Thergothon

Last updated
Thergothon
Origin Kaarina, Finland
Genres Funeral doom, death-doom
Years active1990–1993
Labels Avantgarde Music, Eibon Records
MembersNiko Skorpio
Mikko Ruotsalainen
Jori Sjöroos
Past membersSami Kaveri

Thergothon was a Finnish doom metal band which lasted from 1990 until 1993 and pioneered the funeral doom subgenre. [1] They only released one demo, Fhtagn nagh Yog-Sothoth (1991), and one album, Stream from the Heavens (1994). Their sound was extremely slow and dirge-like in long pieces, which combined heavy guitar riffs, extremely deep death grunts and sparse lead guitar melodies. The band disbanded a year before the release of the album and its members focused on other projects.

Contents

Niko Sirkiä and Jori Sjöroos went on to form This Empty Flow, which marked a distinct stylistic departure from Thergothon. The project began as somewhat of a shoegaze band, taking cues from groups like Slowdive, but ended up as more in the area of trip hop.

Lately Sjöroos has gained reputation for composing songs for popular Finnish pop rock act PMMP.

Sirkiä, later known as Niko Skorpio, works as a visual artist and records experimental electronic music. [2] He also used to run a record label called Some Place Else.

History

The band was founded in 1990 by vocalist Niko Skorpio, drummer Jori Sjöroos and guitarist Mikko Ruotsalainen as a death metal band, but soon became a doom metal band. In early 1991, Sami Kaveri was added as a second guitarist. A first demo recorded afterwards titled Dancing in the Realm of Shades was never officially released and the band made a new attempt in November 1991. This demo, titled Fhtagn nagh Yog-Sothoth , was released the same year in a limited edition of 600 copies and was licensed to the US and Poland. In the spring of 1992, the band gave two concerts in or near Turku, where they played an extremely slow version of Venom's "In League with Satan". The band itself did not find concerts as an appropriate presentation of the studio material. [3]

Preparations for the debut album began in the summer of 1992. Sami Kaveri left the band at that time and the band focused entirely on the role of a studio band, neither playing live nor rehearsing for it. Through this concentration of roles and people, the roles gradually dissolved and the members of the band exchanged their instruments and experimented with new ones. After the band had signed with the Italian label Obscure Plasma Records and began recording Stream from the Heavens in autumn 1992; two of the six songs on it were new recordings of songs from Fhtagn-nagh Yog-Sothoth. After completing the recordings and selecting the cover for the debut, the group decided to disband in spring 1993. The release of the album was delayed until 1994 and it was highly neglected by the music press. With time however, it sold several thousand copies worldwide. [3]

In 2009, Russian record label Solitude Productions released a tribute album titled Rising of Yog-Sothoth: A Tribute to Thergothon , which contains contributions from bands such as Worship, Evoken and Asunder, Mournful Congregation, Colosseum and Officium Triste.

Musical style

Thergothon's music was very slow with extremely deep guttural vocals, using heavy guitar riffs, very deeply tuned guitars and with few lead guitar melodies. In addition to death metal, the band also integrated influences from styles such as gothic rock, ambient and progressive rock. [3] Cosmic horror author H. P. Lovecraft remained a prevalent influence throughout their discography, as evidenced by titles such as Fhtagn nagh Yog-Sothoth and The Unknown Kadeth in the Cold Waste.

Discography

Studio albums
Demos

Members

Last line-up

Former members

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finntroll</span> Finnish black metal band

Finntroll is a Finnish metal band from Helsinki that combines elements of black metal and folk metal. Finntroll's lyrics are mostly in Swedish, the only exception being the song "Madon Laulu" on Visor om slutet. Finntroll's original singer, Katla, decided to use Swedish over Finnish since he was part of a Swedish-speaking minority in Finland and the sound of the language seemed to better suit the band's "trollish" outfit. Despite several vocalist changes, this tradition has continued.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cathedral (band)</span> English doom metal band

Cathedral were a doom metal band from Coventry, England. The group gained attention upon release of its debut album, Forest of Equilibrium (1991), which is considered a classic of the genre. However, the band's sound evolved quickly and began to adopt characteristics of 1970s metal, hard rock and progressive rock. After releasing ten full-length albums and touring extensively for over two decades, Cathedral broke up after the release of The Last Spire in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shape of Despair</span> Finnish funeral doom metal band

Shape of Despair is a funeral doom metal band from Finland.

My Shameful was a doom/death metal band with Finnish, German and American members. The band also had heavy funeral doom influences. Originating as a two-person studio project in Finland during the year 1999, they have recorded three demos and six albums. The demos were recorded with Sami Rautio and Harri Jussila as participating members. The line-up was completed in 2004 with drummer Mark Napier, bassist Twist, and guitar player Mario. My Shameful parted ways with Mark Napier in spring of 2007, due to Mark's difficulties with live shows, a new drummer was found in Jürgen Fröhling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skepticism (band)</span> Finnish funeral doom band

Skepticism is a Finnish funeral doom metal band. Formed in 1991, they are regarded as one of the pioneers of the genre.

