Order from Chaos was an extreme metal band formed in 1987 in Kansas City, Missouri, United States by Pete Helmkamp, Chuck Keller and Mike Miller. They are recognised as being an extremely influential group in the early US black metal scene, and served as a launching pad for its band members that went on to form such groups as

Angelcorpse Angelcorpse was a blackened death metal band formed after the demise of Pete Helmkamp's previous band, Order from Chaos. Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, they relocated to Tampa, Florida. History They formed in 1995, with a line-up of H ...

, Ares Kingdom, Revenge, Vulpecula, and Kerasphorus.

Biography

Order from Chaos, a trio consisting of Pete Helmkamp (

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 ...

/ bass), Chuck Keller (

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 ...

) and Mike Miller ( drums), was formed in Kansas City,

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

during 1987, playing a mixture of old school

thrash Thrash may refer to: *Thrashing (computer science), where increasing resources are used to do a decreasing amount of work *Thrash (surname) * Thrash, mascot of the Atlanta Thrashers *'' Thrash Rally'', a top-down perspective rally racing video gam ...

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

and death metal, influenced by the likes of

Venom Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a st ...

, Bathory and Celtic Frost. The band released a trio of demos in 1988, until a fourth (''Crushed Infamy''), which sold 1000 copies, attracted the attention of Putrefaction Records who released the ''Will to Power'' 7" EP, limited to 1100 copies. The band then signed a record deal with

Wild Rags Wild Rags Records was a record label and store in Montebello, California. It was founded in the 1980s by Ricardo Campos. Though Wild Rags started out as a record store in East LA releasing cassette from bands such as Cherry Street, the zine later ...

in 1989, who released cassette versions of the ''Crushed Infamy'' demo and ''Will to Power''.Biography of Order from Chaos
at

Rockdetector MusicMight (formerly RockDetector) was a rock music website which provides artist and product information through a global website and an ongoing book series. Based in New Zealand, the site was founded by British writer Garry Sharpe-Young, and was ...

Frank Stöver
''ORDER FROM CHAOS''
. A final demo, ''Alienus Sum'', was released in 1992 by the band, featuring three rough mixes from their delayed debut album and a couple of rehearsal tracks; an official cassette version of the demo was released through

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an label Hexateuc Torment. Despite being recorded in April/May 1991, Order from Chaos' debut album, ''Stillbirth Machine'', was finally released in 1992 through Wild Rags, despite the label dropping the band in November 1992. Around the same time, the album was also released by Greek label Decapitated Records (now Unisound Productions). This version, which differs from the Wild Rags in terms of artwork and layout and contains numerous textual errors, is apparently considered a bootleg version by the band. The album was given official re-releases by

Osmose Productions Osmose Productions is a French independent record label created in 1991 by Hervé Herbaut, after he had spent three years running a small mail order company. They specialize mainly in death and black metal bands. Many of the groups who began w ...

in 1998 (including the ''Crushed Infamy'' demo) and Nuclear War Now! in 2008 (on both black and clear yellow vinyl). The album has received some critical acclaim; ''

Terrorizer Terrorizer is an American grindcore band formed in 1986 in Los Angeles, California. After disbanding, its members gained recognition by playing in influential extreme metal bands, such as Morbid Angel ( David Vincent, Pete Sandoval), Napalm ...

'' included it in their "top 40 death metal albums you must hear", at number 40. James Hoare commented, "The blasphemous babysteps of Peter Helmkamp, ..Order from Chaos courted black metal's glass shards of spite and embittered, semi-mystical worldview in an ear when the two genres were defined by their opposition, setting down the foundations for further esoteric and impenetrable coupling.".Hoare, James (2010). ''

's Secret History of... Death Metal'', "The 40 Albums You Must Hear", page 95, March 2010. A series of further EPs were recorded and released throughout 1994 on various labels (''Jericho Trumpet'' on Gestapo, ''Live: Into Distant Fears'' on Eternal Darkness and ''Plateau of Invincibility'' on Shivadarshana), followed by a second full-length, ''Dawn Bringer'', on Shivadarshana, before the band decided to call it quits in 1995. After Shivardashana folded, French label Osmose picked up tracks recorded in 1995 for Order from Chaos' third and final album and released ''An Ending in Fire'' in 1998, as well as re-releasing their debut. Pete Helmkamp went on to form death metal act

, as well as writing a book on occultism, entitled ''The Conqueror Manifesto: Capricornus Teitan''. Chuck Keller and Mike Miller went on to form retro black/thrash band Ares Kingdom and blackened death metal act Vulpecula. With interest in Order from Chaos still prevalent in the extreme metal underground, Merciless records released a compilation of demos, 1994 live tracks and rehearsal sessions, entitled ''Imperium - The Apocalyptic Visions'', in July 2005.

Last known line-up

* Pete Helmkamp (

, bass) * Chuck Keller (

) * Mike Miller ( drums)

Discography

Demos

* ''Demo I'' (self-released, January 1988) * ''Inhumanities'' (self-released, July 1988) * ''Rehearsal'' (self-released, 1988) * ''Crushed Infamy'' (

, July 1989) * ''Alienus Sum'' (self-released, 1992; reissued by Hexateuc Torment, 1994)

EPs

* ''Will to Power'' (EP, Putrefaction / Wild Rags, 1990) * ''Jericho Trumpet'' (7" EP, Gestapo, 1994) * ''Live: Into Distant Fears'' (7" EP, Eternal Darkness, 1994) * ''Plateau of Invincibility'' (10" EP, Shivadarshana, 1994) * ''Pain Lengthens Time'' (unreleased EP, 1994; included with the ''Dawnbringer'' CD) * ''And I Saw Eternity'' (EP, Ground Zero / Shivadarshana, 1996)

Full-length LPs

* ''Stillbirth Machine'' (Wild Rags, 1993; reissued by Osmose, 1998; reissued by Nuclear War Now!, 2008) * ''Dawn Bringer'' (Shivadarshana, 1995; reissed by Fifth Division, 2003) * ''An Ending in Fire'' (Osmose, 1998; reissued by Nuclear War Now!, 2008) * ''Imperium - The Apocalyptic Visions'' (compilation, Merciless, 2005)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Order From Chaos American black metal musical groups American death metal musical groups American thrash metal musical groups Heavy metal musical groups from Missouri Musical groups established in 1987 Musical groups disestablished in 1995 Musical groups from Kansas City, Missouri