Armageddon (Swedish band)
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Armageddon | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Halmstad, Sweden |
| Genres | Melodic death metal, thrash metal, power metal, progressive metal |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Labels | Listenable, Toy's Factory |
| Members | Christopher Amott Antony Hämäläinen Joey Concepcion Andrew Pevny Márton Veress |
| Past members | Jonas Nyrén Martin Bengtsson Peter Wildoer Daniel Erlandsson Rickard Bengtsson Dick Lövgren Tobias Gustafsson Matt Vicklund Van Williams Matt Hallquist Sara Claudius |
Armageddon is a Swedish melodic death metal band led by Christopher Amott of Arch Enemy.
History
[edit | edit source]Formed in Halmstad in 1997 by Christopher Amott, Armageddon began when Arch Enemy were invited to Japan to sign a new record deal with Toy's Factory records after the release of the Black Earth album. While in Japan, Christopher secured his own record deal for a solo project, which became Armageddon. When he returned to Sweden, he recruited drummer Peter Wildoer (Darkane, Majestic), bassist Martin Bengtsson, and vocalist Jonas Nyrén (In Thy Dreams).
The band released their 1997 debut album, Crossing the Rubicon, on the now defunct W.A.R. records in Europe, and on Toy's Factory Records in Japan. Crossing the Rubicon focused primarily on melodic death metal, but incorporated instrumentals and special effects pieces between each song. The album was released by the same label that released Arch Enemy's first album in Europe, but it folded soon after the release of Rubicon and the album has since become a rare find. To this day, Crossing the Rubicon has never been released outside of Europe and Japan.
Following Crossing the Rubicon, Peter Wildoer and Martin Bengtsson both joined Arch Enemy, recording and releasing Stigmata in 1998. Christopher would focus on Arch Enemy for the better part of three years, and did not return to Armageddon until 2000's Embrace the Mystery, released in Japan on Toy's Factory records. The album featured Last Tribe members Rickard Bengtsson on vocals and Dick Lövgren on bass (later of Meshuggah), as well as Arch Enemy's new drummer Daniel Erlandsson (In Flames, Eucharist).
In 2002, Armageddon resurfaced with Three, this time as a three-piece band, and featuring the vocals of Christopher Amott and new bassist Tobias Gustafsson (of Eucharist). Almost a pure power metal effort, the album was again released by Toy's Factory, and only in Japan.
On 16 November 2009, Embrace the Mystery and Three were re-released as 2-CD set with upgraded artwork, several bonus tracks and liner notes on 16 November 2009 in Europe and on 26 January in North America via Century Media Records.
In 2012, Christopher Amott once again quit Arch Enemy, and reformed Armageddon once again, featuring Matt Vicklund of God Forbid on guitars and Van Williams of Nevermore on drums.
In January 2015, the band announced Nightrage vocalist Antony Hämäläinen as their replacement for the recently departed Matt Hallquist.[1]
On 25 May 2016, the band announced via their social media "We are happy to announce that the next Armageddon release will be a re-recording of the very first Armageddon album from 1997 entitled 'Crossing The Rubicon'. We are excited to share this news with you!"
As Amott was not able to commit time to Armageddon, in 2019, former members Hämäläinen, Concepcion, Claudius, Pevny and drummer Yanni Sofianos have formed Daughter Chaos, a band intended to be a spiritual successor of Armageddon.[2][3]
Band members
[edit | edit source]- Current
- Christopher Amott – guitars, vocals (1997-present)
- Joey Concepcion – guitars (2014–present)
- Márton Veress – drums (2014–present)
- Antony Hämäläinen – vocals (2015–present)
- Andrew Pevny – bass (2016–present)[4]
- Former
- Jonas Nyrén – vocals (1997)
- Martin Bengtsson – bass (1997)
- Peter Wildoer – drums (1997)
- Rickard Bengtsson – vocals (2000)
- Dick Lövgren – bass (2000)
- Daniel Erlandsson – drums (2000, 2002)
- Tobias Gustafsson – bass (2002)
- Matt Wicklund – guitar (2012–2013)
- Van Williams – drums (2012–2013)
- Matt Hallquist – vocals (2014)
- Sara Claudius – bass (2012–2016)
Timeline
[edit | edit source]<timeline> ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:110 bottom:80 top:10 right:20 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1997 till:05/13/2026 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1997 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1998 Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3
