Kampfar is a

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 em ...

band from

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a city and municipality in Viken county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Fredrikstad. The city of Fredrikstad was founded in ...

, Norway. According to their singer, Dolk, their name is an ancient Norse

battle cry A battle cry or war cry is a yell or chant taken up in battle, usually by members of the same combatant group. Battle cries are not necessarily articulate (e.g. "Eulaliaaaa!", "Alala"..), although they often aim to invoke patriotic or religious ...

which means

Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, ...

Wotan (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the ''Nibelung ...

. The music of Kampfar can be described as black metal inspired by Norwegian folklore and nature. The band is currently signed to

Indie Recordings Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming *Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies * Indie game, any game (boar ...

History

Kampfar was formed by Dolk in 1994 when he left his former band, Mock, and was joined by Thomas. Two years later the duo released their first self-titled EP. This was followed by the release of the band's first full-length album '' Mellom skogkledde aaser'' in 1997. The band released their second album '' Fra underverdenen'' in 1999; the album is significant for featuring the song "Norse", which was the band's first song written in English, as opposed to their other songs which were written in the Norwegian language. The song was also featured on the band's second EP '' Norse'', released in 1998. The sound on ''Fra Underverdenen'' moved away from some of the folk aspects that were featured on band's past releases and concentrated more on Thomas' fondness for classical music. Following the release of ''Fra Underverdenen'', Kampfar was put on hold. The band became active again during 2003, when they were joined by the bass player Jon Bakker and drummer and vocalist Ask. Despite the creation of new lineup, the band did not perform live until 2004. The band made their first appearance at the Moshfest festival in

Halden Halden (), between 1665 and 1928 known as Fredrikshald, is both a town and a municipality in Viken county, Norway. The municipality borders Sarpsborg to the northwest, Rakkestad to the north and Aremark to the east, as well as the Swedish ...

, not far from their hometown Fredrikstad. Their 2006 album ''

Kvass Kvass is a fermented cereal-based low alcoholic beverage with a slightly cloudy appearance, light-brown colour and sweet-sour taste. It may be flavoured with berries, fruits, herbs or honey. Kvass stems from the northeastern part of Europe, ...

'' was recorded between November 2005 and January 2006 with producer Rune Jørgensen in Silvertone Studio in Gamle Fredrikstad. The band used the same studio and producer again for '' Heimgang'' in 2008. In 2010 Kampfar went to the famous Abyss Studio in Sweden to record their next album ''Mare'' with producer

Peter Tägtgren Alf Peter Tägtgren (born 3 June 1970) is a Swedish musician, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He is the founder, main songwriter, lead vocalist, and guitarist of death metal band Hypocrisy as well as the industrial metal band Pai ...

. Long serving guitarist Thomas quit the band even before the album was released and was replaced by Ole ( Mistur, Emancer) for the upcoming live shows. Ole later joined the band permanently and Kampfar went on to tour Norway, North America and Europe twice to support the album. In 2013 the band went back to Abyss Studio to record their sixth studio album '' Djevelmakt'', this time working with Jonas Kjellgren as producer and

doing the mixing. ''Djevelmakt'' was released worldwide 27 January 2014. A little more than a year later, on 13 November 2015, the band released their seventh full-length album '' Profan''. The album was given Norway's 2015 Spellemann Award for best metal album of the year.Kampfar - Spellemann Prisen Vinner
Retrieved on 3 July 2016 On 3 May 2019, Kampfar released their eighth album, ''Ofidians Manifest''. This album was nominated for the 2019 Spellemann Award in the metal category.

Discography

;Studio albums * '' Mellom skogkledde aaser'' ( Malicious Records 1997, re-release

Napalm Records Napalm Records is an Austrian independent record label focused on heavy metal and hard rock. Originally, Napalm focused on black metal bands, such as Abigor and Summoning, and folk metal bands, such as Falkenbach and Vintersorg. The label late ...

2006) * '' Fra underverdenen'' ( Hammerheart Records 1999, re-release

2006) * ''Kvass'' (

2006) * '' Heimgang'' (

2008) * ''Mare'' (

2011) * '' Djevelmakt'' (

2014) * ''Profan'' (

2015) * ''Ofidians Manifest'' (2019) * ''Til klovers takt'' (2022) ;Singles and EPs * ''Promo'' (demo, 1995) * ''Kampfar'' (EP, 1996) * ''Norse'' (EP, 1998) * ''Mylder'' (single, 2013) * ''Swarm Norvegicus'' (single, 2014) * ''Icons'' (single, 2015) * ''Tornekratt'' (single, 2016) * ''Ophidian'' (single, 2019) * ''Syndefall'' (single, 2019) * ''Lausdans Under Stjernene'' (single, 2022) * ''Urkraft'' (single, 2022)

Members

Current members

* Dolk (Per Joar Spydevold) — vocals (1994–present), drums (1994–2003) * Ask (Ask Ty Ulvhedin Bergli Arctander) — vocals, drums (2003–present) * Ole (Ole Hartvigsen) — guitar (2011–present) * Jon (Jon Bakker) — bass (2003–present)

Former Member

* Thomas (Thomas Andreassen) — guitar (1994–2010), bass (1994–2003) Timeline

Equipment

* ESP Guitars & Basses * EMG Pickups * ENGL Powerball * Blackstar Unity * Rotosound strings (Drop D tuning) * Shure GLX-D Wireless * Paiste Cymbals * Richter straps * Darkglass effects

References

External links

Official websiteKampfar
at My Space
Facebook
{{Authority control Norwegian black metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1994 1994 establishments in Norway Musical quartets Musical groups from Fredrikstad Norwegian folk metal musical groups Napalm Records artists Season of Mist artists