Antestor

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Antestor is one of Norway's earliest Christian dark metal groups. Antestor is the only Christian band to have an album released by Cacophonous Records, which also released records by bands such as Dimmu Borgir, Sigh and Blood Storm, and was actually dropped from Cacophonous Records after the label discovered that Antestor held Christian beliefs.

1 Biography
2 Members
- 2.1 Current members
- 2.2 Former members
3 Discography
4 External links

[edit] Biography

Antestor formed in 1990 in Norway. They released two demos early in their career, and in 1994 they recorded their debut album, Martyrium. They dubbed the style of their early work as "sorrow metal" rather than black metal, due to that genre being associated with Satanism in Norway.

The Defeat Of Satan was their first demo, containing three songs and an outro. The demo was originally released under their first band name "Crush Evil". The band is Christian and over the course of their career have received serious death threats because of this.^{[citation needed]} Euronymous, guitarist/vocalist from the seminal black metal band Mayhem, once said, "The Militants of Norwegian black metal will force this band to split up." That never happened: Antestor was never forced to split apart and in an almost ironic twist of fate, Jan Axel Blomberg (better known as Hellhammer, the drummer for Mayhem) was Antestor's session drummer on their latest two releases.

Despair was their first self-released demo, and was released under the band name Antestor. The demo starts with an intro and ends with a cover of an old Norwegian hymn, called Jesus, Jesus, Ver Du Hjå Meg ("Jesus, Jesus, Be With Me").

Martyrium was their first full-length album, but was not actually released on a wide scale in 1994 due to problems with their record label. Antestor did not release a full-length album until 1998, when they released The Return of the Black Death on Cacaphonous Records.

The Return of the Black Death was actually dropped from Cacophonous Records after the label discovered that Antestor held Christian beliefs. Because of this, there are not many pressings of the album, and it is now rare. It is still sold at some internet-based Christian underground music stores.

However, The Return of the Black Death was well-received by both Christian and non-Christian black metal fans. Antestor was soon signed by Endtime Productions, a Christian metal record label that also helped start the career of Extol. In 2000, Endtime re-released Martyrium.

Over the next several years, the band remained somewhat quiet; they did not release any more albums until 2003, when they re-released their two earliest demos on one CD, titling it The Defeat of Satan. By then, they had replaced several of their members as well. Their original vocalist, Martyr, left the band, as did several others. Fortunately for Antestor, the breakup of another Christian metal band in Norway, Vaakevandring, led to several former Vaakevandring members joining Antestor. Namely, Ronny Hansen, adopting the new moniker Vrede, became Antestor's new vocalist, and Morten Sigmund Mageroy (known in Antestor as Sygmoon) stepped in as the new keyboardist. Ann-Mari Edvardsen joined the band as a female vocalist. The drummer, Svein Sander (in Antestor, Armoth), left the band during this time also, and Antestor would not find a new full-time drummer for several more years.

In 2004, Antestor released their first set of new songs since The Return of the Black Death, in an EP called Det Tapte Liv ("The Lost Life"). Det Tapte Liv concentrated less on the black metal aspects of Antestor's style and more on instrumental songs. However, it did show that the band was preparing for their 2005 full-length, The Forsaken. Hellhammer played all drums on both of these releases, with new drummer Tony Kirkemo joining the band later in 2005 as live session drummer. and later on 2007 he was replaced by Gustav who plays drums in Crimson moonlight and exhale.

Some of the members still play in the Black metal band Vaakevandring. Which played in 2007 togheter with Antestor at Endtime festival.

Today, Antestor does not seem to be working on any new material, and they lately announced in April 2007 on the Endtime-festival that they had a problem with founding new members.

[edit] Members

[edit] Current members

Ronny Hansen - vocals (aka Vrede)
Morten Sigmund Mageroy - keyboard (aka Sygmoon)
Lars Stokstad - guitar (aka Vemod)
Vegard Undal - bass (aka Gard)
Tony Kirkemo - drums

[edit] Former members

Jan Axel Blomberg (Hellhammer) - session drummer on "Det Tapte Liv" and "The Forsaken"
Kjetil Molnes - vocals (aka Martyr)
Svein Sander - drums (aka Armoth)
Erling Jorgensen - guitar (aka Pilgrim)
Stig Rolfsen - guitar (aka Erkebisp)
Paul W - drums
Tora - session vocals on "Martyrium"
Ann-Mari Edvardsen - session vocals on "The Forsaken"