell” was released by a local record store in 1.000 copies. This was actually the third demo recording that got released as a record instead of cassette. It got the band the attention from labels and they signed to Deaf Records for one album, something that resulted in the debut full length release “Of Darkness” in 1991.

The music on this record was a compilation of songs written by Chris during the 80’s and even though the band had newer songs, they choose to save it for the new release, thus indicating that this was both a debut album as well as an end of an era. The sound on “Of Darkness” is (for that time) progressive death metal with certain influences that was back then considered to be unorthodox. And the lyrics were the political type that bands like Nuclear Assault and Napalm Death were known for in the late 80’s. Being especially influenced by Celtic Frosts “Into the Pandemonium”, Chris wanted to take the band way beyond the limits of death metal, however at this point he never in his wildest dreams would have realized how far it actually would go just 5 years later.

On “Of Darkness” there were a few small attempts of incorporating keyboards into the songs and this would be one of the main changes along with some female vocals and some clean male voices. The trademark of this new sound was the song “Symphony of the dead” that was a highly appreciated song in the live performances back then and who have found its way back a few times even in live performances in later years.

The deal with Deaf Records was only for one album and the co-operation between band and label was never really good, so Therion went on and signed to Active Records.

Before the recordings started, the bass player Erik had left the band (to move back to his native country USA) and Therion recorded their second album “Beyond Sanctorum” (released 1992) as a trio with Peter and Chris playing the bass. The lyrical concepts had now changed to an occult direction.
This record received extremely good reviews and the band got offered their first shows in central Europe, which was focused around Holland and Belgium.

As Oskar was awaiting his second child he now took the choice of becoming a responsible family man rather than a touring low paid musician. Also Peter was here choosing to take a step back and resign from the band – in his case due to health and musical reasons. So those shows were performed by a new line-up consisting of Piotr Wawrzeniuk (band mate to Chris in his other project Carbonized) on drums, Andreas Wahl on bass and Magnus Barthelsson (a school mate of Chris who had been playing in other bands in Upplands Väsby) on guitar.

Years of wild experimentation.

After the departure of the old band mates that had been the companions of Chris since the start, he was uncertain if he should continue under the name “Therion” or not. Especially, as he had felt the taste of blood with experimenting musically and wanted to go much further. There were already some people asking why the band didn’t change their name when releasing the (at the time) very innovative and new thinking “Beyond Sanctorum”. What would people say if the step was taken again and this time even bigger?

Chris decided to keep the name on the basis that he was still the main songwriter and that the band would anyway continue to play the songs from the first two records, so it would have no practical use in changing the name.

The band gathered together and was making some highly experimental songs and in 1993 “Symphony Masses: Ho Drakon Ho Megas” was the results of their efforts. To fully understand just how wild was this record for a band labeled as death metal, one needs to listen to dozens of other death metal releases from that time and earlier. What was considerably small experimentations on the previous albums with keyboards and Persian scales, here went totally wild at some points and Therion also experimented a bit with jazz, industrial music, religious chanting (today you would say “gothic”) and 80’s heavy metal inspired by Iron Maiden and Judas Priest.

Active Records had decided to cut down their activities and release no new records, so Therion was transferred to the owners new label Megarock Records. The reviews were mostly very good, though some music journalists started to loose the grip on what the band was doing.

Therion promoted the record on a tour supporting (among others) Grave and Massacra as well as a bunch of headline shows in Germany. There was (at this point) a very strong core of die hard fans into the music of Therion, but still the sales were not excellent and Therion was an underground act only known to those into extreme music. There was plenty of work but almost no money. The well known problem of needing a job at home to be able to pay rent and eat and also to keep this job when requesting periods of days off for touring with the band was forcing Magnus and Andreas to give up Therion. Fredrik Isaksson was brought into the band to play the bass and Therion was now a trio.
Chris was taking some months off from Therion and made a record as a vocalist for the Swiss band Messiah and when coming back there was an offer from Nuclear Blast to sign the band. Megarock Records had done all they could and the personal relation between the label and Therion was extremely good. Nevertheless Megarock lacked the resources to push the band enough, so they did something that normally NEVER happens in the music business… they were letting Therion go without any financial claims, even though there was a contract for more albums. They wanted the best for the band (which they realized would need huge resources in the future), so they recommended Therion to sign with Nuclear Blast instead, and so they did.

The results came in 1995, “Lepaca Kliffoth”, another step in experimentation, featuring a classic soprano and bass-baritone, more keyboards, more Persian influences, more melodies and while “Symphony Masses” had some vocal experiments by Chris, this record had a completely new style of singing (some say in a more hardcore way), and by that one of the last few remaining bounds to their original style death metal were cut off. There were also some influences that are hard to label, like the title track. Therion started to grow out of their clothes musically speaking and Chris started to find more and more inspiration in 70’s progressive and symphonic bands like Klaatu, Pavlov’s Dog, Eloy, Pink Floyd, Mandala Band and many more.

Some touring was made with Annihilator in Germany and a small headline tour was made in Argentina and Chile (with a friend of Chris called Tommy on second guitar). As Fredrik had some considerable personal problems that prevented him from participating on the Annihilator tour, the band brought in Lars Rosenberg from Entombed as a session bass player. In the end Piotr declared he had considerable personal problems with Fredrik as well, so Chris agreed that Piotr could fire him. Lars was shortly after fired from Entombed and then got to be the permanent bass player in Therion.

The band took a small step forward towards the big forthcoming success, but at this point still remained an underground band. There were discussions between Piotr and Chris about what to do in the future. Chris had several songs written in the passed that he had saved (due to lack of budgets) and that he would like to realize now. But there was still a lack of money for recording budgets. Naturally a band that don’t sell too many records also don’t get huge recording budgets (record labels need to make money just like all other companies), but without money Chris didn’t see how they could go on. This could have been the end of the band, but destiny had other plans in mind for Therion.
Chris called Nuclear Blast chief Markus Steiger and explained honest the situation. “No more album based on my vocals and I need two choirs, a better recording studio, two producers and more time in the studio – if not I rather give up the band and stay happy with what I achieved so far”. Chris was also frustrated that there were too few tours. The problem was that the band was too small to have a manager, as there was no financial interest in the band at this level. Without a manager it’s very hard to get on the good tours. And without tours – no improved record sales. Without better sales – no better recording budgets. And without a good budget the future record of Therion simply could not become realized.