Colors =
id:vocals value:red legend:Lead_vocals id:backing value:pink legend:Backing_vocals id:guitar value:green legend:Guitars id:violin value:drabgreen legend:Violin id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:drums value:orange legend:Drums id:keys value:purple legend:Keyboards,_piano id:tour value:yellow legend:Session/touring_members id:studio value:black legend:Studio_release id:other value:gray(0.6) legend:Other_releases
LineData =
at:05/01/1997 color:black layer:back at:11/01/2000 color:black layer:back at:06/19/2002 color:black layer:back at:11/16/2009 color:other layer:back at:01/26/2015 color:black layer:back at:10/14/2016 color:black layer:back
BarData =
bar:Jonas text:"Jonas Nyrén" bar:Rickard text:"Rickard Bengtsson" bar:Tobias text:"Tobias Nilsson" bar:Matt text:"Matt Hallquist" bar:Antony text:"Antony Hämäläinen" bar:Chris text:"Christopher Amott" bar:Matt2 text:"Matt Wicklund" bar:Joey text:"Joey Concepcion" bar:Jakob text:"Jakob Törmä" bar:Martin text:"Martin Bengtsson" bar:Dick text:"Dick Lövgren" bar:Tobias2 text:"Tobias Gustafsson" bar:Sara text:"Sara Claudius" bar:Andrew text:"Andrew Pevny" bar:Peter text:"Peter Wildoer" bar:Daniel text:"Daniel Erlandsson" bar:Vans text:"Van Williams" bar:Marton text:"Márton Veress" bar:Fredrik text:"Fredrik Nordström" bar:Karl text:"Karl Lönn" bar:Mike text:"Michael Amott"
PlotData =
width:11 bar:Jonas from:01/01/1997 till:09/01/1997 color:vocals bar:Jonas from:11/01/2009 till:12/01/2009 color:vocals bar:Jonas from:11/01/2009 till:12/01/2009 color:tour width:3 bar:Mike from:01/01/1997 till:09/01/1997 color:backing bar:Mike from:01/01/1997 till:09/01/1997 color:tour width:3 bar:Rickard from:06/01/2000 till:12/01/2000 color:vocals bar:Rickard from:11/01/2009 till:12/01/2009 color:vocals bar:Tobias from:11/01/2009 till:12/01/2009 color:vocals bar:Tobias from:11/01/2009 till:12/01/2009 color:tour width:3 bar:Matt from:11/01/2013 till:03/01/2015 color:vocals bar:Antony from:03/01/2015 till:end color:vocals bar:Chris from:01/01/1997 till:09/01/1997 color:guitar bar:Chris from:06/01/2000 till:12/01/2000 color:guitar bar:Chris from:03/01/2002 till:09/01/2002 color:guitar bar:Chris from:03/01/2002 till:09/01/2002 color:vocals width:3 bar:Chris from:11/01/2009 till:12/01/2009 color:guitar bar:Chris from:11/01/2009 till:12/01/2009 color:backing width:3 bar:Chris from:11/01/2009 till:12/01/2009 color:bass width:7 bar:Chris from:03/03/2012 till:end color:guitar bar:Chris from:11/01/2013 till:end color:backing width:3 bar:Matt2 from:03/03/2012 till:11/01/2013 color:guitar bar:Joey from:11/01/2013 till:end color:guitar bar:Jakob from:01/01/1997 till:09/01/1997 color:violin bar:Jakob from:01/01/1997 till:09/01/1997 color:tour width:3 bar:Martin from:01/01/1997 till:09/01/1997 color:bass bar:Martin from:11/01/2009 till:12/01/2009 color:bass bar:Martin from:11/01/2009 till:12/01/2009 color:tour width:3 bar:Dick from:06/01/2000 till:12/01/2000 color:bass bar:Dick from:11/01/2009 till:12/01/2009 color:bass bar:Tobias2 from:03/01/2002 till:09/01/2002 color:bass bar:Tobias2 from:11/01/2009 till:12/01/2009 color:bass bar:Sara from:03/03/2012 till:07/01/2016 color:bass bar:Andrew from:07/01/2016 till:end color:bass bar:Peter from:01/01/1997 till:09/01/1997 color:drums bar:Peter from:11/01/2009 till:12/01/2009 color:drums bar:Peter from:11/01/2009 till:12/01/2009 color:tour width:3 bar:Daniel from:06/01/2000 till:12/01/2000 color:drums bar:Daniel from:03/01/2002 till:09/01/2002 color:drums bar:Daniel from:11/01/2009 till:12/01/2009 color:drums bar:Vans from:03/01/2012 till:11/01/2013 color:drums bar:Marton from:11/01/2013 till:end color:drums bar:Fredrik from:01/01/1997 till:09/01/1997 color:keys bar:Fredrik from:01/01/1997 till:09/01/1997 color:tour width:3 bar:Karl from:06/01/2000 till:12/01/2000 color:keys bar:Karl from:06/01/2000 till:12/01/2000 color:tour width:3 bar:Karl from:11/01/2009 till:12/01/2009 color:keys bar:Karl from:11/01/2009 till:12/01/2009 color:tour width:3 </timeline>
Discography
[edit | edit source]- Studio albums
- Crossing the Rubicon (1997)
- Embrace the Mystery (2000)
- Three (2002)
- Captivity & Devourment (2015)
- Crossing the Rubicon (Revisited) (2016)
References
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External links
[edit | edit source]- Armageddon at AllMusicLua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- Armageddon discography at Discogs
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