Carpathian Forest

• Genre(s): Black Metal
• Representative Albums: "Strange Old Brew," "Defending the Throne of Evil," "Bloodlust & Perversion"



Biography

Emerging like ghoulish demons out of the depths of Norway's darkest woods (at least, that's how they would have dreamed it), Carpathian Forest centers around the fearsome duo of Nattefrost (vocals/guitar/bass) and Nordavind (guitar/bass), who first teamed up to compose their dark musical sorcery in the early '90s. A textbook example of so-called "true" black metal in the old-school Scandinavian definition (serious devil worship, pagan rituals, corpse face paint, criminal record recommended), Carpathian Forest recorded a set of fittingly appalling early demos, beginning with 1992's notorious Bloodlust & Perversion tape (reissued on CD in 1997). Quickly becoming a hot item on the underground tape-trading network thanks to its incredibly primitive, lo-fi contents, the demo garnered the new group almost instant cult status, starting them on their path to black metal infamy. After showing a vast technical improvement with the next year's Journey Through the Cold Moors of Svarttjern, the duo scored a deal with the Avant Garde label, for whom they recorded 1995's Through Chasm, Caves and Titan Woods with the help of some local scene friends. The release couldn't have arrived at a more propitious time, as the recent imprisonment of Burzum's Varg Vikernes for the murder of the legendary Mayhem and "Inner Circle" leader Euronymous had left thousands of black metal fans searching for new heroes to worship. Carpathian Forest was as poised to capitalize on the situation as anyone, but the band vanished from sight instead, not be heard from again for nearly three years. The reasons behind this disappearance remain as mysterious as the band itself, but 1998's Black Shining Leather proved to be a surprisingly powerful comeback, making it seem like the band had never been gone at all and featuring a stunning cover of the Cure's "A Forest." Nordavind left the band under reportedly amicable circumstances shortly after the recording of 2000's Strange Old Brew, but Carpathian Forest still plans to forge ahead with its career.

HISTORY:

Carpathian Forest is a Norwegian black metal band formed by Nattefrost and Nordavind in 1990.

Carpathian Forest's lyrics deal with themes such as Satanism, evil, anti-Christianity, sodomy, sadism, sexual depravity and suicide.
Carpathian Forest is enjoying near cult status in the scene. Emerged at first with the demo tape "Bloodlust & Perversion" (1992), they received sudden enthusiastic responses from the underground. Their obsessive, morbid and grim sound has always been a firm trademark. In 1993 the band released a second demo "Journey through the cold moors of Svarttjern", showing also a new approach to atmospheric, but still glacial tunes. These tapes quickly became coveted items in underground tape traders networks. One year later, Forest signed to Avantgarde Music and recorded their first mini album, the black metal classic "Through chasm, caves and titan woods" (1995).
In 1998, Carpathian Forest came back with a successful release, after three years of silence. The new work is titled "Strange Old Brew" (produced by Terje Refsnes in Sound Suite studios), and an additional one is yet to be released - "Morbid Fascination Of Death", a second piece in this 2-set concept. There has been some change: Nordavind has left the band, and there is a new guest drummer, A. Kobro (from ... In The Woods). Also helping out is Tchort (ex-Emperor, ex-Satyricon, Blood Red Throne etc.) on guitar and now Vrangsinn (of World Destroyer) has taken over the duties of bassist and synth programmer Nordavind. The album "Black Shining Leather" has been a top seller at Avantgarde Music for 2 years.
Discography

Studio albums

• Through Chasm, Caves and Titan Woods (1995)
• Black Shining Leather (1998)
• Strange Old Brew (2000)
• Morbid Fascination of Death (2001)
• Defending the Throne of Evil (2003)
• Fuck You All!!!! Caput tuum in ano est (2006)

Compilation albums

• Bloodlust and Perversion (1997)
• We're Going to Hell for This (2002)
• We're Going to Hollywood for This - Live Perversions (2004, video release)
• Skjend Hans Lik (2004)

Demos

• Bloodlust & Perversion (1992)
• Journey through the Cold Moors of Svarttjern (1993)
Band members

Current members
• "Hellcommander" Nattefrost (Roger Rasmussen) - vocals, guitar, arrangements, production, bass guitar (1990-)
• Vrangsinn -Backing vocals, bass guitar, guitar, keyboards, arrangements, production and engineering (1999-)
• Anders Kobro - drums (1999-)
• Blood Perverter (Goran Boman) - guitar (2003-)

Former members

• Tchort (Terje Vik Schei) - guitar, bass guitar (1999-2009)
• Johnny Nordavind - vocals, guitar, bass, keyboard, arrangements (1990-2000)
• Lazare (Lars Are Nedland) - session drums (1997)
• Mothörsen (Arvid Thorsen) saxophone 2000 - 2004
• Kulde (Eivind Kulde) live session on keyboards 2002
Nina Hex - Backing vocals 2000-2001 I.K. Hellslut - words, counting to 4 on Bloodlust & Perversion (We're going to hell for this - Over a decade of perversions"