Simen Hestnæs (born 4 March 1974), better known by his stage name ICS Vortex or simply Vortex, is a Norwegian musician. He is the vocalist of the similarly named band ICS Vortex, the

avant-garde metal Avant-garde metal (also known as avant-metal, experimental metal, and experimental) is a subgenre of heavy metal music loosely defined by use of experimentation and innovative, avant-garde elements, including non-standard and unconventional sou ...

band

Arcturus , - bgcolor="#FFFAFA" , Note (category: variability): , , H and K emission vary. Arcturus is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Boötes. With an apparent visual magnitude of −0.05, it is the third-brightest of ...

and the

doom metal Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...

band Lamented Souls. He is also the vocalist and bass guitarist to the

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw ( lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an em ...

band

Borknagar Borknagar is a Norwegian heavy metal band from Bergen, founded in 1995 by Øystein Garnes Brun. The band's style combines black metal and folk metal with progressive and melodic elements. Borknagar's lyrics often deal with philosophy, paganism ...

, and the former bass guitarist and backing vocalist for the

symphonic black metal Symphonic black metal is a subgenre of black metal that emerged in the 1990s and incorporates symphonic and orchestral elements. Notable symphonic black metal bands include Cradle Of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Emperor, and Carach Angren. History ...

band

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 ...

Biography

His longest-running band is the

band Lamented Souls, which began in 1991 and for which he plays guitar and handles the vocal duties. He actually started out as their drummer, but switched places with

Ole Jørgen Moe Apollyon (born as Ole Jørgen Moe) is a black metal/thrash metal multi-instrumentalist, formerly associated with Dødheimsgard and Cadaver, now playing in Aura Noir and also Immortal after its reforming in 2006. He has done guest vocals on th ...

when they became aware of his singing abilities. His moniker was a bit of a joke to poke fun at one of Garm's aliases, Fiery G. Maelstrom: "Icy S. Vortex", with the first words being opposite elements, the middle initial being the first letters of their common names, and the last word being a powerful circular current of water. In 1995, he was on tour with the

band Ved Buens Ende and performed the supporting vocals. Songs from that tour were later released on ''...Coiled in Obscurity'' bootleg album. In 1997, Hestnæs made a guest appearance on the

album '' La Masquerade Infernale''. He sang on three songs: "Master of Disguise", "The Chaos Path" (in which he handled all lead vocals, wrote the lyrics and co-composed this song), and "Painting My Horror". In 1997, the folk/

band

was in need of a vocalist after the departure of original vocalist Garm. Garm introduced the band to Hestnæs, who became their vocalist from 1997 to 2000. He took over bass duties as well, recording bass for their fourth full-length ''

Quintessence Quintessence, or fifth essence, may refer to: Cosmology * Aether (classical element), in medieval cosmology and science, the fifth element that fills the universe beyond the terrestrial sphere * Quintessence (physics), a hypothetical form of da ...

'', after bass guitarist Kai K. Lie left the band. In August 2000, Hestnæs left Borknagar to fully concentrate on

. According to an interview, Borknagar was set to tour Europe with Mayhem, about the same time he would be in the studio to record with Dimmu Borgir. Borknagar guitarist and frontman Øystein G. Brun gave Hestnæs an ultimatum: tour with Borknagar, or quit and deal with Dimmu Borgir. He opted for the latter, stating that he thought Dimmu Borgir would become a more successful band in the long term. Brun would later state that the decision was "business", and that he "had nothing against Dimmu Borgir", and he wished Hestnæs the best; Hestnæs then stated that had he not gotten the ultimatum, he would still be in Borknagar to this day. Hestnæs first contributed on the recording of ''

Spiritual Black Dimensions ''Spiritual Black Dimensions'' is the fourth studio album by Norwegian black metal band Dimmu Borgir. It was released in 1999 by Nuclear Blast Records. A deluxe edition was released in 2004 with bonus material. There is also a digipak edition o ...

'' by adding a new vocal element: his own "clean" and "operatic" singing which added a new element to Dimmu Borgir as a band. Hestnæs stepped in as session bass guitarist when Nagash left the band to fully concentrate on

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 ...