<i>Slow, Deep and Hard</i> 1991 studio album by Type O Negative

Slow, Deep and Hard is the debut studio album by the American gothic metal band Type O Negative, released on June 11, 1991, through Roadrunner Records. The album, originally titled None More Negative and released in 1990 under the group's former name Repulsion, launched the band's career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rapture (Finnish band)</span> Finnish doom/melodic death metal band

Rapture is a doom metal/melodic death metal band formed in 1997 in Helsinki, Finland.

Bethlehem is a German extreme metal band from Grevenbroich, formed in 1991 by Jürgen Bartsch and Klaus Matton. Before starting Bethlehem, Bartsch and Matton used to play in a German thrash metal band Morbid Vision. Many of their lyrics revolve around sickness, morbidity, suicide, death and madness, and may to some extent be personal to the band.

Evoken is an American funeral doom metal band from Lyndhurst, New Jersey, United States. Evoken is one of the earliest U.S. doom/death metal bands that are still active today, along with Novembers Doom and Rigor Sardonicous.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Korpiklaani</span> Finnish folk metal band

Korpiklaani is a Finnish folk metal band from Lahti that was formerly known as Shamaani Duo and Shaman.

Axis of Advance was a Canadian death metal band from Edmonton, active from 1998 to 2008. Their music was described as "freaked-out, hyper and evil metal...not for the weak and not really for most rational human beings, but it will sound great to those looking for a slice of evil black metal the way it should be done."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demilich (band)</span> Finnish death metal band

Demilich is a Finnish death metal band, which formed in the early 1990s and consists of vocalist/guitarist Antti Boman, guitarist Aki Hytönen, bassist Ville Koistinen, and drummer Mikko Virnes. Their debut album, Nespithe (1993), features intricate death metal riffs with unusually low, guttural vocals in the vocal fry register. The album contains long, complicated song titles and unconventional lyrics which were written in code in the booklet.

<i>Stream from the Heavens</i> 1994 studio album by Thergothon

Stream from the Heavens is the only studio album by Finnish doom metal band Thergothon. It was recorded in late 1992 and released after many delays on June 15, 1994 through the Italian record label Avantgarde Music. The band had eventually disbanded a year before the release of the album. Stream from the Heavens continues the funeral doom subgenre that Thergothon pioneered with their 1991 demo Fhtagn nagh Yog-Sothoth. The album was re-issued on CD in 1999 and also in 2004 by Belgian label Painiac as a 12" LP, limited to 500 copies.

This Empty Flow was a Finnish band formed in Turku in 1994. Founded by Jori Sjöroos and Niko Sirkiä, who were also the founding members of Thergothon, a Finnish band known for pioneering the funeral doom metal subgenre, although the music of This Empty Flow moved away from that sound into a more melodic, gothic rock and ambient-influenced style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avantgarde Music</span> Italian record label

Avantgarde Music is an Italian record label, formed as a continuation of Obscure Plasma Records, focusing on black and doom metal artists. The label had a sub-label called Wounded Love Records, which has released albums by Dolorian and Taake. A new sub-label, Flowing Downward, had been founded in 2018, specializing in atmospheric black metal bands specifically.

<i>Ur jordens djup</i> 2007 studio album by Finntroll

Ur jordens djup is the fourth full-length Finntroll album. It was released on March 28, 2007. The album is the first to feature vocalist Mathias Lillmåns, who replaced Tapio Wilska in 2006. Unlike in Nattfödd, the lyrics for this album were written by the band's original vocalist, Jan "Katla" Jämsen.

<i>Fhtagn nagh Yog-Sothoth</i> 1991 studio album (Demo) by Thergothon

Fhtagn nagh Yog-Sothoth is the only demo album made by the funeral doom pioneers Thergothon. It originally was released in November 1991. It was reissued in 1992 by Wild Rags Records and in 1999 by Eibon Records. The demo was reissued again by Eibon in late 2005 or early 2006. This demo was released on Vinyl in 2006 by Painiac Records, with new artwork and a bonus track titled "Dancing in the Realm of Shades" from an unreleased rehearsal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amon Amarth discography</span> Cataloguing of published recordings by Amon Amarth

This is a discography for the Swedish melodic death metal band Amon Amarth. The band is from Stockholm and was founded in 1992. Their lyrics mostly deal with the Vikings, their mythology and their history. The band comprises vocalist Johan Hegg, guitarists Olavi Mikkonen and Johan Söderberg, bassist Ted Lundström, and drummer Jocke Wallgren. Amon Amarth has released twelve studio albums, one compilation album, three EPs, one video album, and twenty two music videos.

<i>Monotony Fields</i> 2015 studio album by Shape of Despair

Monotony Fields is the fourth studio album by Finnish funeral doom metal band Shape of Despair, released on June 15, 2015 by Season of Mist as CD digipak and LP. It is the first album to feature Henri Koivula on lead vocals. The song "Written in My Scars" was first released on the EP Written in My Scars, but was re-recorded for this album.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wasara</span>

Wasara is a Finnish language rock music band from Lohja, Finland that formed in 1999. They are known for their depressive doom style.

References

  1. ↑ "Thergothon | Biography, Albums, Streaming Links". AllMusic . Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  2. ↑ "Profile". Nikoskorpio.net. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 "Niko Skorpio » Thergothon". 24 May 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-05-24. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.