Kristoffer Rygg

Kristoffer Rygg (born 9 September 1976), also known as Garm, Trickster G. Rex and God Head, is a heavy-metal vocalist, musician and producer known primarily for his work with Ulver, Arcturus, and Borknagar.

Biography

Born in Oslo but raised in Cascais, Kristoffer Rygg was 16 years old when he formed Ulver, considered one of the most iconic bands from the Norwegian black metal scene. He was an instrumental instigator for later subcategories such as avant-garde metal.

In addition, he was vocalist for Borknagar (1995–1997) and Arcturus (1993–2003), both of which comprise many eminent musicians from the early Norwegian black metal scene. Rygg was responsible for introducing Borknagar to the singer who replaced him, ICS Vortex, when he resigned from the band.

Kristoffer Rygg possesses a wide range of vocal textures and styles, ranging from baritone, countertenor, crooning and even black metal style screaming. He often records multiple tracks of himself to create dense male choirs on albums such as the majority of the vocals on Kveldssanger.

In 2005, Rygg collaborated with Portuguese musician/producer Daniel Cardoso in the project Head Control System. The music was described by the label as "groovy rock/metal with progressive edges and cinematic components." Their first and only full-length, entitled Murder Nature was released on 4 April 2006 through The End Records.

In recent years Rygg has been involved in freeform/improvisational project Æthenor which includes notable musicians such as Stephen O'Malley of Sunn O))), Daniel O'Sullivan of Guapo and David Tibet of Current 93. In April 2008 he played five concerts with Æthenor. It was his first time on stage in over a decade. Rygg has since participated in several mini-tours and concerts with Æthenor. Their triple residency at the Oslo jazz club Blå resulted in the much-acclaimed 4th album En Form for Blå.

In 2009, fifteen years after their only concert back in 1993, he decided to reintroduce Ulver live in concert. The first show was hosted by the Lillehammer Norwegian Literature Festival Norwegian Festival of Literature, and initiated by the late author Stig Sæterbakken. A year later, and after a series of shows around Europe, Rygg stood in front of a full house at the main stage of Oslo's National Opera & Ballet. A DVD/Blu-ray from the event was released commercially, and includes liner notes by Rygg and Sæterbakken.

Rygg owns and operates Jester Records, an underground label specializing in experimental music, including Ulver, which has since their early metal days metamorphosed into a musical composite difficult to categorize. He has acted as guest vocalist, lyricist, engineer, producer, remixer etc. for a very large list of other artists, including Alkaline Trio, Mindless Self Indulgence, Genghis Tron, Darkthrone, Mayhem, Emperor, Ihsahn, Dimmu Borgir, The Gathering, Merzbow, Carpenter Brut and Sunn O))) et al.

He is part of the studio-collective Crystal Canyon in Oslo, and has two children, Leon and Astra.

Discography

With Arcturus

# Constellation (1994)
# Aspera Hiems Symfonia (1995)
# La Masquerade Infernale (1997)
# Disguised Masters (1999)
# Aspera Hiems Symfonia/Constellation/My Angel (2002)
# The Sham Mirrors (2002)

With Borknagar

# Borknagar (1996)
# The Olden Domain (1997)
# Winter Thrice (2016) (Appears as a guest vocalist)

With Head Control System

# Murder Nature (4 April 2006)

With Ulver

# Vargnatt (1993)
# Split 7" w/Mysticum (1994)
# Bergtatt - Et Eeventyr i 5 Capitler (1994)
# Kveldssanger (1995)
# Nattens Madrigal - Aatte Hymne til Ulven i Manden (1996)
# Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1998)
# Metamorphosis (1999)
# Perdition City (2000)
# Silence Teaches You How to Sing (2001)
# Silencing the Singing (2001)
# Lyckantropen Themes (2002)
# A Quick Fix of Melancholy (2003)
# Teachings in Silence (2003)
# Svidd Neger (Original Soundtrack) (2003)
# 1993–2003: 1st Decade in the Machines (2003) (Ulver remix themselves on the first track)
# UNO (2005) (OST, Jester Records has not yet released their own version, but the movie corp. version is already out)
# Blood Inside (2005)
# Shadows of the Sun (2007)
# Wars of the Roses (2011)
# Childhood's End (2012)
# Live at Roadburn – Eulogy for the Late Sixties (2013)
# Messe I.X-VI.X (2013)
# ATGCLVLSSCAP (2015)
# Riverhead (soundtrack) (2016)
# The Assassination of Julius Caesar (2017)
# Flowers of Evil (2020)

With Æthenor

# Betimes Black Cloudmasses (2008)
# En Form for Blå (2010)
# Hazel (2016)

As guest musician/producer/etc.

