Funeral (band)

Funeral are a Norwegian funeral doom 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. They are known as one of the pioneers of the funeral doom genre.

History

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'', probably one of their more known albums. 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.

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. To yet again fulfill the line-up, Mats Lerberg was recruited as guitarist.

The album ''From These Wounds'' was released on Candlelight Records on December 4, 2006.

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. 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.

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.

Discography

Studio albums

*'' 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)

Demos

*''Tristesse'' (1993)
*''Beyond All Sunsets'' (1994)
*''To Mourn Is a Virtue'' (1997)
*''The Passion Play'' (1999)
*''Demo 2008'' (2008)

Members

Current members

* Sindre Nedland – VocalsFuneral Update!!
blogs.myspace.com. 2010-04-26. Retrieved on 2010-05-19.
*André Aaslie - Piano, orchestration
* Magnus Olav Tveiten - Guitars
* Erlend E. Nybø – Guitars
* Anders Eek – Drums
* Rune Gandrud – Bass

Session members

* Jon Borgerud – synth/keyboards (live)

Former members

* 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 (2011)
* Hanne Hukkelberg – Vocals (1999–2003)
* Toril Snyen – Vocals (1994–1995)
* Sarah Eick – Vocals (1997 demo doom-metal.com interview
Doom-metal.com. Retrieved 09/05/2010.)

Timeline

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PlotArea = left:110 bottom:70 top:10 right:30
Alignbars = justify
DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
Period = from:01/01/1991 till:01/01/2022
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:Guitars
id:keys value:purple legend:Keyboards
id:bass value:blue legend:Bass
id:drums value:orange legend:Drums
id:album value:black legend:Studio_albums

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:Anders text:"Anders Eek"
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"

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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

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:end color:vocals
bar:Anders from:01/01/1991 till:01/01/1993 color:guitar
bar:Anders from:01/01/1991 till:01/01/1993 color:drums width:7
bar:Anders from:01/01/1991 till:01/01/1993 color:vocals width:3
bar:Anders from:01/01/1993 till:01/10/2003 color:drums
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

References

External links

Official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Funeral (Band)
Musical groups established in 1991
1991 establishments in Norway
Norwegian doom metal musical groups
Musical quartets
Musical groups from Norway with local place of origin missing
Funeral doom musical groups