Ophthalamia was a Swedish
black metal
Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...
band that formed in 1989.
History
Ophthalamia was formed in 1989 by singer All and guitarist IT, both also active in the musical groups
Abruptum
Abruptum is a Swedish black metal and dark ambient solo side-project band. It is run by Evil (Morgan Steinmeyer Håkansson) of Marduk, but the band was formed in 1989 by IT (a.k.a. Tony Särkkä). All (a.k.a. Jim Berger), Ext and Evil joined th ...
and
Vondur
Vondur was a black metal band from Sweden. It was made up of members of the bands Ophthalamia and Abruptum, "It" (Tony Särkkä) and "All" (Jim Berger). The sound could be described as primitive black metal, though rumors have claimed that this w ...
. The band named themselves Ophthalamia after a fantasy-world created by IT. He created and named the geography, the land's creatures and a language for Ophthalamians. The Goddess of this world is a demon woman called Elishia. Almost all songs written by the band are connected in some way to this fantasy-world, until their last album, which was inspired by ''
Macbeth
''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...
''.
The vocals were initially handled by All, but he was replaced by Shadow (
Jon Nödtveidt) on ''A Journey In Darkness''. Shadow, in his turn, was replaced by Legion for the ''Via Dolorosa'' album. Legion left the band for the infamous
Marduk
Marduk (Cuneiform: dAMAR.UTU; Sumerian: ''amar utu.k'' "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) was a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon. When Babylon became the political center of the Euphrates valley in the time of ...
in 1995 and was replaced by All again. Winter played drums on the first two albums, but left right after ''Via Dolorosa'' was recorded. He was replaced by Bone. Guitarist Mourning was replaced by former bassist Night, who picked up the guitars for the ''Via Dolorosa'' album and is now the second guitarist. Mist replaced him on bass. Axa (Alexandra Balogh) who contributed as a piano session player also composed the last track of
Dissection
Dissection (from Latin ' "to cut to pieces"; also called anatomization) is the dismembering of the body of a deceased animal or plant to study its anatomical structure. Autopsy is used in pathology and forensic medicine to determine the cause o ...
's album ''Storm Of The Light's Bane''.
Line-up
* IT (
Tony Särkkä
Tony Särkkä (15 December 1972 – 8 February 2017), who went by the stage name It, was a Swedish multi-instrumentalist who has played in many black metal bands. He played guitar, drums and bass guitar as well as doing vocals. He was joined by ...
) - guitar, vocals (deceased 08/02/2017)
* Night (
Emil Nödtveidt
Deathstars is a Swedish industrial metal band from Strömstad. Formed in 2000, the group are noted for their dark horror-themed lyrics, pessimistic and misanthropic social commentary, distinctive trademark face paint, dark stage uniforms and ph ...
) - guitar
* Bone (
Ole Öhman) - drums, percussion
* All (Jim Berger) - lead vocals
* Mist (
Mikael Schelin
Michael may refer to:
People
* Michael (given name), a given name
* Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael
Given name "Michael"
* Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...
) - bass
Former members
* Shadow (
Jon Nödtveidt) - vocals (deceased 16/08/2006)
* Legion (
Erik Hagstedt) - vocals
* Winter (
Benny Larsson
Benny or Bennie is a given name or a shortened version of the given name Benjamin or, less commonly, Benedict, Bennett, Benito, Benson, Bernice, Ebenezer or Bernard.
People Bennie Given name
*Bennie M. Bunn (1907–1943), American Marine offi ...
) - drums
* Mourning (
Robert Ivarsson
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
) - bass
Session members
* Axa - Piano, backing vocals
Discography
* 1994 - ''A Journey in Darkness''
* 1995 - ''Via Dolorosa''
* 1997 - ''To Elishia'' (compilation)
* 1998 - ''A Long Journey'' (re-recording of ''A Journey in Darkness'')
* 1998 - ''Dominion''
* 2019 - ''II Elishia II''
External links
Official homepage
{{Authority control
Musical groups established in 1989
Swedish black metal musical groups