Gates of Ishtar is a Swedish
melodic death metal
Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavines ...
band.
History
Gates of Ishtar was formed in late 1992 under the name Disrupt, by Mikael Sandorf (vocals), Andreas Johansson (drums), Stefan Nilsson (guitar) and Harald Åberg (bass). Eventually, the band recruited guitarist Tomas Jutenfäldt. During the band's rehearsal for their demo, ''Seasons of Frost'', Harald coined the band's name "Gates of Ishtar", and Andreas designed the logo.
In May 1995, ''Seasons of Frost'' was recorded at Lucichrist studio. This demo led to the group's contract for its first full-length album on the
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
label
Spinefarm Records
Spinefarm Records is a Finnish independent record label focusing mainly on heavy metal artists. It is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group.
History
Spinefarm Records was originally founded in 1990 by Riku Pääkkönen as a mail-order distrib ...
. In 1996, their debut album, ''A Bloodred Path'' was recorded in the Finnish studio Tico-Tico and released by Spinefarm in June. Due to the popular response to this album, and the band's dissatisfaction with Spinefarm Records, Gates of Ishtar switched to the German label Invasion Records. A contract for two full-length albums was signed, and the band started to work on their second album, ''The Dawn of Flames''.
Before work on their second album began, Oskar and Niklas left the band due to personal disagreements with other band members. Henrik Åberg who was their live guitarist was recruited to play the drums. Still missing a bass guitarist, Tomas asked an old friend, Danjel Röhr, to perform as a session musician for ''The Dawn of Flames''. In early 1997, the band travelled to
Örebro
Örebro ( , ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, sixth-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capital of the Örebro County. It is situated by the Närke Plain, near the lake Hjälmaren, a few kilometers in ...
to record at
Unisound studio. On March 25, 1997, the album was released worldwide.
The band reunited in 2015.
On March 3, 2016, drummer Oskar Karlsson died from heart failure.
Although Gates of Ishtar is still listed as active, the band has been on hold since 2019.
On November 15, 2022, the band announced they will play a show in
Umeå
Umeå ( , , , locally ; South Westrobothnian: ;). fi, Uumaja; sju, Ubmeje; sma, Upmeje; se, Ubmi) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County.
Situated on the Ume River, Umeà ...
in 2023.
Discography
* ''Seasons of Frost'' (demo) (1995)
* ''A Bloodred Path'' (1996)
* ''The Dawn of Flames'' (1997)
* ''At Dusk and Forever'' (1998)
Band members
Current
* Mikael Sandorf – vocals
(1992–1998, 2015–2016, 2022-present), guitars, bass
(1997–1998)
* Andreas Johansson – guitars
(1994–1997, 2015–2016, 2022-present), drums
(1992–1994)
* Tomas Jutenfäldt – guitars
(1994–1997, 2015–2016, 2022-present)
* Niklas Svensson – bass
(1994–1996, 2015–2016, 2022-present)
* Fredrik Andersson – drums
(2022-present)
Former
* Oskar Karlsson – drums
(1994–1996, 1997–1998, 2015–2016; died 2016)
* Urban Carlsson – guitars
(1997–1998)
* Harald Aberg – bass
(1992–1994)
* Stefan Nilsson – guitars
(1992–1994)
* Danjel Röhr – bass
(1996–1997); died 2022)
* Henrik Åberg – drums
(1996–1997)
Timeline
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gates of Ishtar
Swedish black metal musical groups
Swedish melodic death metal musical groups
Musical groups established in 1992
Musical groups disestablished in 1998