Luckily Markus Steiger was not only a record company boss; he was (and is) also a very dedicated music lover and is a fan of the band. So luckily he agreed (with no amounts of money mentioned) that Therion would get what they needed to complete the record Chris wanted to do.
Ex. Unanimated guitar player Jonas Mellberg was brought into the band and Therion started to put together what would be their most important album ever.

The break through and the way to the big success.

Recording at Impuls Studio in Hamburg, Germany, the band was putting on tape the songs that would forever change the career of Therion and the future budget situations.
Chris thought that this was his big masterpiece and loved what he heard. Nevertheless he strongly doubted that it would sell, the big masses if metal fans seemed to be too narrow minded for the experimental type of music Therion played. He talked about it with Piotr and said that this would be the final record of Therion, as it would flop and there would be no way he would go back to working like earlier with small budgets and guitarbased music. Piotr in some ways disagreed that this should be the final record, but reacted with planning his future without Therion and started to study (history) at the university instead.

Besides 2 different choirs (one classic and one rock choir), tons of keyboards and classic samples (humoristicly called “Barmbek Symphony Orchestra” after the subway station next to the studio), there were some small vocal parts by Chris in the style of Lepaca Kliffoth, the rest was performed by the multi flexible singer Dan Swanö (Edge of Sanity, Nightingale etc) and Piotr with his very characteristic voice.

Before the album was mixed, the band went on a small headline tour in Europe.
(Chris comments:) “We were broke, needed some distance to the music before mixing it and I personally considered it our last tour as I never imagined how we would perform the new songs live – even if we would be offered something. I felt quite depressed at the time”. During the tour it became clear that both Jonas and Lars had problems with alcohol and with Jonas there were also some personal issues. The problems continued a bit even in the studio while mixing, so Chris suspected that touring with them could become a problem.

The results of this recording was named “Theli” and even before it was released in 1996, there was a recording in Sweden where the band recorded a song for an Iron Maiden tribute album. Too much alcohol and too many emotions led Jonas to leave the studio without saying a word (and by that also leaving the band) and left most of his parts unfinished for a very stressed Chris to complete.
After the album release there were extremely positive reviews in all major music magazines, the sales doubled compared to “Lepaca Kliffoth” in a month and suddenly there was an offer to tour with Amorphis, who was one of the most popular original metal acts at this time. Chris got really happy, but most of all surprised and puzzled. And also got a bit of panic… go on tour, HOW? First of all he knew no people that could sing the songs that would do it for the money one get paid in the rock business. Secondly there would be basically no money at all to pay musicians and singers – the recording had cost 56.000 German marks (around 28.000 Euro) which was by far the highest in the history of Nuclear Blast (the band even made a bad joke about it and thanked record label boss Steiger for selling his car to afford the recordings in the CD booklet). They never imagined it would have been that expensive so they wanted to see the sales go up while still being careful with additional expenses – the tour as a support act would cost tons of money anyway. Chris got through friends and his girlfriend in touch with some amateur singers that he thought could do the job good enough.

To get musicians to the band, Chris asked his friend Tommy again to help out, this time as a drummer (Piotr was busy with his studies), Tobias Sideg?rd from Necrophobic was “hired” (”Well, he got his apartment rent paid and the free beer on the tour” comments Chris) as a live session guitar player, Kimberly Goss (later in Dimmu Borgir and now in Sinergy) was also “hired” for the task of playing the keyboards (and backing vocals) and then the band finally could go!

The tour was a huge success even though “the band sounded like shit” according to Chris’ own words. “I guess people were so amazed that we actually pulled it off that they simply had to love it,” he continues.

Lars drinking problems got worse and worse though and even the soprano and tenor that was “hired” started to get serious problems to perform well from the “rock n’ roll life” on tour. After Lars falling on his ass once due to being too drunk (besides playing like shit most of the time anyway according to Chris), the soprano starting to take drugs and the tenor getting worse and worse, Chris simply had enough and at the end of the tour Lars was fired and the singers were not welcome back. Luckily the record sales had gone very much upwards all the time, so Therion was now (for the first time) a very attractive band for promoters to book. A second tour with 2 professional sopranos and with Piotr (who had a short break in his studies here) taking care of the tenor parts took place in early 1997 with Sentenced, My Dying Bride and others and the band now sounded better. Bass player Andreas Wahl returned shortly to the band to do this tour.

The demand for the band was increasing so even a third European tour was taking place, now with Lake of Tears and Crematory, with Therion headlining the shows outside Germany. This was the first tour the band worked together with Sarah Jezebel Deva (Cradle of Filth). A guy called Kim handled the bass. The tour was a great success and this year was also the bands 10-year anniversary album “A’arab Zaraq Lucid Dreaming” (a compilation of some remaining Theli songs, cover songs and the soundtrack Chris did for an art film called “The golden embrace”) was released.

The wind was now finally blowing in Therion’s direction and everything seemed perfect for the next album recording; a manager had signed with the band, the deal with Nuclear Blast had been re-negotiated (and now guaranteed big budgets) and the sales figures were making everybody happy. The only problem was; “the band” was now only Chris + hired musicians. He realized that the “live musicians” would not be able to realize his visions in the studio, so instead professional studio musicians were hired to play the drums and the bass: Wolf Simons and Jan Kazda. Tommy was helping out with some of the guitars. Despite the fact that it was released under the band name Therion, Chris regard this record as being his solo album.

This recording took place in the famous Woodhouse Studios and for the first time a real string orchestra was used. Together with a hand picked opera choir it took Therion another step in the development on the path of progression. Sarah did some vocal participation as well along with an Austrian singer called Martina Hornbacher (now Astner, previously in Dreams Of Sanity).

The songs were more melodic and the production was clean and made the record more accessable for the masses. The result was that when this record, entitled “Vovin” was released -98, it DOUBLED the sales compared to “Theli” and the former underground band that had struggled for so many years was now one of the most hyped band in the European metal scene and the best selling band on Nuclear Blast.

A very extensive European tour was made as co-headliners with Moonspell. Two months of constant touring with only one day free – playing everywhere between Scottland in North-West, Finland in North-East, Hungary in South-East and Portugal in South-West. On this tour Tommy played the second guitar, Kim the bass again, Sarah and Martina sang soprano and the girlfriend of Kim, Cynthia, who has a very deep voice for a female was singing the male (!) parts.

The drums on the tour was performed by the, at this time, hired drummer Sami Karppinen. After the tour he was offered a permanent place in the band and some material for a planned mini-CD called “Crowning of Atlantis” was performed. Later some live songs were added on and it got released as a full length “in between-release” CD in 1999.