; he was, until late August 2009, the permanent replacement on bass and a full member of Dimmu Borgir. ICS Vortex2005

In 2005, Hestnæs became Arcturus' new singer following the departure of both Garm in 2003, and Spiral Architect's Øyvind Hægeland in 2005. Hægeland departed from the band due to the distance he lived from the other band members and Hestnæs took over as lead vocalist for the band, making it the second band in which Hestnæs would be the successor to Garm as vocalist. In September 2005, the band released their fourth full-length album, and first full-length without Garm on vocals, ''

Sideshow Symphonies ''Sideshow Symphonies'' is the fourth studio album by the Norwegian avant-garde metal band Arcturus. It was released on 19 September 2005. It is the first to feature Simen "ICS Vortex" Hestnæs as the principal vocalist and Tore Moren as second g ...

'', which was met with varying acclaim. In 2005, Hestnæs was voted one of the top ten vocalists in Terrorizer Magazine and Arcturus was voted among the ten best live acts of 2005. Sideshow Symphonies was also ranked among the top ten albums of the year in the magazine. In 2007, at a concert in Melbourne, Australia, Hestnæs stated that the concert would be Arcturus' last show. On 17 April, the band officially announced they had disbanded. Most recently, Hestnæs lent his voice to the animated television program, '' Metalocalypse'', in the episode "Dethdoubles" as well as "Dethwedding" and "Dethcarraldo". According to a Myspace post (in late August 2009) by Mustis, the keyboardist of Dimmu Borgir, both he and Vortex have been fired from the band. Vortex later stated he will remember the days before the greed and music industry took over Dimmu Borgir. He also stated he has an interest in reviving "a band or three". He is currently scheduled to meet with Lamented Souls in mid-September about a new album. In 2010, it was announced Hestnæs would be returning to Borknagar as a live member on bass and vocals. Furthermore,

would be resurrected to headline the ProgPower USA festival in 2011. Hestnæs released his first solo album in 2011, entitled Storm Seeker. The album features

Asgeir Mickelson Asgeir Mickelson (born 30 September 1969) is a Norwegian musician, artist, photographer and music reviewer. Although primarily known as a drummer, he is also a skilled guitarist and bassist. Biography He has stated on his official message boar ...

on drums (ex-Borknagar), and some guitar solos by Terje "Cyrus" Andersen. The live band will include Borknagar guitarist Jens F. Ryland, and Steinar Gundersen from Spiral Architect on bass. After several months of rumours of ICS Vortex's involvement with Borknagar, it was announced that he was to rejoin Borknagar full-time as a cooperative vocalist with

Vintersorg Vintersorg (; "Winter Sorrow" in English) is a Swedish band from Skellefteå, formed in 1994 under the name Vargatron (Wolfthrone in English). Musically, Vintersorg has covered a wide number of heavy metal genres; while the band is mostly ro ...

as well as being the band's bass guitarist. This would last until Vintersorg's departure from the band in 2019, wherein Vortex assumed the role of lead vocalist once again for the first time since 2000. 2011 also saw the revival of

, with Vortex once again assuming lead vocal duties. He was married to

Lise Myhre Lise Myhre (born 1 November 1975 in Lørenskog) is a Norwegian cartoonist. Her most famous cartoon is '' Nemi''. Biography After a short study of graphical design at the Santa Monica College of Art in California, Lise Myhre started her career a ...

, a Norwegian artist and creator of the comic ''Nemi'', and they have a son born in 2007.

