Märvel are a rock band from
Linköping,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
, active since 2002. The band consists of The King (John Steen) on guitar and vocals, The Burgher (Ulrik Bostedt) on bass, and The Vicar (Tony Samuelsson) on drums. Nicknamed ''The Barons of High Energy Rock 'n' Roll'', the trio frequently delve into
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...
,
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...
, and
heavy metal.
The band stands apart from other rock groups by donning masks and headgear during performances to match their individual personas. Furthermore, members of the group are not replaced; with previous members always able to link up and play with the band.
Fans of Märvel belong to different provinces of ''The Märvel Army'' fan club, which is prominent in 12 countries. Provinces are organized by club presidents, which also have their own masked personas.
History
Formation and first album (2002–2006)
The group came together in 2002 when the trio of John Steen, Ulrik Bostedt, and Tony Samuelsson spent a year as exchange students in Colorado, United States. They formed under the name of ''Märvel'', inspired by the
Marvel
Marvel may refer to:
Business
* Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company
** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment
** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe
** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...
comic book heroes with a
metal umlaut to help distinguish themselves from the company and reflect their gritty, hard-rock sound. Working together on music rather than their grades, they released the vinyl ''Marvellous'' through the independent music label New York Powerhitters. They stuck together upon returning to their hometown of Linköping, releasing two EPs ''Heroine Tracks'' and ''Bedlam At The Embassy''. They donned superhero costumes and went by the original titles of Vocalo, The Ambassador, and Animalizer.
They released their first full-length album in 2005, ''Five Smell City'', after a nickname for the city of Linköping.
Following the release of the album the group toured around Europe while performing covers for their upcoming ''Unleashed! EP''.
A growing following (2006–2013)
''Unleashed!'' was released in 2006 to moderate reviews, featuring covers of bands such as
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Sayreville, New Jersey in 1983. The band consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarists John Shanks and Phil X, percussionist Everett Bradley ...
and
KISS. By now their songs were receiving airtime in Europe, with fanbases establishing themselves elsewhere in
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...
and
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. With another major release just around the corner in 2007, the group adopted new stage names of The King, The Vicar, and Speedo. Due to travel restrictions, another bass player, The Aviator, was recruited for touring purposes as the band released their second full-length album ''Thunderblood Heart'' in September 2007. The album had a very positive response, with the first single "I Wanna Know You (just a little bit better)" getting a music video with GBG Wrestling. The group continued to tour through 2008 and played with members of
The Backyard Babies at the
Dreamhack gaming festival in June. The following year, they released the single "A Pyrrhic Victory" with an accompanying tour in Germany. The single was a hit, getting a music video which featured in an interview on Swedish TV channel 24Corren. Portions of the ''Warhawks of War'' tour were spliced together to make a road movie. Actor
Johannes Brost was a fan of the new album, filming an unboxing, a first-listen, and reaction music video of the track "Hello!" to help promote it.
''Warhawks of War'' released in 2011 on Killer Cobra Records to positive reviews with a faster, harder sound than previously seen in ''Thunderblood Heart''. The band had multiple guest musicians join them for the album, including
Robert Dahlqvist ("Strängen") and
Andreas Tyrone Svensson ("Dregen") from the
Hellacopters. It was during this time that The Aviator retired from touring, and the band recruited a new bassist in the form of The Burgher. ''Warhawks of War'' was a hit, with the band touring Germany,
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, and
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
in promoting it. The Burgher's debut recording was on the single "Metalhead", which released in June 2012. However, in 2013 the band was financially exhausted and had to start a pledge campaign to resume work on their 4th album. By then, Dregen was getting a solo-album off the ground and chose Märvel to tour Scandinavia with him in autumn of that year.
An established sound for a new label (2014-present)
The outcome of 2013's campaign would see the release of ''The Hadal Zone Express'' in March 2014. The album was a success, heavily influenced by 70s/80s glam with some very fast tracks such as "Danish Rush" and "Black Money". Michael Stalling of ''Metal.de'' called the album "Fun from beginning to end... each track has its own character and lets the album rock on". "Danish Rush" got a music video directed by Johan Bååth (the Doits) and filmed by Peder Carlsson (Backyard Babies), which features many members of the Hellacopters and has a
chiptune version of the track in the credits. The band continued generating new songs and co-produced ''The Hills Have Eyes'' minialbum with
Fred Estby, incorporating folk aspects to their recordings from Estby's studio ''Gutterview Recorders''. A reinterpretation of
W.A.S.P.'s song "L.O.V.E Machine" on the album got a music video using wooden mannequin figures and won the Honolulu 2016 Film Awards for best music video. The band would travel to the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
for the first time to attend the 2016
Hard Rock Hell festival and subsequently picked up drummer Tony Thornensson, with the stage name of The Charlatan.