Introversion and regained band feeling.

Being one of the best metal drummers in Sweden, Sami had good contact among the other high-skilled musicians. This was a great help to Chris, who had his roots in the death metal scene and knew very few musicians besides those of that scene. Now was the time to create a new real band line-up and Kristian Niemann (a guy that Sami had jammed a lot with) – who was a metal guy who had gone through a lot of jazz music and lately returned to metal again, was offered a place in the band. Later his brother Johan was offered the place as a bass player and for the first time in some years Therion was a real band with a full line-up again.

Chris already had all the material ready for the follow up to “Vovin”, so there was no chance for the Niemanns to contribute with any song material, so maybe it would be fair to say that the result “Deggial” was 90% another solo album, but played by a permanent band. The band never rehearsed together before the studio (a habit Chris got since “Vovin” when there was no band to rehearse with) and it sounded therefore more like if it was recorded with studio musicians like on “Vovin”.

The songs were less easy to listen to than the previous album – more complex songs and this time a full symphony orchestra. Chris has explained that his song writing started to become more “introvert” – more written for his own pleasure only and less written for an audience. Reviews of the record after the release 2000 were mostly positive but varied – the complexity was too much for some listeners. Nevertheless it was a big success among the fans (selling better than “Theli”) and Therion made their first European headline tour along with one of Chris’s old favourite bands Voivod and the support act Flowing Tears. From this point and onwards, a variety of different singers started to be employed for the live performace, most famous among these is Anders Engberg (ex. Lions Share), who made a huge impression on the audience with his performance and due to people not knowing his name got the nick “The cool bald guy that nobody knows his name”.

After “Deggial” Chris started to work on new songs for the upcoming album and had 7 good songs when he suddenly felt strongly that Therion should do an album inspired by Nordic elements and have influences by folk music. So the 7 songs Chris already had written was put on the shelf for the time being and Therion focused on making a “Nordic” album instead.

There were already 2 songs written for a side project that never happened (Kristian and Johan had said those songs were too good and should be used by Therion instead) and they fit in with this idea and were the first two songs for what would become Therion’s first concept album; “Secret Of The Runes” – based on the 9 worlds in the Nordic mythology. The rest of the material was completed very fast – in two months! Here Kristian also started to contribute with his song writing by writing the biggest part the opening track “Ginnungagap”. The release was in 2001.

For the recording of this record Chris took a very brave decision – he took the recording budget and built Therion’s own recording studio – Modern Art. Together with drummer Sami – who was the brain behind the construction and did most of the actual carpeting along with some hired professionals, he brought to life the idea of having a studio where the band could take as much time as they needed for recording without any stress thinking of the clock ticking and a studio rent being paid by the hour. The record was recorded with Sami as a sound engineer and later mixed at Finnvox Studios in Finland.
This was also the first record where Chris recorded orchestra and choir (which now were more complex than ever) without using a conductor and therefore made all the instructions directly to the musicians/singer, sometimes trying to find ways to incorporate also their opinions on the small details in the performance.

This album really showed that Therion was now a real band again. Both Kristian and Johan helped out a small bit with the work when building the studio, there were democratic discussions about arrangements and the performance of the songs and most of the classic musicians and singers were hired through contacts that Kristian had through his ex. girlfriend who is a classic violin player (she also played on the album). Strong teamwork and a strong will to not give up when unexpected problems appeared once in a while during the recording resulted in Therion’s most complex and innovative work ever!

Again the reviews were mostly very good, but varied – even more complex than “Deggial” this record confused some listeners that lacked the patience to penetrate the glorious depths of this brilliant musical creation. Being an album without any “hits”, this massive piece of geniously assembled musical art have found its place as a favorite Therion album among a huge part of the Therion die-hard fans and is generally rated as one of their strongest albums ever.

The album got followed up by touring as a main act in Europe (with Evergrey and My Insanity as support acts) and the band’s first full Latin America tour that was an incredible success for the band. No matter the success, Sami decided to leave the band and work full time in the Modern Art studio as a sound engineer and instead of being in a band as a musically active session drummer for various bands and projects. This was indeed sad news for Therion, but Sami showed responsibility and didn’t leave the band before first getting them a good replacement drummer; Richard Evensand.

During the tour, there had been many concerts recorded and a few of those ended up on Therion’s first live album, the double CD “Live in Midgard”, which was released celebrating the bands 15 year anniversary in 2002.

Future?

After the touring was finished the band started to work on the album that Chris was having in mind to make before the idea of a Nordic album had come up. Meanwhile there had been a lot of new songs written, so the 7 songs on the shelf had grown to a huge number of songs, which increased even more as time went by and also Kristian and Johan contributed with several compositions to the pot. When the time felt right to start putting all the ideas and songs together to an album, they discovered that they had 55 (!) songs – some of them being not entirely finished though. Discussions were made on how to do things with such a huge source of song material and they ended up deciding that they had enough good material for 3 (!) albums.

They decided to record and release two of them simultaneously to catch up with their creativity (else there would probably be 55 more songs written by the time they get to record the third album in this trilogy).

The recording sessions started in Modern Art and besides instruments like drums, bass, guitars, balalaikas, domras and mandolines, the lead vocals and most of the opera soloist singers were recorded there. Then a huge symphonic orchestra, grand piano, harpsichord, some opera soloists and a 32 people strong choir were recorded in Prague. A real church organ was recorded at the oldest church of Copenhagen and finally they entered the Sun Studio with Denmark’s finest producer Lars Nissen to make some additional recordings of hammond organ and mellotrone before finally mixing this huge mass of songs there.

The results of 171 people involved with playing/singing and over 9 months of recording and mixing were finally put together and were named “Lemuria” and “Sirius B”. Scheduled to be released the 24th of May (2004), these twin records will hopefully convince people that Therion is a band that just have begun their musical odyssey and that the journey will both surprise, tease and astonish both their long time loyal fans as well as new listeners for many years to come.

As drummer Richard suddenly decided he didn’t want to be a permanent member and had him self tied up with other projects, Therion decided to use a session drummer for the upcoming tours.

