Thergothon was a Finnish

death-doom Death-doom (also known as death-doom metal or doom-death) is a fusion genre of death metal and doom metal. It combines the slow tempos and pessimistic or depressive mood of doom metal with the deep death growl, growling vocals and double bass dr ...

band which lasted from 1990 until 1993 and pioneered the

funeral doom Funeral doom is a subgenre of death-doom with heavy influence from Dirge, funeral dirge music. Low-Guitar tunings, tuned Electric guitar, guitars, death growls, instruments that emulate pipe organ sounds and ponderous pace are typical traits of t ...

subgenre. They only released one demo, '' Fhtagn nagh Yog-Sothoth'' (1991), and one album, '' Stream from the Heavens'' (1994). Their sound was extremely slow and dirge-like in long pieces, which combined heavy guitar riffs, extremely deep

death grunt The death growl, or simply growl, is an extended vocal technique usually employed in extreme styles of music, particularly in death metal and other extreme subgenres of heavy metal music. Sometimes death growl vocals are criticized for their ...

s and sparse lead guitar melodies. The band disbanded a year before the release of the album and its members focused on other projects. Niko Sirkiä and Jori Sjöroos went on to form

This Empty Flow This Empty Flow was a Finnish band formed in Turku in 1994. Founded by Jori Sjöroos and Niko Sirkiä, who were also the founding members of Thergothon, a Finnish band known for pioneering the funeral doom metal subgenre, although the music of ...

, which marked a distinct stylistic departure from Thergothon. The project began as somewhat of a

shoegaze Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with dream pop) is a subgenre of indie rock, indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion (music), distortion and effects, a ...

band, taking cues from groups like

Slowdive Slowdive (stylized in lowercase) are an English people, English rock band that formed in Reading, Berkshire, in 1989. The band consists of Neil Halstead (vocals, guitars), Rachel Goswell (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Christian Savill (guitars) ...

, but ended up as more in the area of

trip hop Trip hop is a musical genre that has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop and electronica with slow tempos and an atmospheric sound. The style emerged as a more experimental music, experimental var ...

. Lately Sjöroos has gained reputation for composing songs for popular Finnish

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

act

PMMP PMMP is a Finland, Finnish pop rock band fronted by singers Paula Vesala and Mira Luoti and backed by musicians Mikko Virta, Juho Vehmanen and Heikki Kytölä. The name of the band is often said to be an abbreviation of the sentence "Paulan ja M ...

. Sirkiä, later known as Niko Skorpio, works as a visual artist and records experimental electronic music. He also used to run a record label called Some Place Else.

History

The band was founded in 1990 by vocalist Niko Skorpio, drummer Jori Sjöroos and guitarist Mikko Ruotsalainen as a

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 ...

band, but soon became a

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. In early 1991, Sami Kaveri was added as a second guitarist. A first demo recorded afterwards titled ''Dancing in the Realm of Shades'' was never officially released and the band made a new attempt in November 1991. This demo, titled '' Fhtagn nagh Yog-Sothoth'', was released the same year in a limited edition of 600 copies and was licensed to the US and Poland. In the spring of 1992, the band gave two concerts in or near Turku, where they played an extremely slow version of

Venom Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...

's "In League with Satan". The band itself did not find concerts as an appropriate presentation of the studio material. Preparations for the debut album began in the summer of 1992. Sami Kaveri left the band at that time and the band focused entirely on the role of a studio band, neither playing live nor rehearsing for it. Through this concentration of roles and people, the roles gradually dissolved and the members of the band exchanged their instruments and experimented with new ones. After the band had signed with the Italian label Obscure Plasma Records and began recording '' Stream from the Heavens'' in autumn 1992; two of the six songs on it were new recordings of songs from ''Fhtagn-nagh Yog-Sothoth''. After completing the recordings and selecting the cover for the debut, the group decided to disband in spring 1993. The release of the album was delayed until 1994 and it was highly neglected by the music press. With time however, it sold several thousand copies worldwide. In 2009, Russian record label Solitude Productions released a

tribute album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century a ...

titled ''Rising of Yog-Sothoth: A Tribute to Thergothon'', which contains contributions from bands such as Worship,

Evoken Evoken is an American funeral doom band from Lyndhurst, New Jersey, United States. Evoken is one of the earliest U.S. death-doom bands that are still active today, along with Novembers Doom and Rigor Sardonicous. History Founding years T ...

and Asunder,

Mournful Congregation Mournful Congregation is a funeral doom metal band from Adelaide, South Australia, which was founded in 1993, and has included members of Chalice (band), Chalice, Cauldron Black Ram and Esoteric (band), Esoteric. History Beginnings (1993– ...

, Colosseum and

Officium Triste Officium Triste is a death-doom band from Rotterdam, The Netherlands. They refer to their style often as "Rotterdoom". It is largely inspired by bands like My Dying Bride and early Anathema, but the last album is slower and more melodic. The vo ...

Musical style

Thergothon's music was very slow with extremely deep guttural vocals, using heavy guitar riffs, very deeply tuned guitars and with few lead guitar melodies. In addition to

, the band also integrated influences from styles such as

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie an ...

ambient Ambient or ambiance or ambience may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ambiancé'', an unreleased experimental film * ''Ambient'' (novel), a novel by Jack Womack Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgr ...

and

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 ...

Themes

Cosmic horror Lovecraftian horror, also called cosmic horror or eldritch horror, is a subgenre of horror, fantasy fiction and weird fiction that emphasizes the horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock. It is nam ...

author

H. P. Lovecraft Howard Phillips Lovecraft (, ; August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American writer of Weird fiction, weird, Science fiction, science, fantasy, and horror fiction. He is best known for his creation of the Cthulhu Mythos. Born in Provi ...

remained a prevalent influence throughout their discography, as evidenced by titles such as ''Fhtagn nagh Yog-Sothoth'' and ''The Unknown Kadath in the Cold Waste.'' When asked why the

Cthulhu Mythos The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythopoeia and a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of American Horror fiction, horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term was coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent and protégé of Lovecraft, t ...

had such an appeal to musicians, Scorpio responded:

Discography

;Studio albums * '' Stream from the Heavens'' (1994) ;Demos * '' Fhtagn nagh Yog-Sothoth'' (1991)

Members

Last line-up

*''Niko Sirkiä'' (aka ''Niko Skorpio'') -

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 ...

, keyboards *''Jori Sjöroos'' -

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 ...

*''Mikko Ruotsalainen'' -

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 ...

Former members

*''Sami Kaveri'' -

References

Bibliography

External links

Thergothon information
on Niko Skorpio's website * *
Thergothon
at

Encyclopaedia Metallum Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives (commonly known as Metal Archives per the URL or abbreviated as MA) is an online encyclopedia based upon musical artists who predominantly perform heavy metal music along with its various sub-genres ...

Thergothon at myspace
{{Authority control Finnish heavy metal musical groups Finnish doom metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1989 Musical groups disestablished in 1992 Cthulhu Mythos music Finnish musical trios Funeral doom musical groups