Reverend Bizarre was a

doom metal Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...

band from Finland. Formed in 1995, they played slow and heavy traditional doom with dramatic vocals, following in the footsteps of bands such as Witchfinder General,

Saint Vitus Vitus (), whose name is sometimes rendered Guy or Guido, was a Christian martyr from Sicily. His surviving hagiography is pure legend. The dates of his actual life are unknown.Basil Watkins, ''The Book of Saints: A Comprehensive Biographical ...

, Candlemass,

Pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle around ...

and

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

. The band was one of the biggest names in 2000s traditional doom metal.

History

Beginnings (1994–1999)

The band was formed in 1994 in Lohja. After their military service, Albert Witchfinder, Peter Vicar and Juippi began playing in autumn 1997. In the summer of 1998, Albert moved to Turku to continue Reverend Bizarre with Vicar. To complete their training, they get back in touch with Earl of Void, at this time recently released from prison. They recorded the ''Slice of Doom'' demo in three days (16, 17 and 23 August 1999), which they send to several labels in the hope of signing a contract. According to Albert Witchfinder, the band had planned three more full-length albums, after their second album – titled ''Songs from the Funereal World'', ''Heavier Than Life'' and ''How It Was Meant to Be'' – but this plan was scrapped and the band made only one more LP, disbanding Reverend Bizarre "before it started to suck." The album, '' III So Long Suckers'', was recorded in the first half of 2007, and released in August of that year. The band's last concerts were played during the autumn and winter of 2006 culminating in a final performance in

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

. Two of the band's

EPs An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

, '' Harbinger of Metal'' and '' Return to the Rectory'', actually exceed 60 minutes in length.

Disbandment and side projects (2007)

Initially, five albums were planned. On 17 August 2007, after scrapping this plan, the band announced on MySpace their intention to publish their final album '' III: So Long Suckers''. At the end of September 2007, however, they announced the registration and publication of several recordings. After the break-up of Reverend Bizarre, the band members focus on their other groups and projects. In 2005, Albert Witchfinder became a member of The Puritan as well as a solo project called Opium Warlords, and Peter Vicar founded a new band called Lord Vicar. Both of them released (alongside original material) songs originally meant for Reverend Bizarre and that were to appear on future two albums which were never released. Furthermore, all three members of Reverend Bizarre continue doing music together in Orne (originally known as Mesmer), Vicar's old school

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band in which Void plays the drums. Witchfinder has appeared on vocals on both Orne full-lengths, the 2006 debut ''The Conjuration by the Fire'' and the 2011 second album ''The Tree of Life''.

Members

* Albert Witchfinder – vocals, bass * Peter Vicar – guitar * Earl of Void – drums, guitar, keyboards Previous members *Juippi – drums

Discography

Studio albums

EPs and singles

Splits

Demos

* ''Practice Sessions'' (unpublished rehearsal tape, 1995) * ''Slice of Doom'' (1999) * ''You Shall Suffer!'' (extremely limited CDr, 2003)

Compilations

References

External links

Reverend Bizarre
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MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

Reverend Bizarre
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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 ...

Reverend Bizarre
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* {{Authority control Finnish heavy metal musical groups Finnish doom metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1995 Musical groups disestablished in 2007 Finnish musical trios