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THERION DISCOGRAPHY:
Of Darkness… (1991)
Beyond Sanctorum (1992)
Symphony Masses: Ho Drakon Ho Megas (1993)
Lepaca Kliffoth (1995)
Theli (1996)
A’arab Zaraq – Lucid Dreaming (1997)
Vovin (1998)
Crowning of Atlantis (1999)
Deggial (2000)
Secret of the Runes (2001)
Sirius B (2004)
Lemuria (2004)
Gothic Kabbalah (2007)

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Members:
Christofer Johnsson
Nalle “Grizzly” Påhlsson
Johan Koleberg

Former members:
Kristian Niemann
Johan Niemann
Petter Karlsson
Piotr Wawrzeniuk
Mats Levén

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AUDIOSLAVE DISCOGRAPHY:

* Audioslave (2002)
* Out of Exile (2005)
* Revelations (2006)

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Members:
Chris Cornell
Tom Morello
Tim Commerford
Brad Wilk

Mixing equal parts of bone-crushing volume, catatonic tempos, and ominous pronouncements of gloom and doom delivered in Ozzy Osbourne’s keening voice, Black Sabbath was the heavy-metal king of the Seventies. Despised by rock critics and ignored by radio programmers, the group sold over eight million albums before Osbourne departed for a solo career in 1979 [see entry].

The four original members, schoolmates from a working-class district of industrial Birmingham, first joined forces as Polka Tulk, a blues band. They quickly changed their name to Earth, then, in 1969, to Black Sabbath; the name came from the title of a song written by bassist Geezer Butler, a fan of occult novelist Dennis Wheatley. The quartet’s eponymously titled 1970 debut, recorded in two days, went to #8 in England and #23 in the U.S. A single, “Paranoid,” released in advance of the album of the same name, reached #4 in the U.K. later that year, it was the group’s only Top Twenty hit.

The single didn’t make the US, Top Forty, but the Paranoid LP, issued in early 1971, eventually sold four million copies despite virtually no airplay. Beginning in December 1970 Sabbath toured the States relentlessly. The constant road work paid off, and by 1974 Black Sabbath was considered peerless among heavy-metal acts, its first five LPs all having sold at least a million copies apiece in America alone.

In spite of its name, the crosses erected onstage, and songs dealing with apocalypse, death, and destruction, the band members insisted their interest in the black arts was nothing more than innocuous curiosity (the sort that led Ozzy Osbourne to sit through eight showings of The Exorcist), and in time Black Sabbath’s princes-of-darkness image faded.

Eventually, so did its record sales. Aside from a platinum best-of, We Sold Our Soul for Rock ‘n’ Roll (1976), not one of three LPs from 1975 to 1978 went gold. Osbourne, racked by drug use and excessive drinking, quit the band briefly in late 1977 (former Savoy Brown- Fleetwood Mac vocalist Dave Walker filled his shoes for some live dates). In January 1979 he left again, this time for good. Ronnie James Die, formerly of Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, replaced Osbourne.

Although Dio could belt with the best of them, Sabbath would never be the same. Its first album with Dio, Heaven and Hell (1980), went platinum, its second, Mob Rules (1981), gold. But thereafter, the group’s LPs sold fewer and fewer copies, as Black Sabbath went through one personnel change after another. III health forced Bill Ward out of the band in 1981; Carmine Appice’s brother Vinnie took his place. Friction between Iommi and Dio led the singer to quit angrily in 1982, he took P with him to start his own band, Die. Vocalists over the years have included Dave Donato; Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan; Glenn Hughes, another ex-member of Purple; Tony Martin; and Dio again.

By 1986’s Seventh Star, only Iommi remained from the original lineup. He had to wince when Geezer Butler teamed up with the phenomenally successful Osboume in 1988, though the bassist did return to the fold three years later. Despite bitterness expressed in the press between Osbourne and Iommi, the original foursome reunited in 1985 at the Live-Aid concert in Philadelphia, and again in 1992, at the end of what was supposedly Osbourne’s last tour. Throughout 1993 word had it that Osbourne, Iommi, Butler, and Ward would tour, but by year’s end Osbourne had backed out, allegedly over money. The indefatigable Tony Iommi went right back to work with Butler, rehiring vocalist Tony Martin and adding former Rainbow drummer Rob Rondinelli.

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BLACK SABBATH:
* Black Sabbath (1970)
* Paranoid (1970)
* Master of Reality (1971)
* Black Sabbath Vol. 4 (1972)
* Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)
* Sabotage (1975)
* Technical Ecstasy (1976)
* Never Say Die! (1978)
* Heaven and Hell (1980)
* Mob Rules (1981)
* Born Again (1983)
* Seventh Star (1986)
* The Eternal Idol (1987)
* Headless Cross (1989)
*Tyr (1990)
* Dehumanizer (1992)
* Cross Purposes (1994)
* Forbidden (1995)
*Reunion(2006)

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Members:
Ozzy Osbourne
Tony Iommi
Geezer Butler
Bill Ward

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BLACK LABEL SOCIETY DISCOGRAPHY:

* Sonic Brew(1999)
* Stronger Than Death(2000)
* 1919 Eternal(2002)
* The Blessed Hellride(2003)
* Hangover Music Vol. VI(2004)
* Mafia(2005)
Kings Of Damnation 98-04 (2005) [bonus]
* Shot to Hell(2006)
* Skullage(2009) (21.April 2009)

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Members:
Zakk Wylde
John DeServio
Nick Catanese
Craig Nunenmacher

Former members:
Phil Ondich
Steve Gibb
Robert Trujillo
Mike Inez
James LoMenzo

the unique vocal stylings of screeching banshee Udo Dirkschneider, the band forged an instantly recognizable sound and was notorious as one of the decade’s fiercest live acts. Despite recording two of the best heavy metal albums of the decade in Restless and Wild and Balls to the Wall, Accept remained too heavy and extreme for American audiences to embrace — even when they tried to tone down their act with more melodic songs. Ultimately having conquered the rest of the world, but with their career stalled in the U.S., Accept fell apart, and by the time they reunited years later there was nothing left for them to say.

Vocalist Udo Dirkschneider formed Accept in his hometown of Solingen, Germany, in the early ’70s, but it wasn’t until quite a few years later that the band settled on a somewhat stable lineup, including guitarists Wolf Hoffman and Gerhard Wahl, bassist Peter Baltes, and drummer Frank Friedrich. A well-received performance at the Rock Amrhein Festival in 1976 brought them national attention, and they finally obtained a recording contract after replacing Wahl with guitarist Jorg Fischer two years later. Issued in 1979, their eponymous debut was badly produced, featured mostly subpar songwriting, and did absolutely nothing for the group. But with the arrival of new drummer Stefan Kaufmann prior to 1980s much-improved I’m a Rebel, the band had the final ingredient they were looking for, and their popularity began growing by leaps and bounds.

