+++1993+++
Is when it
all began when the mighty Lord Ahriman and Blackmoon (David Parland) founded
the war machine we now know as DARK FUNERAL. They were later joined by Draugen
and Themgoroth.
+++1994+++
The
legendary, self-titled and self-financed, mini-cd is recorded at Dan Swanö´s
Uni-Sound studio in January. It is released on May 4th to an unsuspecting
world. And on that very same day, the band would have performed their very
first gig at Luse Lottes Pub in Oslo NORWAY. After the recording sessions,
Draugen (drums) leaves the band and is replaced by Equimanthorn.
+++1995+++
The band
signs to No Fashion Records, which later turns out to be their biggest misstake
yet, and start preparing songs for a full-length album. After a miserable
attempt to record The Secrets Of The Black Arts at Uni-Sound studios (again
with Dan Swanö) the band decides to relocate to Abyss Studio and re-record the
entire album. In between the studio sessions a new song was written and added
to the tracklist "When Angels Forever Die". With engineer Peter
Tagtgren (Hypocripsy) on board, the band finally gets the production they were
looking for. Shortly after, DARK FUNERAL plays their first festival gig, Under
The Black Sun I in Berlin. A few weeks prior to this gig Emperor Magus Caligula
joins the band as vocalist and eventually becomes a permanent member. The band
also shoots their very first video for the track "The Secrets Of The Black
Arts" which is well received and played on music channels all over the
world.
+++1996+++
January 28th
the bands first full-length-album "The Secrets Of The Black Arts" is
released upon the masses and the album is soon licensed to Metal Blade (North
America) and Mystic Production (Poland). The line-up troubles which first saw
vocalist Themgoroth and drummer Equimanthorn leave is soon elevated when
co-founding member Blackmoon also leaves. Fortunatly they are more than
compensated with the addition of Alzazmon (drums), Typhos (guitars) and Emperor
Magus Caligula (vocals/bass). With the addition of Caligula (who most of you
already knew as Masse Broberg, the original vocalist of Hypocrisy) DARK FUNERAL
is brought to a new level of aggressivity and intensivity. Together with
Necromass the band does the Satanic War Tour I throughout Europe. Also during
1996, the line-up of Emperor Magus Caligula, Lord Ahriman, Alzazmon and Blackmoon
recorded their unholy version of Bathory's "Call From The Grave" and
"Equimanthorn" for the Bathory tribute, In Conspiracy With Satan.
(These stunning cover tracks also appears later re-mastered for the re-titled
re-release of the bands legendary debut "In The Sign…".).
+++1997+++
The second
leg of Satanic War Tour follows with Ancient and Bal Sagoth as support. Also,
Dark Funeral plays their very first show in America at the Expo Of The Extreme
festival in Chicago. After totally desecrating the unsuspecting American
audience with their blasphemous stage show complete with impaled pigs heads on
upside down crosses matched with the unholy members drenched in pigs blood and
finishing the set off with Emperor Magus Caligula's firebreathing. From there the
band embarks on the "The American Satanic Crusade Tour" with Usurper
in support. Originally the tour was supposed to also feature Acheron and
Destroyer 666, but after too many hassles, both bands had to cancel. In
September, the road dogs return to the Abyss studio to record "Vobiscum
Satanas". Ultra-raw and hyper-fast the unholy duo Ahriman/Caligula have
delivered a record that even the last sceptics have to admit that DARK FUNERAL
are spearheading Swedish black metal together with Marduk.
+++1998+++
The Ineffable
Kings Of Darkness Tour with Enthroned and Liar Of Golgotha takes place with
Dominion coming into the band as a session bass player. The band also does
their second major festival appearance at the Swedish Hultsfreds festival.
After the festival, Thyphos is kicked out and Dominion, (who originally was a
guitarist), is taken on as the bands second guitarist and Caligula reverts back
to doing both vocals and bass. Before the band heads out on the "Bleed For
Satan" tour, with Cannibal Corpse and Infernal Majesty, Alzazmon (drums)
leaves and the bands long time friend Gaahnfaust is being added to the line-up.
(He was also in DARK FUNERAL back in 1996 for a short time.)
+++1999+++
DARK FUNERAL
return overseas for another mini-tour "Black Plague Across The West"
which finds the band invading, then destroying Mexico for the first time before
they head north and lay to waste to the state of California. Afterwards they
also embark on their longest and most successful European tour "The
Satanic Inquisition" together with Dimmu Borgir.
+++2000+++
With engineer
Tommy Tägtgren DARK FUNERAL record the EP "Teach The Children To Worship
Satan" at the Abyss studio B (featuring the new song "An Apprentice
Of Satan" and cover-versions from Slayer, Mayhem, Sodom and King Diamond).
