Manes is a band from

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

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 ...

, formed in 1993. They started out as a two-piece band composed of Sargatanas and Cernunnus (or Cern). They have been signed to

Candlelight Records Candlelight Records is a British record label based in London, founded by former Extreme Noise Terror bass guitarist Lee Barrett in 1993. The record label originally specialized in black metal, but quickly expanded to various other forms of hea ...

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 ...

and the Italian experimental label Code666. The band's earlier works, up to and including ''Under Ein Blodraud Maane'' (1999), were somewhat atypical 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 ...

and were highly lauded by fans of the genre. However, as of ''Vilosophe'' (2003) and ''How the World Came to an End'' (2007) the band completely changed its sound to a hybrid of

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and

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with clean sung vocals and many progressive overtones. In spite of being highly acclaimed by critics this subsequent change of direction alienated most of their original fan base. In 2011, the band released an official statement on their web site that they were calling it quits due to health and family reasons. They resurfaced 2 years later in 2013 when they signed a deal with Debemur Morti Productions and following year, 2014, released their fourth album, ''Be All End All'', as well as an LP re-release of the debut ''Under Ein Blodraud Maane'' and compilation album of obscurities and rare material called ''Teeth, Toes and other trinkets''. In 2018, Manes announced their comeback with a new album, ''Slow Motion Death Sequence''.

History

''Under Ein Blodraud Maane'': 1992–1999

Manes was started by Cernunnus in 1992 as a side-project of Atrox, a band he was playing in back then. A few experimental lineups, Manes settled as a two-man band, with Sargatanas doing the vocal duties and Cernunnus doing the rest of the instruments. The first demo: ''Maanens Natt'' (1993), the second ''Ned i Stillheten'' (1994) and the third: ''Til Kongens Grav de Døde Vandrer'' (1995). The debut album ''Under Ein Blodraud Maane'' was released by the Dutch label Hammerheart Records. After that album, Cernunnus took a long break from music.

''Vilosophe'' to ''How the World Came to an End'': 2002–2011

Manes resurfaced in 2002, with new line-up, new musical style and new appearance. Their second album, ''Vilosophe'', was released in 2003 by the Italian label Code666, sublabel of

Aural Music Hearing, or auditory perception, is the ability to perceive sounds through an organ, such as an ear, by detecting vibrations as periodic changes in the pressure of a surrounding medium. The academic field concerned with hearing is auditory sci ...

, to an unprepared audience. This abrupt change and unexpected behaviour have followed the band in everything they have done since. Manes played some gigs and festivals like

Inferno Metal Festival Inferno Metal Festival is an annual extreme metal festival that takes place every year during Easter in Oslo, Norway. The festival was founded by Borknagar guitarist Jens F. Ryland in cooperation with Radar Booking in 2001 and takes place at R ...

in 2004, Hole in the Sky, Southern Discomfort and Quart Festival, and shared a stage with bands like

Isis Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

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 ...

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and

Theatre of Tragedy Theatre of Tragedy was a Norwegian band from Stavanger, active between 1993 and 2010. They are best known for their earlier albums, which influenced the gothic metal genre. History Formation (1993) Theatre of Tragedy was founded on 2 October 199 ...

among others to finalize their commitment to

. Manes released the '' iew' EP in 2006 as an intermezzo between albums. Rune Hoemsnes left the band briefly in 2006, but finished laying drumming parts for the band next album. Tor-Arne Helgesen was hired for the corresponding tour and subsequent recording sessions. In 2007, Manes released the web ep ''Deprooted'' and the album ''How the World Came to an End'' via the British label

. This album further explored more the musical styles of ''Vilosophe'' and saw Manes as a more creative collective collaborating with a group of guests. During the recording sessions for this album, Manes were attempting to produce and record the following album ''Be All End All'', but the album ended up being released only in 2014. The reviews for ''How the World Came to an End'' were good, and the band gained a lot of attention, but no concerts were played in the wake of the release. The band took a time off, and 15 different Manes web albums were released in 2011, among these ''Overheated'', ''Deep North'' and ''Roman Shower''.