1981’s even more accomplished Breaker was engineered by Michael Wagener (who would go on to produce such major hard rock acts as Motley Crue, Alice Cooper, and Ozzy Osbourne, among others) and continued to develop Accept’s trademark sound, featuring the massive crunch and tight precision of Hoffman and Fischer’s guitars laying the foundation for Dirkschneider’s inimitable shriek — akin to Bon Scott on helium. They also signed a worldwide deal with CBS Records subsidiary Portrait, and secured professional management from Gaby Hauke, who, under the Deaffy pseudonym, would help the band write most of their English lyrics from this point forward. Despite Fischer’s sudden departure after a successful European tour supporting Judas Priest, the band was now poised to conquer Europe with their powerful Teutonic heavy metal.

All the elements were falling into place, and with the release of 1982’s Restless and Wild, Accept finally stamped their passports to stardom. A heavy metal milestone, the album broke the band’s career wide open, established their signature sound for years to come, and in the incredible “Fast as a Shark,” featured possibly the first true thrash metal song ever recorded. Guitarist Hermann Frank was brought in for the ensuing tour, which, thanks to their ferocious live shows (including choreographed headbanging stage antics), turned the band into true stars all across Europe and the U.K. 1983’s equally revered Balls to the Wall was an even greater commercial triumph, and qualified as one of the most obsessive, sexually explicit albums of all time. Led by the controversial title track, it broke the band worldwide and earned them their first magazine headlines in America. Fischer was invited back into the fold at this time, and the band embarked on a yearlong word tour that took them as far as Japan and culminated in a triumphant appearance at the 1984 Castle Donington Monster of Rock Festival.

With America now looming in their sight, the band decided to hire producer Dieter Dirks (of Scorpions fame) to give 1985’s Metal Heart a more commercial edge and extra sense of melody. Also with U.S. audiences in mind, they abandoned the hedonistic fetishes of releases past in favor of a much lighter sexual tone and typical heavy metal subject matter like the title track’s apocalyptic vision. The results were mixed, for while the album certainly helped to further their cause in the States — where they embarked upon a very successful tour sharing a double bill with Swiss hard rockers Krokus — it tarnished their reputation among some of their loyal following back home. A live EP recorded in Japan entitled Kaizoku Ban kicked off the new year, as the band prepared to begin work on their seventh album, Russian Roulette, again with Michael Wagener at the controls. A somewhat rushed, halfhearted attempt to backtrack into more aggressive metal territory, the album led to a serious splintering within the group, and after headlining a sold-out European tour with Dokken in support, Accept announced that they were taking an open-ended break so that Dirkschneider could record a solo project.

Simply called U.D.O., the singer’s first album, Animal House, was actually written and performed by his former bandmates. But when .D.O. released a second album, Mean Machine, in 1988, backed by a new band, the remaining members of Accept (Fischer had left once again) began trying out new vocalists, eventually settling on American David Reece for 1989’s Eat the Heat. A lightweight metal album, it bore little resemblance to classic Accept, and the band’s subsequent U.S. tour (with second guitarist Jim Stacy) was first interrupted when Kaufmann suffered a back injury (he was replaced by House of Lords’ Ken Mary, then cut short due to poor ticket sales and increasing personality differences with Reece). The group eventually disbanded and, except for the release of 1990s Staying a Life (a live album featuring the original lineup in their prime), nothing was heard of Accept for the next three years.

To everyone’s surprise, Dirkschneider, Hoffman, Baltes, and Kaufmann eventually reconvened in 1992 to record Objection Overruled, which fared relatively well in Europe but didn’t even dent the alternative rock-dominated U.S. market. The band continued to tour Europe and recorded sporadically over the next few years, releasing Death Row in 1994 and Predator (featuring Damn Yankees drummer Michael Cartellone) in 1996. Their final world tour included swings through North and South America and concluded with a number of sold-out engagements in Japan, after which Accept officially called it a day.

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ACCEPT DISCOGRAPHY:

* 1979: Accept
* 1980: I’m a Rebel
* 1981: Breaker
* 1982: Restless and Wild
* 1984: Balls to the Wall [pt1] [pt2]
* 1985: Metal Heart
* 1986: Russian Roulette
* 1989: Eat the Heat [pt1] [pt2]
* 1993: Objection Overruled [pt1] [pt2]
* 1994: Death Row [pt1] [pt2]
* 1996: Predator [pt1] [pt2]

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Members:
Michael Wagener
Peter Baltes
Udo Dirkschneider
Jörg Fischer
Herman Frank
Frank Friedrich
Wolf Hoffmann
Stefan Kaufmann
David Reece
Jan Koemmet
Jim Stacey
Gerhard Wahl
Stefan Schwarzmann

AC/DC would soon start recording their debut album, High Voltage, but before that, Clark and Bailey were let go. They hired their bus driver, Bon Scott, to replace Clark on the drums, but shortly after that, Dave Evans was kicked out of the band after he and the Young brothers got into a dispute one night before a show, which resulted in Evans refusing to take the stage. So Scott filled in for him and after that night, took over as the band’s lead vocalist. They entered the studio shortly after that, and in just ten days recorded High Voltage. They still had no set drummer or bassist at the time, with Tony Kerrante filling in as the drummer, and George Young playing the bass parts for his brothers on the album. The album was released in Australia in February of 1975. At that time they added drummer Phil Rudd, and bassist Mark Evans. AC/DC was now becoming a bit famous in Australia, and this line-up would stay intact for the next three albums.

Scott’s image would help shape the band as fun, wild, crazy and violent, plus he was publicly labeled “socially maladjusted” by the Australian government. All that did of course, was help make the band more popular. At this point in time, heavy metal music was at it’s height of success and AC/DC fit in great with that vein of rock music – with their attitude in general, Scott’s voice – which was perfect for metal, plus Angus’ loud and wild guitar playing.

Their first two albums, High Voltage and TNT, would be combined into one for their first UK and America album, also titled High Voltage, in 1976. The group at this time would also tour both countries and a big following of fans outside of Australia, soon came with that.

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap was their next album, released in late 1976. In early 1977, they recorded and released Let There Be Rock. At that point, Mark Evans left the band and was replaced by bassist Cliff Williams. Let There Be Rock would be their first album to actually chart in the US. As it was, Dirty Deeds wasn’t released in the US till 1981, and would not become a hit album for them there till that time.