In 2016 their label, Killer Cobra Records, would close and leave the band looking for someone new. In 2017 they signed with Swedish rock label The Sign Records, with which they're active to this day. The new label made it possible for a U.S. release of ''The Hills Have Eyes'' on CD and made some of their older material more accessible outside of Europe. Around this time, the band would move to a devoted studio called the ''Solskensfabriken'', where they would be able to record and master their material. Märvel would release their seventh album, ''MÄRVEL at the Sunshine Factory'', in October to positive reviews. Andy Thorley of ''Maximum Volume Music'' gave it an 8.5/10 and called it "A record that, given a couple of listens, will reveal its true majesty". In 2017 Märvel would participate at the Fishbait Festival on Åland, doing a special performance with
Robert "Humbucker" Pehrsson,
Nicke Borg (Backyard Babies), and
Sator members
Chips Kiesbye and Kent Norberg.
In March 2019 Märvel contributed to a collaborative album by including the track "The Devil Stole The Beat From The Lord" on ''Payin' Our Dues: A Tribute To The Hellacopters''.
The following month in April the band released ''Guilty Pleasures'', their first cover album since ''Unleashed!'' in 2006. The album drew from many unique styles of music, with the band putting their own hard-rock twist on them. Songs such as the
surf-rock "El Camino Real" by Lee Dresser and a 180
BPM version of
pub-rock "
Sultans of Swing" by
Dire Straits.
In January 2020, Märvel released the EP ''Märvellous'', which featured four re-recorded tracks from their original 2002 EP.
In March 2022, the band announced their seventh album, ''Graces Came with Malice'', would be released on April 22.
Musical style and influences
The band takes much of its influence from hard rock,
heavy metal, and flamboyant
glam rock. Bands such as
Thin Lizzy,
T-Rex, W.A.S.P.,
Mötley Crüe, and
RATT
Ratt (stylized as RATT) was an American glam metal band that had significant commercial success in the 1980s, with their albums having been certified as gold, platinum and multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, RIAA. ...
can be picked out of ''Märvels musical style, with swinging vocals and fast guitars. Other Scandinavian acts before them, such as the Hellacopters,
Turbonegro, and
Gluecifer are also frequently cited as influences on their performances. However, the most evident influence on the band are
KISS.
The King described their style as "High Energy Rock" in a 2013 interview with ''Motor.de''. "It (High Energy Rock) is a very powerful form of communication and in Sweden it's forbidden to play it when you're older than 30." When asked about particularly influential bands on their sound, he responded "We're music addicts and we mix everything we can together. We're not interested in what's popular or not. We're plain and simple: In-your-face Rock n' Roll Evangelists!"
Outside of their performances, Märvel don't live the lifestyles present in some of their lyrics. In a 2016 interview with ''Raw Ramp'', they described themselves as "...not rowdy party dudes. We are more into the music than the err….
ife style… we let the other bands do the partying."
Discography
Studio albums
* ''Five Smell City'' (2005)
* ''Thunderblood Heart'' (2007)
* ''Warhawks Of War'' (2011)
* ''Hadal Zone Express'' (2014)
* ''At the Sunshine Factory'' (2017)
* ''Guilty Pleasures'' (2019)
* ''Graces Came with Malice'' (2022)
EPs/LPs
* ''Marvellous'' (2002)
* ''Heroine Tracks'' (2003)
* ''Bedlam At The Embassy'' (2004)
* ''Unleashed!'' (2006)
* ''The Hills Have Eyes'' (2015)
* ''Märvellous'' (2020)
Singles
* ''A Pyrrhic Victory'' (2009)
* ''Metalhead / Ambassador of Fantastic'' (2012)
* ''Motherfucker'' (2015)
Collaborations
* Märvel collaborated with
The Chuck Norris Experiment, releasing a 7" vinyl with their single "Motherfucker" (2015)
* Märvel added to ''Payin' Our Dues: A Tribute To The Hellacopters'' with the track "The Devil Stole The Beat From The Lord" (2019)
References
External links
* {{official website, http://www.marvel.nu/
Swedish hard rock musical groups
Musical groups from Linköping
2002 establishments in Sweden
21st-century establishments in Östergötland County