Astennu is the professional name of Australian heavy metal musician Jamie Stinson. His name is derived from a creature in

Egyptian mythology Egyptian mythology is the collection of myths from ancient Egypt, which describe the actions of the Egyptian pantheon, Egyptian gods as a means of understanding the world around them. The beliefs that these myths express are an important part ...

Biography

Astennu first came to notice as the guitarist and songwriter for the Australian

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...

band Lord Kaos. The band recorded both the demo ''Path to My Funeral Light'' and a full-length album ''Thorns of Impurity'' in 1995. Before the album's release Astennu went to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and found interest in the album from Head Not Found Records however the other members of the band decided to remain in Australia and ''Thorns of Impurity'' was released by Sydney label Warhead Records in 1996. Astennu stayed in Norway and reworked some music he had written for Lord Kaos into songs for a solo project called

Carpe Tenebrum Carpe Tenebrum (incorrectly, "Seize the Darkness" in Latin) was a black metal solo project of the former Dimmu Borgir and The Kovenant, Covenant guitarist Astennu (musician), Jamie Stinson, better known as Astennu. Stian Arnesen (Nagash) was als ...

.Fischer-Giffin, Brian ''The Australian Metal Guide'' 2004 The first Carpe Tenebrum album ''

Majestic Nothingness Majestic or The Majestic may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''The Majestic'' (film), a 2001 film starring Jim Carrey * ''Majestic'' (film), a 2002 Indian film * The main antagonist of 50 Cent's 2005 film ''Get Rich or Die Tryin Nov ...

'' featured Astennu on all instruments with vocals from Nagash of

Dimmu Borgir Dimmu Borgir () is a Norwegian symphonic black metal band from Jessheim, formed in 1993. The name is derived from Dimmuborgir, a volcanic formation in Iceland, the name of which means "dark cities" or "dark castles/fortresses" in Icelandic lang ...

and

The Kovenant The Kovenant is a Norwegian industrial metal band from Hamar. The band originally formed as a symphonic black metal act known as Covenant in 1993, but in 1999 were forced to change their name to The Kovenant due to a dispute with a Swedish elec ...

. It was released in 1997. Later the same year, Astennu joined Dimmu Borgir on guitar, freeing

Shagrath Stian Tomt Thoresen (born 18 November 1976),Shagrath
at Encyclopaedia Metallum known professiona ...

to concentrate on vocals. Astennu's first recording with the band was the 1998 EP ''

Godless Savage Garden ''Godless Savage Garden'' is the first compilation album by Norwegian symphonic black metal band Dimmu Borgir. It was released in 1998 by Nuclear Blast and re-released on 3 October 2006 with 2 bonus tracks. Two of the five studio tracks on th ...

''. He was also a member of Nagash's other band,

, at that time and was featured on the band's 1998 album '' Nexus Polaris''. He also contributed some guitar solos to the ''Aggressor'' album and the ''Triumph of the Blasphemer'' EP by

Nocturnal Breed Nocturnal Breed is a Norwegian blackened thrash metal band, formed in Oslo in 1996 by singer/bassist Kenneth Svartalv (S.A. Destroyer) and guitarist Sven Atle Kopperud (Ed Damnator). Musical style The band plays a mixture of thrash and bla ...

, a band that also featured Dimmu Borgir's other guitarist

Silenoz Silenoz (born Sven Atle Kopperud, 1 March 1977) is a Norwegian guitarist who is a founding member, along with Shagrath and Tjodalv, of the symphonic black metal band Dimmu Borgir, of which he is the primary songwriter. He is also guitarist fo ...

. A second Carpe Tenebrum album, ''

Mirrored Hate Painting ''Mirrored Hate Painting'' is the second studio album by the Norwegian black metal band ''Carpe Tenebrum''. It was recorded in winter 1998 at ''The Abyss (recording studio), The Abyss Studio'' and released in 1999 through ''Hammerheart Records, Ka ...

'', again featuring Nagash, was released in 1999. Astennu's second album with Dimmu Borgir, ''

Spiritual Black Dimensions ''Spiritual Black Dimensions'' is the fourth studio album by Norwegian symphonic black metal band Dimmu Borgir. It was released in 1999 by Nuclear Blast Records. It is a first release featuring keyboardist Mustis and the clean vocals of ICS Vorte ...

'' was released the same year, on 2 March. During the tour in support of the album, Astennu was fired from Dimmu Borgir and returned to Australia in late 1999. Once back in Australia, Astennu worked as a live sound engineer for a number of bands on the Sydney heavy metal scene and also acted as mixer, engineer and producer on a number of albums and releases. In 2002 he recorded and released a third Carpe Tenebrum album, '' Dreaded Chaotic Reign'', this time performing vocals himself. ''Dreaded Chaotic Reign'' was a

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

album whereas previous Carpe Tenebrum recordings had been black metal. In May 2003, Astennu returned to the live circuit with Sydney band Infernal Method, for whom he had been engineering for several months.

Discography

with Lord Kaos *''Thorns of Impurity'' ( Warhead Records, 1996) with

*''

'' (

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast Records is a German record label with subsidiary, subsidiaries located in Germany, the United States and Brazil. It was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Donzdorf. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on ...

, 1998) *''

'' (Nuclear Blast, 1999) with

Covenant Covenant may refer to: Religion * Covenant (religion), a formal alliance or agreement made by God with a religious community or with humanity in general ** Covenant (biblical), in the Hebrew Bible ** Covenant in Mormonism, a sacred agreement b ...

*'' Nexus Polaris'' (Nuclear Blast, 1998) with

(as guest) *''Aggressor'' (

Hammerheart Records Hammerheart Records (known as Karmageddon Media between 2004 and 2010) is a Dutch independent record label specializing in death metal, black metal, doom metal and folk metal bands from around the world. The label was founded in 1995 and is current ...

, 1997) *''Triumph of the Blasphemer'' (

, 1998) with Carpe Tenebrum *''

'' ( Head Not Found, 1997) *''

'' (

, 1999) *'' Dreaded Chaotic Reign'' (Hammerheart Records, 2002)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Astennu Dimmu Borgir members Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Australian heavy metal singers Black metal musicians Australian heavy metal guitarists Musicians from Sydney The Kovenant members