In 1978, the album Powerage was released and that along with their live album, If You Want Blood, You Got It, released the same year, would help their fan base to grow even more. Yet it wasn’t till the following year’s Highway To Hell, that they were true superstars, with the album charting big in both the US and UK. It was also their first album to sell over a million copies. The album’s title song also solidified their image in the US as true bad boys, as the US audience up to this point still hadn’t heard many of their other, earlier songs, like “Big Balls” and “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”; not yet anyway.

On February 20, 1980, AC/DC hit what could have been a major road block. Tragedy struck when Bon Scott was found dead in the backseat of a friend’s car. The coroner’s report stated he had “drunk himself to death.” The band had been getting ready to record their next album, so instead of just sitting around and worrying about their future, they hired singer Brian Johnson in March, and the very next month they went directly into the studio to work on their next album. Scott had already written 15 songs for the album before his death, but the band decided that they would start from scratch with Johnson. What they came up with in that short period of time was phenomenal, and when finished and released, Back in Black, titled to reflect Scott’s loss, was a heavy metal masterpiece. Back in Black would prove to be their biggest album, selling over nineteen million copies in the U.S. alone, worldwide it has sold forty two million copies!

For Those About To Rock, We Salute You was their next album, released in 1981, and again, a huge hit, going all the way to number one on the charts. While recording the follow-up to it, Flick Of The Switch in 1982, Rudd left the band because of his problems with drugs. He was replaced the next year with a 20 year old drummer, Simon Wright, who stayed on for three studio albums (Fly On The Wall, Who Made Who & Blow Up Your Video) and then was replaced by Chris Slade, who in turn only recorded one studio album with the band, 1990’s The Razor’s Edge, and also appeared on AC/DC Live. After that time, Rudd returned to the fold and appeared on their next album, Ballbreaker, released in 1995.

As the new century dawned, AC/DC was still going strong. In 2000 they released their 15th studio album, Stiff Upper Lip. In July, 2003, along with the Rolling Stones, they headlined and played in front of 450,000 people in Toronto, Canada. It was Canada’s largest-ever rock concert, all to help the city of Toronto shake off the effects of a SARS outbreak. After all of these years, the band is still one of rock’s biggest acts, and their fans can now shout back to them, “We salute you!”.

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AC/DC DISCOGRAPHY:
* High Voltage (Aus.) (1975)
* T.N.T. (1975)
* High Voltage (1976)
* Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (1976)
* Let There Be Rock (Aus.) (1977)
* Powerage (1978)
* Highway to Hell (1979)
* Back in Black (1980)
* For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) (1981)
* Flick of the Switch (1983)
* Fly on the Wall (1985)
* Who Made Who (1986)
* Blow Up Your Video (1988)
* The Razors Edge (1990)
* Ballbreaker (1995)
* Stiff Upper Lip (2000)
*Stiff Upper Lip (2000)prt2
* Black Ice (2008)

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Members:
* Dave Evans – vocals
* Angus Young – guitar
* Malcolm Young – guitar
* Larry Van Kriedt – bass guitar
* Colin Burgess – drums

Other Members:

* Rob Bailey – bass guitar
* Peter Clack – drums
* Tony Currenti – drums
* Mark Evans – bass guitar
* Brian Johnson – vocals
* Phil Rudd – drums
* Bon Scott – vocals
* Chris Slade – drums
* Cliff Williams – bass guitar
* Simon Wright – drums
* George Young – bass guitar

A SHORT TIME PASSED & Christophe was recruted as second string raper & new tunes were excoriated.SOME MORE CONCERTS were done with: Deranged, Defaced Creation, Dying Fetus, Enthroned, Ectopia, Goddes of Desire, Impedigon, Houwitser, Length of Time, Liar,.. A NEW CHAPTER STARTED with the replacement of drummer Steven by the inhuman death scourge Frank, due to a huge lack of motivation…

THE CHAINSAW MANIACS entered the CCR studio’s in February ‘99 for the recordings of the first slab of gore: ” The Purity of perversion” & was unleashed upon mankind in may 99. So far reactions were really great & sales are optimal.RIGHT BEFORE ENTERING the new millenium, the hacksquad entered the infamous CCR studios once more to record 3 new excuisitly brutal & sick gorehymns for a split CD with Christ Denied…

THIS NEW OFFAL is regurgitated under the flag of SOULREAPER records, out in March 2000 for global termination… This split release got the band a deal for 3 more albums with the french based LISTENABLE RECORDS. The first step in this co-operation has been released in late June 2001 as the bands second full length saw light under the title of ‘ENGINEERING THE DEAD’. FOR THIS SECOND ALBUM the boys again went into the CCR studio to record, but with a better budget & this can be heard on the Engineering disc. 2002 promises to be a very busy year for the band as new songs are in the works for a split CD on Bones Brigade with Brodequin/Drowning & more, the boys are also out in September on a big european tour with VADER/CRYPTOPSY/DYING FETUS/KATAKLYSM/CATASTROPHIC to spread the infamous sounds that are ABORTED.

One year after the release of ENGINEERING, the limb tosseres proceeded with recording some tunes for the 4way split on bones brigade, and shortly before the recordings on the 3rd fullength ‘GOREMAGEDDON’ guitarist Niek & Bassist were releaved from their duties due to the huge amount of personal problems. Bart & Fre were recrueted as new members and with the new blood the composing began for this 3rd opus of splatter galore.

GOREMAGEDDON marks its release in march 2k3 and displays aborted in its more mature and grim form, in support of this album, lots of gigging has been scheduled and abroad gigs have been arranged as well as tours. This album is the first to see a license to the US and not just any label, but CENTURY MEDIA sublabel OLYMPIC recordings will issue this slab of gore in august 2K3, be warned GOREMAGEDDON IS COMING FOR YOU!!

