Funeral (band)
Template:Short description Template:Primary sources Template:Infobox musical artist
Funeral are a Norwegian doom metal band formed in 1991 by Thomas Angell and Anders Eek; soon afterward, Einar Frederiksen joined as bassist and songwriter and Christian Loos joined as guitarist.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> They are known as one of the pioneers of the funeral doom genre.
HistoryEdit
In 1993, the band recorded their first demo, entitled Tristesse, released the following year as a mini CD by an American record label. According to the official Funeral website this demo won them the title of "the most depressing band in the world". Funeral then made a decision to turn more symphonic and the result was shown on their demo Beyond All Sunsets. In 1994 the band became one of the first doom metal bands to recruit a female vocalist, Toril Snyen. In 1995 they released the album Tragedies. In the same year, they parted with Toril Snyen.
The following year they went to England and recorded ten tracks at Academy Studios without vocals (because of lack of a vocalist) and worked with such bands as My Dying Bride, Anathema and Cradle of Filth. Later the band recruited Sarah Eick as their female vocalist and finished five of the ten tracks, resulting in To Mourn Is a Virtue, also known as "Demo '97" in 1997. The 5 track demo CD is very rare as there were only a few copies distributed to record companies, radio stations and serious fanzines worldwide.
Again the band had to part with their vocalist. However, they quickly found a replacement and Hanne Hukkelberg was placed on the line-up as she had a good knowledge of music and was suitable for the band. Funeral produced another demo in 1999 entitled The Passion Play, also known as "Demo '99", and it is once again rare as it was only distributed to record labels, radio stations and fanzines. In 2002, they released their album In Fields of Pestilent Grief through the Italian label Nocturnal Music.
In January 2003, bassist/songwriter Einar Frederiksen committed suicide on January 10 and the band was on hiatus for the rest of the year.<ref>Funeral biography at AllMusic</ref>
In 2004, four of the ten Academy-tracks (originally recorded in 1997) were partly re-written, and was Frode Forsmo's first work as Funeral singer. This was intended as a new demo, but ended up not being released, as totally new material was written.
2005 saw the band recording a new nine-track album.
In April 2006, the Finnish label Firedoom Records released the remastered and re-released version of Tragedies and Tristesse as a double album, with unreleased bonus-tracks taken from the Beyond All Sunsets Sessions and the Tragedies Sessions from 1994 and 1995. Included on the re-release there are unpublished pictures and poems, as well as new cover art.
Autumn 2006 saw Funeral sign with the Norwegian label Tabu Recordings.
On October 28, 2006, tragedy again struck, as guitarist Christian Loos died.<ref>Funeral Founding Member Christian Loos Dead at 31. Blabbermouth.net, November 3, 2006.</ref> To yet again fulfill the line-up, Mats Lerberg was recruited as guitarist.
The album From These Wounds was released on Candlelight Records<ref>Review of From These Wounds Template:Webarchive, About.com.</ref> on December 4, 2006.<ref>Album Review Template:Webarchive, heavymetal.no.</ref>
2007 saw Kjetil Ottersen depart, later being replaced by Erlend Nybø.
On September 22, 2008, Funeral released another album, titled As the Light Does the Shadow.
On March 13, 2009, the band posted on Myspace that they had fourteen new songs with a total time of over 100 minutes in pre-production.<ref>New songs under construction! Template:Webarchive blogs.myspace.com/doomfuneral. 2009-03-13. Retrieved on 2009-09-30.</ref> On July 28, 2009, the band also posted on Myspace that there was a medley of songs from the upcoming album. Considering that there are 17 songs in the making, the band went on to state that a double album is possible. Roger Bjørge will be helping out with orchestration.<ref>New music online! Template:Webarchive blogs.myspace.com/doomfuneral. 2009-07-28. Retrieved on 2009-09-30.</ref>
On April 26, 2010, it was announced on the Funeral website that they had parted ways with vocalist/bassist Frode Forsmo.
