Thorr's Hammer was an American-Norwegian

death-doom Death-doom (also known as death-doom metal or doom-death) is a fusion genre of death metal and doom metal. It combines the slow tempos and pessimistic or depressive mood of doom metal with the deep death growl, growling vocals and double bass dr ...

band.

History

Thorr's Hammer was formed in

Ballard, Seattle Ballard is a neighborhood in northwestern Seattle, Washington, United States. Formerly an independent city, the City of Seattle's official boundaries define it as bounded to the north by Crown Hill (N.W. 85th Street), to the east by Greenwo ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

by Greg Anderson and

Stephen O'Malley Stephen O'Malley (sometimes referred to as SOMA; born July 15, 1974) is an American guitarist, producer, composer, and visual artist from Seattle, Washington, who has conceptualized and participated in numerous drone metal, doom metal, and expe ...

during winter 1994–1995. Soon after, Runhild Gammelsæter, then a 17-year-old Norwegian

exchange student A student exchange program is a program in which students from a secondary school (high school) or higher education study abroad at one of their institution's partner institutions. A student exchange program may involve international travel, bu ...

, joined the band as vocalist/lyricist. The band reached its final form when Jamie Sykes and James Hale joined. The band was active only for six weeks during which it played two gigs and recorded a demo and an EP titled '' Dommedagsnatt''. In 1997, the song "Troll" from their EP ''Dommedagsnatt'' was released on ''The Awakening - Females in Extreme Music'', a compilation album from Dwell Records. The band disbanded after Gammelsæter's return to

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, Norway.

Burning Witch Burning Witch was an American doom/sludge metal band from Seattle, Washington, active between 1995 and 1998. Aside from EPs and split releases, the band released a compilation album called '' Crippled Lucifer'', which had songs of their early E ...

was formed from the ashes of Thorr's Hammer, and Gammelsæter collaborated with

James Plotkin James Plotkin is an American guitarist and producer known for his role in bands such as Khanate and OLD but with an extensive catalogue outside these bands. He has played guitar for Phantomsmasher and Scorn and continues to remix tracks for ba ...

(

Khanate A khanate ( ) or khaganate refers to historic polity, polities ruled by a Khan (title), khan, khagan, khatun, or khanum. Khanates were typically nomadic Mongol and Turkic peoples, Turkic or Tatars, Tatar societies located on the Eurasian Steppe, ...

) to form Khlyst. Khlyst released a full-length album '' Chaos Is My Name'' in 2006, and a live album '' Chaos Live'' in 2008. Thorr's Hammer reunited in 2009 to play at the Supersonic Festival in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England, and again in 2010 for The

Roadburn Festival The Roadburn Festival is an annual music festival held each April in Tilburg, Netherlands. It was founded by Walter Hoeijmakers and Jurgen van den Brand in 1999, who ran a stoner rock blog of the same name. The festival has been held at Tilburg ...

Tilburg Tilburg () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. With a population of 22 ...

, Netherlands. In an interview with ''

Rock-A-Rolla ''Rock-A-Rolla'' was a music magazine covering experimental, avant-garde, noise and metal artists pushing the boundaries of music. Launched in late 2005, it was published bi-monthly in the UK by V-Squared Publishing Limited and distributed worl ...

'' magazine, Runhild Gammelsæter said the band "might make some new music" in the future.''Rock-A-Rolla'' magazine, Issue 20, May/June 2009

Line-up

* Runhild Gammelsæter (a.k.a. Ozma) – vocals and lyrics * Greg Anderson – guitar (" drones and

sunn Sunn (stylized in all lowercase as sunn) is a brand of musical instrument amplifiers based in Tualatin, Oregon, United States. History In early 1963, the Kingsmen, a band based in Portland, Oregon, became known for their hit version of th ...

s") *

– guitar ("crust and

earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

") *James Hale – bass guitar ("subsonic attack") (replaced by Guy Pinhas at the 2009 & 2010 reunion shows) *Jamie Sykes – drums ("battledrums")

Discography

*'' Sannhet i Blodet'' (demo 1995) *'' Dommedagsnatt'' (cassette 1996, CD 1998, CD reissue 2004, picture disc 2004) *''Only Death Is Real – Live by Command of Tom G. Warrior'' (LP 2019, recorded live at Roadburn 2010) *''Awakening – Females in Extreme Music'' (CD 1997)

References

External links

Thorr's Hammer
at the website of

Southern Lord Records Southern Lord is an American heavy metal record label that was founded in 1998 by Greg Anderson. It initially specialized in experimental metal: particularly doom metal, stoner rock, and drone metal. The label later expanded its line-up to ...

Thorr's Hammer
at

Encyclopaedia Metallum Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives (commonly known as Metal Archives per the URL or abbreviated as MA) is an online encyclopedia based upon musical artists who predominantly perform heavy metal music along with its various sub-genres ...

{{Authority control American death metal musical groups Norwegian death metal musical groups Norwegian doom metal musical groups Heavy metal musical groups from Washington (state) Musical groups established in 1994 1994 establishments in Washington (state) Musical groups disestablished in 1995 1995 disestablishments in Washington (state)