# Darkthrone: Wrote the lyric ''Earth's Last Picture'' for the ''Total Death'' album (1995).
# Gehenna: Features Rygg on ''Vinterriket'' off the ''Seen Through The Veils of Darkness'' album (1995).
# Aura Noir: Handwriting on the backcover for the ''Dreams Like Deserts'' MCD (1995). He also engineered/produced the album ''Deep Tracts of Hell'' (1998).
# Dødheimsgard aka DHG: Mastered the '' Monumental Possession'' album (1996), he was also involved in the mastering of the ''Satanic Art'' MCD (1998).
# Forlorn: Mastered the ''Forlorn'' EP (1996) and ''The Crystal Palace'' debut album (1996).
# Old Man's Child: Mastered the ''Born of the Flickering'' album (1996).
# Aphrodisiac: Contributed with the track ''Children, it is I'' on the ''Nonsense Chamber'' album (1997).
# De Press: Features Rygg on the track ''Orawski Psalm'' of the ''Potargano Chałpa'' album (1997).
# Emperor: Ulver did a remix of the track ''Sworn'' (1999). Rygg also mastered the album ''Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk'' (1997).
# Mayhem: Produced, mixed and mastered the ''Wolf's Lair Abyss'' MCD (1997).
# Hagalaz Runedance: Ulver did a remix of the track ''The Falcon Flies'' off the ''Urd: That which was'' MCD (1999).
# Fleurety: Features Rygg on ''Last Minute Lies'' off the ''Department of Apocalyptic Affairs'' album (2000). He also engineered and co-produced said album.
# SCN: Features Rygg on ''Rise Above'' off the ''Inside Out'' album (2001).
# Zyklon: Features Rygg on the two tracks ''Chaos Deathcult'' and ''Transcendental War – Battle between Gods'' of the ''World ov Worms'' album (2001).
# Kåre João: Rygg does backing vocals on the ''Sideman'' album (2002).
# Magenta: Features Rygg on the two tracks ''Vandalistvirgin'' and ''Backstabber Nation'' on the ''All Over'' single (2002). Rygg is also featured on the tracks ''I need my Love'', ''Vandalistvirgin'' and ''Mermaid'' off the ''Little Girl Lost'' album (2003).
# Star of Ash: Features Rygg on the two tracks ''The Nudity of Light'' and ''In the Throws of Guilt'' off the '' Iter.Viator'' album (2002) which he also co-produced. He is also featured on the songs ''Blood, Bones and a Skull'' and ''Crossing Over'' off the album '' The Thread'' (2008).
# 1349 Rykkinn: Unspecified appearance on the ''Brown Ring of Fury'' album (2003).
# Merzbow: Ulver did a remix of ''Denki No Numa'' for the '' Frog: Remixed and Revisited'' album (2003).
# The Gathering: Rygg sings a duet with Anneke van Giersbergen on ''A Life all Mine'' off the ''Souvenirs'' album (2003).
# Virus: Rygg is credited with "Backyard barks" on the song ''Queen of the Hi-Ace'' off the ''Carheart'' album (2003) and provided guest vocals on the song "Call of the Tuskers" off the album " The Agents That Shape The Desert" (2011).
# Tuner: Rygg appears with a 'single growl' on the first track ''White Cake Sky '' on the ''Pole'' album (2007), recorded in US (2005–2006).
# Ihsahn: Rygg sings ''Homecoming'' off '' The Adversary'' (2006).
# Solefald: Rygg plays the role of Loki on the song ''Loki Trickster God'' from the (2006) album '' Black For Death: An Icelandic Odyssey Part 2''.
# Sunn O))): Ulver provided production and contributions to the track ''CUT WOODeD'' on WHITEbox (2006).
# Professor Fate: For the album ''Inferno'' (2007), Rygg performed vocals on the track "Limbo."
# V:28: Features Rygg on the track ''The Absolute'' off the ''Violution'' album (2007).
# Alkaline Trio: Ulver contributes with string arrangements and samples on the album Agony and Irony (2008).
# Ava Inferi's third album Blood of Bacchus contains guest vocals by Garm on the track ''Black Wings'' (2009).
# Dimmu Borgir's Abrahadabra (2010): Rygg sings clean vocals on the last track "Endings and Continuations".
# Zweizz & Joey Hopkins: ''Zweizz & Joey Hopkins'' (2011): Vocals on the track "The Goat".
# Mothlite: ''Dark Age'' (2012): Vocals on the track "The Underneath".
# Nidingr – Garm sings vocals on the end of "Baldrs Draumar" on the album "Wolf Father".
# Myrkur: '' M'' (2015): Production, mixing
# Thomas Giles' single ''Milan'' (2018)

With

Carpenter Brut

# Leather Teeth (2018)
# Leather Terror (2022)

Filmography

* ''Until the Light Takes Us'' by Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell : himself

Notes

External links

Jester RecordsUlver's official webpage

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rygg, Kristoffer
1976 births
Living people
Norwegian baritones
Norwegian black metal musicians
Norwegian electronic musicians
Norwegian heavy metal singers
Norwegian rock singers
Norwegian audio engineers
Norwegian record producers
Norwegian composers
Norwegian male composers
Musicians from Oslo
People from Cascais
Borknagar members
Arcturus (band) members
Ulver members
21st-century Norwegian singers
21st-century Norwegian male singers