The album To Mourn is a Virtue was released on May 24, 2011, the first four tracks feature Frode Forsmo on vocals, the next four feature Oysten Rustad and the final track is a remastering of a song recorded at Academy studio in England for the 1997 demo with Sarah Eick.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Sindre Nedland (In Vain) was the vocalist for the next three Funeral albums, until his death from cancer on March 2, 2025.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
DiscographyEdit
Studio albumsEdit
- Tragedies (1995)
- In Fields of Pestilent Grief (2002)
- From These Wounds (2006)
- As the Light Does the Shadow (2008)
- To Mourn Is a Virtue (2011)
- Oratorium (2012)
- Praesentialis in Aeternum (2021)
- Gospel of Bones (2024)
DemosEdit
- Tristesse (1993)
- Beyond All Sunsets (1994)
- To Mourn Is a Virtue (1997)
- The Passion Play (1999)
- Demo 2008 (2008)
MembersEdit
Current membersEdit
- Anders Eek – Drums (1991-present)
- Erlend E. Nybø – Guitars (2007-present)
- Rune Gandrud – Bass (2010-present)
- André Aaslie - Piano, orchestration (2017-present)
- Magnus Olav Tveiten - Guitars (2017-present)
Former membersEdit
- Mats Lerberg – Guitars, backing vocals (2007-2017)
- Frode Forsmo – Vocals, bass, lyrics (2004–2010)
- Kjetil Ottersen – Guitars, bass, synth/keyboards, programming, songwriting & lyrics (2001–2007)
- Einar André Frederiksen – Bass, vocals (1991–2003) (died 2003)
- Christian Loos – Guitars (1991–2006) (died 2006)
- Thomas Angell – Guitars (1991–1997)
- Idar Burheim – Guitars (1999–2003)
- Oysten Rustad – Vocals (2010)
- Hanne Hukkelberg – Vocals (1999–2003)
- Toril Snyen – Vocals (1994–1995)
- Sarah Eick – Vocals (1997)<ref>doom-metal.com interview Template:Webarchive Doom-metal.com. Retrieved 09/05/2010.</ref>
- Jon Borgerud – live synth/keyboards (2007-2017)
- Sindre Nedland – Vocals (2010–2025) (died 2025)
TimelineEdit
<timeline> ImageSize = width:700 height:auto barincrement:17 PlotArea = left:125 bottom:70 top:10 right:30 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1991 till:{{#time: m/d/Y }} TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = increment:3 start:1991 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1991
Colors =
id:vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:keys value:purple legend:Keyboards id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:drums value:orange legend:Drums id:album value:black legend:Studio_album
BarData =
bar:Toril text:"Toril Snyen" bar:Oystein text:"Øystein Rustad" bar:Sarah text:"Sarah Eick" bar:Hanne text:"Hanne Hukkelberg" bar:Sindre text:"Sindre Nedland" bar:Thomas text:"Thomas Angell" bar:Christian text:"Christian Loos" bar:Mats text:"Mats Lerberg" bar:Erlend text:"Erlend E. Nybø" bar:Magnus text:"Magnus Olav Tveiten" bar:Kjetil text:"Kjetil Ottersen" bar:Aaslie text:"André Aaslie" bar:Einar text:"Einar Andre Fredriksen" bar:Frode text:"Frode Forsmo" bar:Rune text:"Rune Gandrud" bar:Anders text:"Anders Eek"
LineData =
at:06/01/1995 color:album layer:back at:06/01/2001 color:album layer:back at:12/04/2006 color:album layer:back at:09/22/2008 color:album layer:back at:05/24/2011 color:album layer:back at:11/23/2012 color:album layer:back at:12/10/2021 color:album layer:back at:10/18/2024 color:album layer:back
PlotData =
width:11 bar:Toril from:01/01/1994 till:06/01/1995 color:vocals bar:Oystein from:01/01/1996 till:12/31/1996 color:vocals bar:Sarah from:01/01/1997 till:12/31/1997 color:vocals bar:Hanne from:01/01/1999 till:01/10/2003 color:vocals bar:Sindre from:06/01/2010 till:03/02/2025 color:vocals bar:Anders from:01/01/1991 till:01/10/2003 color:drums bar:Anders from:01/01/1991 till:01/01/1993 color:vocals width:3 bar:Anders from:01/01/1991 till:01/01/1993 color:guitar width:7 bar:Anders from:01/01/2004 till:end color:drums bar:Mats from:10/28/2006 till:01/01/2017 color:guitar bar:Mats from:10/28/2006 till:01/01/2017 color:vocals width:3 bar:Thomas from:01/01/1991 till:12/31/1997 color:guitar bar:Christian from:01/01/1994 till:01/10/2003 color:guitar bar:Christian from:01/01/2004 till:10/28/2006 color:guitar bar:Kjetil from:01/01/2001 till:01/10/2003 color:keys bar:Kjetil from:01/01/2001 till:01/10/2003 color:guitar width:3 bar:Kjetil from:01/01/2004 till:01/01/2007 color:guitar bar:Kjetil from:01/01/2004 till:01/01/2007 color:keys width:3 bar:Einar from:01/01/1993 till:01/10/2003 color:bass bar:Einar from:01/01/1993 till:01/10/2003 color:vocals width:3 bar:Frode from:01/01/2004 till:06/01/2010 color:bass bar:Frode from:01/01/2004 till:06/01/2010 color:vocals width:3 bar:Rune from:06/01/2010 till:end color:bass bar:Erlend from:01/01/2007 till:end color:Guitar bar:Aaslie from:01/01/2017 till:end color:keys bar:Magnus from:01/01/2017 till:end color:Guitar
</timeline>