Solo band members

* ICS Vortex – vocals, guitars (2011–present) (also bass and keyboards on 'Storm Seeker') * Hallvard Eggestad – bass (2012–present) * Baard Kolstad – drums (2012–present) * Petter Hallaråker – guitars (2012–present) Previous members *

– drums (on 'Storm Seeker') * Cyrus – guitars (on 'Storm Seeker') * Jens F. Ryland – guitars (2011–2012) * Steinar Gundersen – bass (2011–2012)

Discography

With Lamented Souls

# ''Soulstorm'' (demo) (1992) # ''Demo '95'' (demo) (1995) # ''Essence of Wounds'' (single) – Duplicate Records (2003) # ''The Origins of Misery'' – Duplicate Records (2004) # ''Echelons of Decay'' (tentative title) – Duplicate Records

With Ved Buens Ende

# ''...Coiled in Obscurity'' bootleg – Benighted Mirror Records (2002)

With Borknagar

# '' The Archaic Course'' –

Century Media Records Century Media Records is a heavy metal record label with offices in the United States, Germany and London. In August 2015, Century Media was acquired by Sony Music for US$17 million. Background Century Media was founded by Robert Kampf and Oli ...

(1998) # ''

'' – Century Media Records (2000) # '' Universal'' – Indie Recordings (2010) (guest on one song) # '' Urd'' –

(2012) # '' Winter Thrice'' –

(2016) # ''

True North True north (also called geodetic north or geographic north) is the direction along Earth's surface towards the geographic North Pole or True North Pole. Geodetic north differs from ''magnetic'' north (the direction a compass points toward t ...

'' –

(2019)

With Dimmu Borgir

# ''

'' –

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

(1999) (reissued in 2004) (guest) # '' Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia'' – Nuclear Blast (2001) # ''

Alive in Torment ''Alive in Torment'' is a live limited shape EP by the Norwegian Symphonic black metal band Dimmu Borgir. It was recorded in Stuttgart, Germany on 4 April 2001, during the tour supporting their fifth studio album Puritanical Euphoric Misanthrop ...

'' ( EP) – Nuclear Blast (2001) # ''

World Misanthropy ''World Misanthropy'' is a live DVD set by the Norwegian symphonic black metal band Dimmu Borgir. It was released on 28 May 2002 as a two disc set, with early pressings featuring the bonus CD, a VHS and the bonus disc separately as a limited ed ...

'' (live EP) – Nuclear Blast (2002) # ''

'' ( DVD/ VHS) – Nuclear Blast (2002) # ''Death Cult Armageddon'' (EP) – Nuclear Blast (2003) # ''Death Cult Armageddon'' (DVD) – Nuclear Blast (2003) # '' Death Cult Armageddon'' – Nuclear Blast (2003) # ''Progenies of the Great Apocalypse'' (DVD) – Nuclear Blast (2003) # '' Vredesbyrd'' (single) – Nuclear Blast (2004) # ''The Sacrilegious Scorn'' (single) – Nuclear Blast (2007) # ''In Sorte Diaboli Sampler'' (single) – Nuclear Blast (2007) # ''The Serpentine Offering'' (single) – Nuclear Blast (2007) # '' In Sorte Diaboli'' – Nuclear Blast (2007) # ''The Invaluable Darkness'' (DVD) – Nuclear Blast (2008)

With Arcturus

# '' La Masquerade Infernale'' – Misanthropy/

Music for Nations Music For Nations (MFN) is a British independent record label focusing mainly on rock and metal. It was a subsidiary of the larger label distributor Zomba Records, which was a division of BMG and later Sony Music Entertainment. Launched in ...

(1997) (guest) # ''

'' –

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, pag ...

(2005) # '' Shipwrecked in Oslo'' DVD – Season of Mist (2006) # '' Arcturian'' - Prophecy Productions (2015)

With Dagoba

# '' What Hell Is About'' – Season of Mist (2006) (guest)

With Belzebubs

# ''Pantheon of the Nightside Gods'' - Century Media (2019) (guest)

Solo

# '' Storm Seeker'' –

(2011)

References

External links

ICS Vortex official MySpace page

Official Arcturus website

Official Dimmu Borgir website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vortex, Ics Living people Black metal singers Dimmu Borgir members Norwegian heavy metal bass guitarists Norwegian male bass guitarists Norwegian black metal musicians Norwegian heavy metal guitarists Norwegian heavy metal singers Norwegian male singers Norwegian multi-instrumentalists Norwegian rock bass guitarists Norwegian rock guitarists Musicians from Oslo Tenors Borknagar members Arcturus (band) members 1974 births