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ABORTED DISCOGRAPHY:

1997 * The Necrotorous Chronicles
1998 * The Splat Pack
1999 * The Purity of Perversion
2000 * Eructations of Carnal Artistry
2001 * Engineering the Dead
2002 * Created to Kill
2003 * Deceased in the East/Extirpated Live Emanations
2003 * Goremageddon: The Saw and the Carnage Done
* The Haematobic EP
2004 * The Archaic Abattoir
2005 * Slaughter & Apparatus: A Methodical Overture 2007
2008 * Strychnine.213

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Members:
* Sven “Svencho” de Caluwé
* Sebastien “Seb Purulator” Tuvi
* Peter Goemaere
* Sven “Svenchi” Janssens
* Dan Wilding

Former members:
* Matty Dupont
* Jess Moyle
* Stephane Soutreyard
* Bart Vergaert
* Thijs De Cloedt
* Christophe Herreman
* Niek Verstraete
* Olivia Scemama
* Frederik Vanmassenhove
* Koen Verstraete – bass
* Gilles Delecroix – drums
* Frank Rousseau – drums
* Steven Logie – drums
* Ariën van Wesenbeek
* Étienne Gallo
* Dave Haley
* Dirk Verbeuren
* Matan Shmuely

Jerry knew a man by the name of Mike Starr who agreed to play bass for the new band. Now all they needed was a drummer. (Layne could play of course, but as you know, he enjoys vocals) Luckily, Mike introduced the others to Sean Kinney, a crazy drummer who was dating Mike’s sister. They decided to call their band Alice ‘n Chains. (The name was supposedly spawed from a crazy idea about the group dressing in drag and playing). The monumental date of their first gig was on August 5, 1987.

After that, they were briefly known as Diamond Lie and played a few shows sparking the takeoff of their music. Of course they ended up calling themselves Alice In Chains. Later in 1987 they signed with Columbia Records. Their first EP titled “We Die Young” was released in 1990 and is currently a rare collectors item. A few months after that, they released their first full length album called “Facelift”.The release of this album sent their debut song “We Die Young” to the top.

Westminister, CA was their first U.S. tour date which happened a few months after Facelift’s release. In Seattle, the December 22 show sold out. It was, though, filmed and released as Live Facelift. Their first American Music Award nomination happened in January of 1991 when they were up for Favorite Heavy Metal Artist. Sadly, they lost.”Man In The Box” was their first single which they released. This was their first exposure on MTV.

Alice In Chains made a movie debut in the film “Singles” where they played the song “Would?” in a bar. They then toured with Megadeth in Europe for the first time. They received a Grammy nomination for the “Best Heavy Metal Performance”. Sadly, they lost again.

Next up for AIC was the “Clash of the Titans” tour with Slayer. They then had time to make their television debut with ABC for their “In Concert” show. After that they accompanied Van Halen on a 4 month tour.Facelift went gold around September of 1991. During their tour break in November, they recorded their second EP. The album was titled SAP, a name given to it by Sean Kinney. He had a dream about the group making an album and naming it SAP because it was “sappy”.

Spring 1992 was some well deserved off-time for AIC. They soon began recording Dirt, though. It was released in September. “Would?” was the first single released. “Angry Chair” followed. At this point,Layne broke his foot, but completed the tour with Ozzy using a wheelchair or crutches. (He didn’t miss a date!) A tour shirt had an X-ray of Layne’s fractured foot on it.

Lollapalooza was the main focus of the summer 1993. After this, they recorded their new EP- Jar Of Flies.They then began the Down In Your Hole tour- a six week speedy tour. At this point, “Down In A Hole” was released as a single. A video was shot for this song as well. Finally, “Them Bones” was released as single number four from “Dirt”. The cool film “Last Action Hero” was in theatres along with two unreleased Alice in Chains songs- “What The Hell Have I?” and “A Little Bitter”. A video was shot for “What The Hell Have I?”

AIC recorded their third full length album in April of 1995. After nearly four months, the result was a harder heavier album originally named “Tripod”. (third full length album, three legged dog and man) The dog on the cover was inspired from a dog that would chase Sean when he was delivering papers as a child. The album ended up self titled. It was released in November 1995 and debuted number one on the Billboard chart. They were nominated for a Grammy once again, and once again they lost.
1996 found AIC performing on Saturday Night Special, David Letterman, and a show for MTV Unplugged.They opened four shows for KISS on their reunion tour as well.

The Unforturnate Death of Lead Singer Layne Staley — 1967-2002
By: Travis Gibson (nadawgy2k1@yahoo.com)

Alice in Chains’ Layne Staley died from a mixture of heroin and cocaine, an autopsy and toxicology report revealed Monday.

Laboratory results determined the singer died April 5, according to a spokesperson for the King County medical examiner’s office, the same day fellow grunge pioneer Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1994. Staley was found dead two weeks later, surrounded by intravenous drug paraphernalia in his Seattle apartment.

The death certificate reads Staley’s death resulted from “an acute intoxication due to the combined effects of opiate (heroin) and cocaine.” The death was classified as “accidental.”

The lethal combination goes by the name “speedball” in drug circles. The same ingredients contributed to the deaths of comedian John Belushi in 1982 and actor River Phoenix in 1993.

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ALICE IN CHAINS DISCOGRAPHY:

1990 * Facelift
1992 * Dirt
1995 * Alice in Chains

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Band Members:

* William DuVall
* Jerry Cantrell
* Mike Inez
* Sean Kinney

Former members:
* Mike Starr – bass guitar, backing vocals (1987–1993)
* Layne Staley – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1987–2002)
* Scott Olson – acoustic guitar (1996)
o Olson only played on the Unplugged performance.
* Patrick Lachman – lead vocals (2005–2006)
* Duff McKagan – rhythm guitar (2005-2006)

As co-founders of the band, Mustaine and Ellefson have devised a musical creature that, with each new album, forges new ground and stretches the very boundaries where metal lives. As the creative genius behind the music, Mustaine writes lyrics that are pr ofound and that analogous to his sharp, cynical view of modern society. “It’s not like I am this frustrated bleeding anarchist,” Mustaine remarks. “I am just telling a story of how my life is. I grew up in a broken home. I was latchkey kid. I want our fan s to have better lifestyle than the one I grew up in.”

Mustaine’s intelligence and talent, combined with those of Ellefson and the other players who have graced the formation of the band thoughout the years, have spawned authentic, raw, unruly music. “Our music is very stimulating, aggressive music, that cont ains influences all the way from blue to jazz fusion to speed and thrash metal”, explains Mustaine. With intricate, furious guitar licks and heavy drums and bass, Megadeth continues to reign as a premier speed metal band of the 1990′s, personifying metal music itself with every song reeling in ferocity, honesty and powerful thrash induced rhythms.

Their meteoric rise to forefront of the metal genre began in 1985 with Killing is my business… and business is good released on Combat records. This powerful debut propelled them straight into a deal with Capitol records. Their next album, Pe ace Sells… but who’s buying, was released in september 1985. This sophomore release was a veritable onslaught of pure aggression and went gold.

In 1988 So far, so good… so what was released. The album was harder, more forceful and maintained an even punk feel, unleashing such monsters as “Mary Jane” and “Set the world afire.”