''Be All End All'' to ''Slow Motion Death Sequence'': 2013–present

In spring 2013 the band resurfaced with new creative urge. The standstill was due to factors like health and family, and the associated Manes members were devoted to other bands and projects, many of whom were collaboration between two or more of band members. In the summer of 2013 Manes released a new track “Blanket of Ashes” online, and announced that the album ''Be All End All'' finally will be released following a compilation album of obscurities and rare material called ''Teeth, Toes and other trinkets'', both via the French label Debemur Morti. Since November 2015, the band has been recording their fifth studio record according to their Facebook page. In early 2018, Manes announced a new album, ''Slow Motion Death Sequence''. Fans are eagerly awaiting another full-length.

Members

Current members

* Tor-Helge Skei - guitars, keyboards, programming (1993-1999, 2002-2011, 2013-present) * Eivind Fjøseide - guitars (2002-2011, 2013–present) * Torstein Parelius - bass (2002-2011, 2013–present) * Rune Hoemsnes - drums, percussion (2002-2006, 2013–present) * Asgeir Hatlen - vocals (2002-2007, 2016-2019, 2020-present)

Former members

* Sargatanas - vocals (1993-1999) * Tommy Sebastian Halseth - vocals (2002-2003) * Emil Sporsheim - vocals (2005-2006) * Tor-Arne Helgesen - drums (2006-2011)

Live members

* Emil Sporsheim - lead vocals (2004-2007) * Tommy Sebastian Halseth - backing vocals (2004-2007) * Tom Engelsøy - vocals (2014-2016) * Rune Folgerø - vocals (2015-2016)

Guest members/close collaborators

* Asgeir Hatlen - vocals (2014, 2020) * Rune Folgerø - vocals (2014, 2018) * Tom Engelsøy - vocals (2018, 2020) * Ana Carolina Skaret - vocals (2018, 2020) * Anna Murphy - vocals (2018, 2020) * Tor Arne Helgesen - drums (2018) * Marita Hellem - vocals (2024)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

*''Under Ein Blodraud Maane'' (1999) -

*''Vilosophe'' (2003) - Code666 Records *''How the World Came to an End'' (2007) -

*''Be All End All'' (2014) - Debemur Morti Productions *''Slow Motion Death Sequence'' (2018) - Debemur Morti Productions

Demos and EPs

*''Maanens Natt'' (1993) *''Ned i Stillheten'' (1994) *''Til Kongens Grav de Døde Vandrer'' (1995) *'' iew' (2006) *''Reinvention'' - remixes (2008) *''Pro-Gnosis-Diabolis 1993 / Solve Et Coagula'' - split with other Manes (2009) *''Solve et Coagula'' (2009) *''Vntrve'' (2014)

Singles

*''Deeprooted'' (2007) *''Young Skeleton'' (2020)

Compilation albums

*''1993-1994'' (2005) *''Svarte Skoger'' (2006) *''How The World... - Preprod #1'' (2009) *''New Stuff #1'' (2010) *''#418 :: The Plot Thickens'' (2011) *''#417 :: Disorient'' (2011) *''#416 :: The Map Is Not the Land'' (2011) *''#415 :: Thin Air'' (2011) *''#414 :: Nil'' (2011) *''#413 :: Funeral Home'' (2011) *''#412 :: Deep North'' (2011) *''#411 :: Marbled Skin'' (2011) *''#410 :: All You Can Eat'' (2011) *''#409 :: Overheated'' (2011) *''#408 :: Hardened'' (2011) *''#407 :: Olympian'' (2011) *''#406 :: The True Name of God'' (2011) *''#405 :: Vardøger'' (2011) *''#404 :: Roman Shower'' (2011) *''#403 :: New Shit Has Come to Light'' (2011) *''Be All End All v0.0.1

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' - reissue of ''New Stuff #1'' (2011) *''Teeth, Toes and other Trinkets'' (2014)

References

External links

*
Manes
at Last.fm {{DEFAULTSORT:Manes Norwegian black metal musical groups Norwegian avant-garde metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1993 1983 establishments in Norway Musical groups disestablished in 2011 2011 disestablishments in Norway Post-metal musical groups Musical groups from Trondheim Candlelight Records artists