For the EP, the band also film a live video for "An Apprentice Of
Satan". DARK FUNERAL join Deicide, Immortal and Cannibal Corpse for the No
Mercy festivals. After the departure of Gaahnfaust, Matte Modin (Defleshed)
joins the band as a permanent member and makes his debut at the With Full Force
festival. With Matte DARK FUNERAL becomes even faster and tighter. Wacken Open
Air is added to the band's enormous gig-list; even a chaotic Canadian/American
tour is coming to a good end. Dominion and Caligula work on their logically
titled side-project Dominon Caligula while Lord Ahriman, with members of
Acheron, Incantation and The Electric Hellfire Club, form Wolfen Society. Due
to popular demand for the first EP, DARK FUNERAL re-releases the landmark work
complete with new a new cover and never before published photos, giving the
fans a true taste of the history of the band.
+++2001+++
In
January/February the band again enter Abyss Studio to record their third (and
long awaited) full-length album. The new album "Diabolis Interium."
With the help of producer Peter Tägtgren and studio technician Lars Szöke, DARK
FUNERAL created the MASTERPIECE of their recording career thus far, a record
which will surely be considered a mile-stone in the evolution of black metal in
the future. Beside the usual highspeed-songs, DARK FUNERAL shows a new side,
slowing down for “Goddess Of Sodomy.” “An Apprentice Of Satan”, already known
from the last EP, was reworked for "Diabolis Interium." Other
highlights of the CD are “Armageddon Finally Comes” and the brutal opener “The
Arrival Of Satan’s Empire” (which most would agree is THE crown jewel of the
Dark Funeral catalogue). "Diabolis Interium" is an absolute MUST for
every serious metal-collection, not only black metal fanatics!
Due to the
overwhelming positive response of "Diabolis Interium" from the public
and the press, DARK FUNERAL were able to secure deals that brought their music
across to a much wider audience with licenses in Japan (Soundholic Co.Ltd),
Brazil (Hellion Records), Poland (Mystic Productions), Romania (Rocris Disc),
Bulgaria (Rocris Disc), Thailand (S.Stack Co. Ltd), Russia (Irond Records Ltd),
Taiwan, Hong Kong & China (Magnus Music). With the exceptional response to
the album in Brazil which was released through Hellion Records, another local
label, Somber Records licenses the band's entire back catalogue.
As soon as
"Diabolis Interium" hit the streets, DARK FUNERAL once again hit the
road. First they toured Europe, supported by Tidfall (NO), Anorexia Nervosa
(FR) and Ragnarok (NO). On this tour the band brought in Mikael Hedlund
(Hypocrisy) to play the bass. After this tour Mikael resumed duties with his
main band. DARK FUNERAL recruited Richard Cabeza for the session bassist slot.
The band also toured the US, supporting their long time friends Cannibal
Corpse. With "Diabolis Interium", the Swedish radio station ROCKET
95.3 FM nominated DARK FUNERAL in the category “Best Swedish Hardrock Band”.
Other bands nominated at the same time and in the same category were Breach,
Entombed and Arise.
+++2002+++
In October
2002 the band made their very first tour in the Far East. The tour included
shows in Japan, Taiwan and Singapore. The band was the very first western
extreme metal band to play Taiwan and Singapore. DARK FUNERAL received a warm
welcome by the Asian crowd, who not only understood their brand of dark and
majestic music, but also the essence of the band itself.
November 29th
2002, DARK FUNERALand MNW/No Fashion Records announced that effective
IMMEDIATELY they were no longer contractually bound to Necropolis Records, who
had licensed the bands 2001 masterpiece "Diabolis Interium" for North
America. Official Termination of contract papers had already been delivered to
Necropolis Records, putting an official end of DARK FUNERAL's tenure with said
record label. This was a result of Necropolis' deliberate breach of contract
with the band and label. DARK FUNERAL has since put this unfortunate incident
behind them and begun moving on with the future.
After the
Asian tour, guitarist Dominion felt that he could not give 100% to DARK FUNERAL
and felt it was in everyone’s best interest to resign his position. He had felt
his lack of motivation to dedicate himself to a full-time touring band was not
fair to the band, and also wanted to explore other musical options. Dominion
officially resigned upon their completion of the Asian tour. Dominion is and
will always be regarded as a very good and close comrade and brother to the
band.
+++2003+++
After the
Asian tour, the band begin auditioning guitarists to replace the departed
Dominion. A new guitarist was found in the form of Chaq Mol, who has a long
history in different local Metal acts. He is also in the two man Doom/Black
Metal project Mordichrist. He made his official debut with the band at Wacken
Open Air 2003.
After a
successful gig at the Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany the band headed down
to South America for a tour through Brazil, Chile and Columbia. This tour
became one of the most successful tours ever undertaken by the band. During the
tour the band recorded a couple of the shows with plans to release it as a live
album! After sifting through the recorded material with their live sound
engineer (Erik Lidbom, Hitfire Productions), “De Profundis Clamavi Ad Te
Domine" was born.
+++2004+++
DARK FUNERAL
began the year by officially announcing their split from MNW/No Fashion
Records. Shortly after, the band signed a license deal with Regain Records for
their amazing new live album “De Profundis Clamavi Ad Te Domine”. It was
licensed to several other countries. On May 31st, 2005 it also finds it´s long
awaited release in the US through Candlelight USA.
