Diabolical Masquerade was a Swedish one-man

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 with progressive influences. The band was formed in 1993 in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

as side project of Anders Nyström (aka Blakkheim), known for his work as the guitarist of

Katatonia Katatonia is a Swedish Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Stockholm in 1991 by Jonas Renkse and Anders Nyström. The band started as a studio-only project for the duo, as an outlet for their love of death metal. Increasing popularity ...

History

Diabolical Masquerade was a Swedish one-man

band. All music is written and played by

guitarist Anders "Blakkheim" Nyström, who wanted to have a band where he could compose more extreme music while Katatonia was exploring more mellow moods. The music leans heavily on

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

melodic black metal Blackened death metal (also known as black death metal) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal that fuses elements of black metal and death metal. The genre emerged in early 1990s when black metal bands began incorporating elements of death me ...

with some

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 ...

and

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an Extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, ...

influences. Blakkheim wanted to experiment more with

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

structure, theme and composition. This is most notably seen on the last Diabolical Masquerade album, '' Death's Design''. This album is conceived as the soundtrack to a nonexistent Swedish horror movie, with 61 tracks broken up into 20 movements, each with a unique feel and theme. ''Death's Design'' includes many passages featuring various genres and styles, experimenting with

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 ...

progressive metal Progressive metal (often shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven sound of the former with t ...

, ambient,

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

, and

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular r ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

-based passages. Nyström worked together on the album with

Dan Swanö Dan-Erland Swanö (born 10 March 1973), also known as Dan "The Man" Swanö, is a Swedish musician and record producer who is currently the vocalist, guitarist, ex-bassist and ex-drummer for the band Nightingale, lately vocalist, keyboardist and ...

. In early September 2004, Nyström announced that he had put the project to rest, after not having found the necessary inspiration while working on a fifth album.

Discography

*''Promo 1993'' (1993) (demo) *'' Ravendusk in My Heart'' (1996)
*'' The Phantom Lodge'' (1997) *'' Nightwork'' (1998) *'' Death's Design'' (2001)

Band members

;Diabolical Masquerade * Anders "Blakkheim" Nyström –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

(1993–2004),

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

, keyboards (1993–1998) *

– keyboards (1996, 1998–2001),

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

(1996, 1998), guest vocals (1997), backing vocals (1998), guitar (2001)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Swedish black metal musical groups Avant-garde metal musical groups Musical groups from Stockholm Symphonic black metal musical groups Swedish musical quartets Musical groups established in 1993 Musical groups disestablished in 2004 1993 establishments in Sweden