Hades Almighty is a Norwegian

black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an emp ...

band from

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

, Norway. They were formed in 1992, originally under the moniker Hades. They were forced to change their name to Hades Almighty in 1998, following complaints from an American band with a prior claim to the name.

History

Hades were formed in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

in 1992 by former

Immortal Immortality is the ability to live forever, or eternal life. Immortal or Immortality may also refer to: Film * ''The Immortals'' (1995 film), an American crime film * ''Immortality'', an alternate title for the 1998 British film ''The Wisdom of ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

ist

Jørn Inge Tunsberg Jørn Inge Tunsberg (born 4 December 1970 in Bergen, Norway) is a death/black metal musician. He lives in Bergen and plays guitar in the black metal band Hades Almighty and the industrial metal band Dominanz. Tunsberg played in the bands Old F ...

and ex-Dark drummer Remi Andersen; they were later joined by Janto Garmanslund on bass and second guitarist Wilhelm Nagel. Their first demo, ''Alone Walkyng'', was recorded in June 1993 at

Grieghallen Grieg Hall ( no, Grieghallen) is a 1,500 seat concert hall located on Edvard Griegs' square in Bergen, Norway. Grieghallen was named in honor of Bergen-born composer Edvard Grieg, who served as music director of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra ...

and produced by

Pytten Eirik Hundvin (born 8 February 1950), also known as Pytten, is a Norwegian producer and recording engineer for many classic black metal albums, mainly by Norwegian bands, nearly all of which were recorded in the Grieg Hall in Bergen. Hundvin is ...

; this demo was later to be re-released on CD through the Italian label Wounded Love in 1996. In 1993, Tunsberg was convicted, along with fellow black metal musician

Varg Vikernes Louis Cachet (born Kristian Vikernes; 11 February 1973), better known as Varg Vikernes (), is a Norwegian writer and retired musician best known for his early black metal albums and later crimes. His first five records, issued under the name Burz ...

(of Burzum), for the burning of a Norwegian church in

Åsane Åsane is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough makes up the northern part of the city, north of the city centre. Åsane is connected to downtown Bergen by the E16/ E39 highway. The E16 highway continues on t ...

, which led to a prison sentence. Following the release of the demo, the band signed with Full Moon Productions and recorded their first album, ''...Again Shall Be'', again at Grieghallen, in June/July 1994. Around this time, they replaced Nagel with Stig Hagenes on second guitar. Hades recorded their second album ''Dawn of the Dying Sun'' at Grieghallen in 1996, which was released through Full Moon in 1997. The band supported the release of this album with extensive touring throughout Europe, as well as in Mexico and the US. In 1998 the band was forced to change their name from Hades to Hades Almighty, following complaints from an American act already with a prior claim to the name. Following the name-change, the band began working on their next album, as well as playing at the

Wacken Open Air Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a rock music festival, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Almost all styles and subgenres of hard rock and metal are ...

festival. In September 1998 the band released entered Prolog Studios ( Dortmund, Germany) to record ''Millenium Nocturne'', released under license from

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

through

Hammerheart ''Hammerheart'' is the fifth studio album by Swedish extreme metal band Bathory. It continued the previous album ''Blood Fire Deaths transition away from black metal to what became recognized as Viking metal, and is considered a cornerstone wo ...

. They toured Europe to support of the album with

and

Benediction A benediction ( Latin: ''bene'', well + ''dicere'', to speak) is a short invocation for divine help, blessing and guidance, usually at the end of worship service. It can also refer to a specific Christian religious service including the exposit ...

, and a separate spate of gigs in the Benelux region with Mayhem and Primordial. Their fourth album ''Pulse of Decay'' was released in 2001 through Psycho Bitch Records. Hades Almighty signed a management contract with Khaoz Productions in 2003, and a record deal with Dark Essence Records in 2004; the label re-released ''Pulse of Decay'' in 2004 with bonus tracks (including a cover of Manowar's "Each Dawn I Die") and a DVD section including the video for the band's own track "Submission Equals Suicide".

Members

Current line-up

*Jan Otto "Janto" Garmanslund - lead vocals, bass guitar, keyboards (1992–present) *

- lead guitar, keyboards (1992–present) *Remi Andersen - drums (1992–present)

Past members

*Wilhelm Nagel - guitar (1993-1994) *Stig Hagenes - guitar (1994-1999)

Discography

As Hades

*''Alone Walkyng'' (demo, 1993; re-released 1996 by Wounded Love) *''...Again Shall Be'' ( Full Moon Productions, 1994) *Split with

Katatonia Katatonia are a Swedish heavy metal band formed in Stockholm in 1991 by Jonas Renkse and Anders Nyström. The band started as a studio-only project for the duo, as an outlet for the band's love of death metal. Increasing popularity led them ...

(Mystic Production, 1996) *''Dawn of the Dying Sun'' (Full Moon Productions, 1997)

As Hades Almighty

*''Millennium Nocturne'' (

, 1999) *'' The Pulse of Decay'' (Psycho Bitch Records, 2001; re-released 2004 by Dark Essence) *''Pyre Era, Black!'' (EP, 2015)

References

External links

Official Hades Almighty website

Hades Almighty biography @ Rockdetector
{{Authority control Norwegian black metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1992 1992 establishments in Norway Musical groups from Bergen