In January of
2004 the band partnered with Goatwhore (US) and Zyklon (NO) in Japan on the
Extreme The Dojo Volume 9. Shortly after the band continue to tour with a spate
of Mexican dates. A few festivals are also being executed, Spanish Piorno Rock
(w/ Sepultura, Saxon, Destruction, Lacuna Coil among others), Finnish Tuska and
X-Mass Festivals. The band appears as the headline act at Germanys Party San,
Swedish Nordic Rage and LA´s Gathering Of The Bestial Legions Festival. The
band also hit Italy together with Defleshed for a short, but extremely
successful burst of dates. In December 2004 DARK FUNERAL then resumed touring
by first playing Israel and then hitting Russia and Ukraine for the Black
Winter Days Tour, together with Horned NecroCannibals and Icewind Blast.
+++2005+++
On January
20th 2005, DARK FUNERAL signed a new record deal with Regain Records. The band
concentrates on writing material for a new full-length album yet still manage
to perform at the Metal Mind Festival in Poland before finally joining the No
Mercy Tour with Six Feet Under, Nile, Dying Fetus among others.
On May 23rd
the band finally entered Dug Out Studios together with producer Daniel
Bergstrand (Meshuggah, In Flames, Strapping Young Lad, Behemoth a.s.o.) and
Orjan Ornkloo (Misery Loves CO) to begin work on their new, long awaited
full-length album. This, which will be Dark Funeral's 4th full-length studio
album is also their most eagerly anticipated recording in their now decade-long
career. The band brings in Gustaf Hielm (ex Messhuggha) to play the bass on the
record.
On August
18th Dark Funeral's new Masterpiece "Attera Totus Sanctus" was
completed! Raw, fierce, and evil, Attera Totus Sanctus will rightly reclaim the
unholy bands title at the top of black metals premiere elite.The release date
is set for October 24th via Regain Records in Europe and November 29th via
Candlelight in the USA. Further on the album will also be released in Japan on
December 21th via Soundholic Ltd and in Brazil on (TBA) via Hellion Records.
Its not very
often a Black Metal band hits the charts, but on November 2nd, 2005 Dark
Funerals new masterpiece "Attera Totus Sanctus" enters the Swedish
album chart "Top 40" as Nr 35 and the Swedish Heavy Metal chart as Nr
3.
+++2006+++
On February
21th Dark Funeral begins a six week long headline tour throughout Europe
“Attera Orbis Terrarum Tour”, to support their new and highly acclaimed studio
album. The tour becomes a great success for the band. As support the band bring
Naglfar, Amoral, Endstille and Asmodeus.
+++2007+++
And the
success continues. After touring the world in support of their latest and
highly acclaimed “Attera Totus Sanctus” album , they finally released their
first ever DVD (2-disc´s)"Attera Orbis Terrarum-part 1 on October
15th". The DVD landed impressively as Nr 5 on the Swedish Music DVD chart.
This is the first DVD in a series of two which the band has planned to release
from their world touring for Attera Totus Sanctus.
+++2008+++
Dark Funeral
begin the year by announcing a release date for their second DVD set,
"Attera Orbis Terrarum - Part 2". The 2-disc DVD will be released on
May 22 through Regain Records. This is the second in a series of two DVDs
featuring outstanding, killer material that was recorded during the band's worldwide
touring for "Attera Totus Sanctus.". While Part 1 focuses on European
shows, part two focuses on South American shows, where the band has a fanatical
following.
The band is
curently busy writing material for a new studio album...
A MORE
DETAILED BIO UPDATE [2006-2008] IS COMING SOON....
Take from official web site
Dark Funeral
Tracklist:
- Open
the Gates
- Shadows
Over Transylvania
- My
Dark Desires
- In
the Sign of the Horns
The Secrets of the Black Arts
Tracklist:
- The Dark Age Has Arrived
- The Secrets of the Black Arts
- My Dark Desires
- The Dawn no More Rises
- When Angels Forever Die
- The Fire Eternal
- Satan's Mayhem
- Shadows Over Transylvania
- Bloodfrozen
- Satanic Blood (Von cover)
- Dark are the Paths to Eternity (A Summoning Nocturnal)
Click Me
Vobiscum Satanas
Tracklist:
- Ravenna
Strigoi Mortii
- Enriched
By Evil
- Thy
Legions Come
- Evil
Prevail
- Slava
Satan
- The
Black Winged Horde
- Vobiscum
Satanas
- Ineffable
King of Darkness
Click Me
Diabolis Interium
Tracklist:
- The Arrival of Satan's Empire
- Hail Murder
- Goddess of Sodomy
- Diabolis Interium
- An Apprentice of Satan
- Thus I Have Spoken
- Armageddon Finally Comes
- Heart of Ice
Click Me
Attera Totus Sanctus
Tracklist:
- King Antichrist
- 666 Voices Inside
- Attera Totus Sanctus
- Godhate
- Atrum Regina
- Angel Flesh Impaled
- Feed on the Mortals
- Final Ritual
Click Me
Angelus
Exuro pro Eternus
Tracklist:
- The End of Human Race
- The Birth of the Vampiir
- Stigmata
- My Funeral
- Angelus Exuro pro Eternus
- Demons of Five
- Declaration of Hate
- In My Dreams
- My Latex Queen
