Gaahls Wyrd is a Norwegian

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 based in

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

, formed in 2015 by former

Gorgoroth Gorgoroth is a Norwegian black metal band based in Bergen. It was formed in 1992 by guitarist Infernus, who is the sole original member remaining, and has released nine studio albums. Gorgoroth are a Satanism, Satanic band and have drawn contro ...

and

God Seed God Seed was a Norwegian black metal band based in Bergen. Former Gorgoroth members Gaahl and King ov Hell adopted the name in March 2009 following the ending of the Gorgoroth name dispute. After performing a few gigs as God Seed, vocalist Gaahl ...

vocalist

Gaahl Kristian Eivind Espedal (born 7 August 1975), better known by his stage name Gaahl, is a Norwegian vocalist. He is best known as the former frontman of Norwegian black metal band Gorgoroth. He is also the founder and lead vocalist of Trelldom an ...

History

In September 2015 (one month after

's final show), Gaahl announced his new band, Gaahls Wyrd, who played their first live show at the Blekkmetal Festival in Norway on 13 November 2015. In regards to forming the new band, Gaahl stated:

I'm very pleased with what me and
Tom Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name. Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Tom'' (1973 film), or ''The Bad Bunch'', a blaxploitation film * ''Tom'' (2002 film) ...
have done together. We've created a lot of good songs, but I think the difference between us is probably the reason why I've started this new band. I've made a lot of my favourite songs that I've created in God Seed and I've brought with me one of these characters from that band.

Since their formation, Gaahls Wyrd has been consistently touring; their repertoire consists of selected songs from Gaahl's past projects, including tracks from ''

Incipit Satan ''Incipit Satan'' is the fifth full-length album by Norway, Norwegian black metal band Gorgoroth. It was released on 7 February 2000 by Nuclear Blast, and reissued in 2006 by Back on Black Records. ''Incipit Satan'' was the first album with King ...

'', ''

Twilight of the Idols ''Twilight of the Idols, or, How to Philosophize with a Hammer'' () is a book by Friedrich Nietzsche, written in 1888, and published in 1889. Genesis ''Twilight of the Idols'' was written in just over a week, between 26 August and 3 September 18 ...

'', and ''

Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam ''Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam'' is the seventh studio album by Norwegian black metal band Gorgoroth. It was released in Europe on 19 June 2006 by Regain Records and in the US on 25 July 2006 by Candlelight Records. This was the only Gorgoroth alb ...

'' by

, God Seed's debut album, and assorted tracks by

Trelldom Trelldom is a Norwegian black metal band, formed in 1992. Line-up *Gaahl - Vocals (also in Wardruna, Gaahlskagg, Sigfader, God Seed) *Sir - Bass (also in God Seed) *Valgard -Guitar Discography *1995 ''Til Evighet…'', Head Not Found *1998 ...

. They have also had a variety of guest performers on their shows. In 2016, they released footage of their debut performance. In 2017, drummer Baard Kolstad left the band and was replaced by Kevin Kvåle aka "Spektre". Guitarist Stian "Sir" Kårstad also left the following year and was replaced by Ole Hartvigsen of

Kampfar Kampfar is a black metal band from Fredrikstad, Norway. According to their singer, Dolk, their name is an ancient Norse battle cry which means Odin or Wotan. The music of Kampfar can be described as black metal inspired by Norwegian folklore an ...

for live performances. Both members quit the band for undisclosed reasons. On 1 December 2017, the band independently released a 12" hand-numbered EP titled ''Bergen Nov '15'' and included six live tracks that were performed and recorded during their live debut in 2015; it featured

Kvitrafn Einar Selvik (born 18 November 1979), also known by his stage name Kvitrafn ("white raven"), is a Norwegian musician known for being the drummer of black metal band Gorgoroth from 2000 to 2004, and for fronting the Nordic folk project Wardruna ...

on vocals and playing the

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-turned crank, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin (or nyckelharpa) bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar ...

as a guest for the first track. It was exclusively sold on the Vardøger European Tour 2017 with Auðn and The Great Old Ones and was limited to 1,000 copies. On 4 May 2018, it was reissued and made widely available in CD format through

Season of Mist Season of Mist is an independent record label and record distributor with subsidiaries in France and the United States. The record label was founded in 1996 by Michael S. Berberian in Marseille, France. From the start releasing black metal, pa ...

. In September that same year the band also announced their signing to Season of Mist to release their debut album. The band announced a two month long European tour with Swedish band

Tribulation In Christian eschatology, the Great Tribulation () is a period mentioned by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse as a sign that would occur in the time of the end. At , "the Great Tribulation" () is used to indicate the period spoken of by Jesus. u ...

and American bands Uada and Idle Hands called "Northern Ghosts Tour" that started on 21 February 2019, and ended on 10 March. The band's promotional single "Ghosts Invited" was released online on 7 February and revealed that the name of their debut album will be ''GastiR – Ghosts Invited'' and is going to be released on 31 May 2019; the album was recorded throughout 2018 at Solslottet Studios in Norway with Iver Sandøy of Enslaved, though most of the music was written and demoed by Lust Kilman and Eld as early as 2016. The second promotional single "From the Spear" was released on 13 March. On 16 April, the band released their first music video for the song "Carving the Voices" which was directed, shot and edited by Troll Toftenes. ''GastiR – Ghosts Invited'' was released on digital platforms on 24 May 2019, and physical media the following week. The band has also continued performing live and will be featured in several festivals. The band also revealed that Blasphemer of

Aura Noir Aura Noir is a Norwegian black metal, black/thrash metal band from Oslo. Aura Noir is heavily influenced by early thrash bands such as Voivod (band), Voivod, Slayer, Sodom (band), Sodom and Kreator, to the latter they have also dedicated some of ...

and VLTIMAS fame had joined the band as a second live guitarist since Ole Hartvigsen had to return to

for their live performances in support of their new album. Eriksen would later depart to focus on his bands, and was replaced by Andreas Fosse Salbu as live guitarist. In December 2019, ''GastiR – Ghosts Invited'' was rated the third best metal album of the year by the American magazine ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'', and on 7 February 2020, it was nominated for Best Metal Album in the Norwegian music award

Spellemannsprisen The Spellemannprisen (also referred to as the Norwegian Grammy Awards) is a Norwegian music award ceremony presented by IFPI Norge and FONO. It was first awarded in 1973 for the recording year 1972, and has been awarded every year since. It is ...

. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and the following national lockdown during spring of 2020, the Spellemannsprisen award show was cancelled until further notice. A few months later, it was announced that Gaahls Wyrd had won the Spellemann Award for Best Metal Album of 2019.

Band members

;Current members *

(Kristian Espedal) – vocals (2015–present) * Lust Kilman (Ole Walaunet) – guitar (2015–present) * Spektre (Kevin Kvåle) – drums (2017–present) * Nekroman (Andreas Fosse Salbu) – bass (2024–present, live guitar 2019–2024) ;Former members * Baard Kolstad – drums (2015–2017) * Sir (Stian Kårstad) – guitar (2015–2018) * Eld (Frode Kilvik) – bass (2015–2024) ;Live members * Ole Hartvigsen – guitars (2018–2019) * Blasphemer – guitars (2019)

Discography

Studio albums

* ''GastiR – Ghosts Invited'' (2019) * ''Braiding the Stories'' (2025)

Live albums

* ''Bergen Nov '15'' (2017)

EPs

* ''The Humming Mountain'' (2021)

Singles

* "Ghosts Invited" (2019) * "From the Spear" (2019) * "Carving the Voices" (2019) * "Braiding the Stories" (2025)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Norwegian black metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2015 2015 establishments in Norway