Ram-Zet is an avant-garde metal

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

formed in

Hamar Hamar is a town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the traditional region of Hedmarken. The town is located on the shores of Mjøsa, Norway's largest lake ...

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 1998.

Genre classification

Ram-Zet's music is very diverse ranging from

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 ...

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

. It has industrial sounds, progressive structures, and

traditional instruments A folk instrument is a musical instrument that developed among common people and usually does not have a known inventor. It can be made from wood, metal or other material. Such an instrument is played in performances of folk music. Overview Th ...

forming a style which some people, including band mastermind Zet, have called "schizo-metal". Their music contains many rare

time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note va ...

s, unconventional

harmonies In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...

, and unusual

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

parts. They can be regarded as an avant-garde metal band, because of the wide range of

genres Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

influencing them. Ram-Zet's

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a " libretto" and their writer, ...

are strongly linked to a

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social wit ...

theme. The lyrics of '' Pure Therapy'', '' Escape'', and '' Intra'' all revolve around this

mental disorder A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...

. Forming a story which runs through all three albums, they feature two main characters: a schizophrenic

patient A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other hea ...

in a dubious

mental institution Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...

(sung by Zet), and a

nurse Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health c ...

trying to help him evade (sung by Sfinx).

History

Ram-Zet began in 1998 as a one-man project by singer and guitarist Zet (Henning Ramseth), which later evolved into a full-grown band with the arrival of Küth (drums) and Solem (bass), leading to the release of Ram-Zet's debut album '' Pure Therapy'' in September 2000.Interview with Ram-Zet
''Enslaved By Metal''. Retrieved 2 January 2008. On 17 March 2007, in the official Ram-Zet forum, Sfinx stated that Ram-Zet is working on new material and would be performing live soon. Later that month it was confirmed further on the official news section of the Ram-Zet website. The news stated that the band has been rehearsing six new songs and working on many more. It was rumored that the album would be coming out sometime in late 2007 but was put on hold when Zet went on tour with Ride the Sky as guest keyboardist/guitarist. According to the band's official MySpace, recording of the new album began on 1 March 2008. It was also stated that the new album would be heavier and slower than previous albums but still would retain some faster moments in their music. In October 2008 the band took 10 of their songs and re-arranged them for an acoustic concert in their hometown of

. Approximately 200 people got to see this one-time event. The concert was filmed and is expected to be released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

in February/March 2010. In 2013, after releasing five studio albums and 14 years of existence, Ram-Zet took a break indefinitely, before the departure of some of its leading members; in particular, the guitarist Zet became part of the

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 heavine ...

band Vardøger. That same year, Sfinx joined Viper Solfa, as the female vocalist.

Personnel

Current members

Zet Zet or ZET may refer to: * Zagrebački električni tramvaj, Zagreb Electric Tram, public transport operator in Zagreb, Croatia * Zet (hardware), a clone x86 processor * Radio ZET, Polish radio station *Association of the Polish Youth "Zet", pre-19 ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

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 ...

( Ride the Sky) * SfinX -

(ex-

For My Pain For My Pain... was a gothic metal supergroup from Oulu, Finland, featuring members from Embraze, Eternal Tears of Sorrow, Nightwish, Charon and Reflexion. The band released their debut album ''Fallen'' in 2003, but has since not released any f ...

..., ex-

Eternal Tears of Sorrow Eternal Tears of Sorrow (commonly abbreviated to EToS) is a Finnish symphonic/melodic death metal band formed in Pudasjärvi. Biography The band was formed in 1994 by Jarmo Puolakanaho, Altti Veteläinen and Olli-Pekka Törrö, after vario ...

) * Küth - drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

(

The Kovenant The Kovenant is a Norwegian industrial metal band from Hamar. The band originally formed as a symphonic black metal act known as Covenant in 1993, but in 1999 were forced to change their name to The Kovenant due to a dispute with a Swedish elect ...

) *

Lanius ''Lanius'', the typical shrikes, are a genus of passerine birds in the shrike family Laniidae. The majority of the family's species are placed in this genus. The genus name, ''Lanius'', is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some ...

- bass, didgeridoo (joined during the post ''Intra'' period) * KA - keyboards (joined during recording of ''Neutralized'')

Former members

* Solem - bass (on ''Pure Therapy'' and ''Escape'') 2000-2003 * Daniel - bass (on ''Intra'') 2003-2006 *

Magnus Magnus, meaning "Great" in Latin, was used as cognomen of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in the first century BC. The best-known use of the name during the Roman Empire is for the fourth-century Western Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus. The name gained wid ...

- keyboards ( Return) (left after ''Intra'')2001-2008 * Sareeta -

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

( Ásmegin,

Solefald Solefald is a Norwegian avant-garde metal/black metal band that was formed by members Lars Are "Lazare" Nedland and Cornelius Jakhelln in August 1995, with Nedland singing and playing keyboard/synthesizer/piano and drums, and Jakhelln singing ...

) 2001-2009 Official Website
Members and former members found onder the About tab

Related bands

* Zet went on tour with Ride the Sky replacing Kaspar Dahlqvist on keyboard and rhythm guitar in 2007. * Küth is the current session drummer for black metal/industrial metal band

, where he replaced

Jan Axel Blomberg Jan Axel Blomberg (born 2 August 1969) is a Norwegian heavy metal drummer known professionally as Hellhammer. He is best known as the drummer of Mayhem, which he joined in 1988. In 1987 Blomberg formed the avant-garde black metal band Arcturus ...

(Hellhammer/Von Blomberg) just after the release of the 4th album ''SETI'' in 2003. * Sareeta was also the violinist for folk metal band Ásmegin. * Sareeta played violin for black progressive metal band In Lingua Mortua and for avant-garde metal band

on their albums '' Red for Fire'' and '' Black for Death''. * Sfinx made some guest vocals for

Fallen Fallen may refer to: People * Carl Fredrik Fallén (1764–1830), Swedish botanist and entomologist * Gabriel Toledo (born 1991), known as FalleN, Brazilian ''Counter-Strike'' player Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Fallen ...

the album of the Finnish superband

and for the

band

on their albums '' Before the Bleeding Sun'' and ''

Children of the Dark Waters ''Children of the Dark Waters'' is the sixth studio album by Finnish symphonic death metal band Eternal Tears of Sorrow. It was released in May 2009 through Suomen Musiikki for Finland, Massacre Records for the rest of Europe and Marquee/Avalon ...

''. * SfinX is working on an album with her own compositions and arrangements. This band is called EndLing and will be released sometime during 2013.

Discography

;Studio albums * '' Pure Therapy'' (2000) * '' Escape'' (2002) * '' Intra'' (2005) * '' Neutralized'' (2009) * '' Freaks in Wonderland'' (2012)

References

External links

Official site

Official MySpace
{{Authority control Norwegian avant-garde metal musical groups Norwegian heavy metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1998 1998 establishments in Norway Musical groups from Norway with local place of origin missing