After the So far, so good…so what album, with Nick Menza on drums and Marty Friedman on guitar, Megadeth began yielding songs, fueled by Mustaine’s fierce intellect and supported by superior musicianship, that spiraled Megadeth towards its best a nd most creative period. “When the four of us got together and made the record Rust in Peace, we knew we were on to something special,” says Ellefson. “Since then we have really honed our sound and we have learned how to write and record together.” The unique bond that resulted changed the face of Megadeth’s future. “This lineup is more successful than any other because the vision is the same,” says Dave Mustaine, a sentiment concurred by Marty Friedman who notes, “We are lucky because we are all a similar age, have a similar vision and share a chemistry. When the four of us strap on our instruments it just sounds like Megadeth.” The four embrace a soulful commonality, especially regarding what their music is about. “We are focused and in alignment with what we wan
t to do and how we want to do it,” says drummer Nick Menza. “We have always been the type of band that makes music for ourselves foremost. That is why there is so much substance to it. It is not contrived. It is real. It is reality.”
< br> Megadeth has done very well at bringing their music to new audiences. Countdown to extinction was released in 1992, taking them on a world tour. The year also saw Mustaine as a host on MTV for “Rock the vote” covering the Democratic Convention – a job which coincided perfectly with Mustaine’s penchant for political commentary and social awareness. Also keeping the band in the limelight, the band’s single, “Angry Again” from the Last Action Hero soundtrack made a major breaktrough and “99 way s to die”, the lead track on the hugely successful The Beavis and Butthead Experience compilation album, became an MTV and metal radio staple.

The release of Youthanasia brought Megadeth to new heights and also to parts of the world never before ventured, including Israel and Eastern Europe. It represented a departure in many ways for the band. “Killing is my business… and business i s good” up to Countdown to Extinction were all written while performing previous material,” explains Mustaine.
“Youthanasia was written totally and 100% in the studio. We weren’t playing any old cataloged material. None of the past influenced the new record.” The album contains songs that explore the depths of Mustaine’s darker, deeper thoughts and feelings – songs such as, “The Family Tree” a song about child abuse and the deep pain of lost love described in “Addicted to Chaos” while also delving into his inner fear of nuclear war in “Black Curtains.”

The band withstood controversy after controversy with the release of Youthanasia, “A tout le monde” being banned by MTV for its suicidal overtones. “This is coming from an institution that is supposedly for your mind and says that censorship is un- American,” says Mustaine. “We don’t write music that makes suggestions of taking one’s own life. It’s more saying – we have a problem here, let’s be part of the solution.” The cover art for the album, decipting babies hanging from clotheslines, caused a m ajor stir as well. “We never do anything for shock value or to get controversial press because that is basically a pain in the ass,” says Marty Friedman. “We like it and that is what we wanted our album cover to be.” Youthanasia has gone platinum.

The band released a new album, Hidden Treasures, in the UK an March 13, 1995 to coincide with the European leg of the Youth tour. In addition to a new Sex Pistols cover, the album contains songs only previously released on complation and soundtrack albums. A version off Hidden Treasures was released in Japan and the U.S. as well.

1995 also found the band on-line with Megadeth Arizona. “We use it as a communication tool between us and our fans. We are more accessible and more able to communicate with include our fans within Megadeth’s world,” says David Ellefson.

On Cryptic Writings (1997), Megadeth’s eighth album, the band’s unwavering conviction mixes with a desire to explore new territory, characteristics which mark their career as true musical pioneers. Recorded in Nashville, TN, Cryptic Writings ranges from Mega-rock (the melodic “Trust” and “Almost Honest” with their relationships-going-to-hell vulnerability), balls-out powerful (the monsterous thrash of “the Disintegrators” and the fight for freedom of “FFF”) and hard pummeling metal (“Masterm ind” and the edgy “I’ll get even”).

Cryptic Writings was written during 1996 and the last three months of the year were spent in the recording studio with producer Dann Huff. When Megadeth went in search of a cutting edge, not necessarily well-known producer – They found Huff, the si nger-guitarist of hard rock’s Giant in the late ’80s to early ’90s, who was also a student of famed producer Mutt Lange.

“I wanted to take guitar lessons from Dann six years ago. I’d heard a Giant record and said, ‘Here’s a guy who knows where to put the notes.’ He sounded awesome,” Mustaine says. But Huff instead offered to jam with him. Recalls Mustaine, “I didn’t realize that he was a session player and what he meant was ‘I’ll give you a free lesson.’ So I turned him down.” Now Mustaine wanted him as a producer and flew to Nashville. “I never heard anything he’d produced or even any music from him recently. He had really short hair and he got us lost driving from his house to the studio. But I thought, ‘He’s the guy.’”

Recording far from home, he says, was the best it’s ever been for a band that has been nothing short of volatile over the years. “There was a congeniality and a level of trust in each of us created an enviroment of cooperation. This was the most painless experience we ever had in a studio.”

In the time between Youthanasia and Cryptic Writings, the members of Megadeth kept their fierce work ethic in full tilt. Mustaine collaborated with Lee Ving of Fear on MD.45, the full length album, The Craving, on Capitol. Marty Frie dman released a solo album entitled, True Obsessions. In addition to contributing regularly to Bass Player Magazine with the column “The Real Deal,” Ellefson’s book “Making Music Your Business” is now available, published by Miller Freeman. Nick Menza put together a band called SOMA, which has recorded 14 songs, played a gig opening for Dokken and has yet to release any material.

Megadeth touring plans for Cryptic Writings have the guys on the road for much of 1997. After promotional touring of Europe and the US, and then rehearsals, the havoc began in Mesa, AZ on friday, June 13. The summer of 1997 included rock festivals such as the Waldrock Festival in the Netherlands, Graspop festival in Belgium and Midtfyn Festival in Denmark. With Megadeth’s dedication to their fans, they fit in gigs at smaller venues as well. July through September marked Megadeth’s return to the US where they continued their onslaught from state to state, leaving sold-out venues in their wake. Additional dates will take Megadeth all around the world where they can expect to remain as the reigning beasts of metal music.

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MEGADETH DISCOGRAPHY:

Killing Is My Business… and Business Is God (1985)

Peace Sells… but Who’s Buying? (1986)

So Far, So Good… So what! (1988)

Rust in Peace (1990)

Countdown to Extinction (1992)

Youthanasia (1994)

Cryptic Writings (1997)

Risk (1999)

The Worlds Needs a Hero (2001)

The System Has Failed (2004)

United Abominations (2007)

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