|Formation, Synthetic Generation (2000-2003) Stockholm’s Deathstars is, in fact, a metamorphosed version of 1993 founded heavy metal act Swordmaster, featuring former Dissection drummer Ole Öhman (“Bone W Machine”) and guitarist Emil Nodtveidt (“Nightmare Industries”). Deathstars was fronted by Andreas Bergh (“Whiplasher Bernadotte”) and saw Erik Halvorsen (“Beast X Electric”) on guitar. The band took on both a radical image and change in musical direction for the album Synthetic Generation. Synthetic Generation first surfaced in Sweden during March 2002 on LED Recordings, but would be picked up for European release by the German Nuclear Blast label the following year. Originally only a live bass player for Deathstars, Jonas Kangur (“Skinny Disco”) became an official member on October 1, 2003. Before Synthetic Generation was released, several demos were recorded, two of which are freely available on the internet; ‘Razor End’ and ‘Black Medicine’. ‘Razor End’ is the most unusual as it is a song with strong female vocals, and is more like Synthetic Generation’s material, where as ‘Black Medicine’, can be described as featuring parts of ‘The Last Ammunition’, ‘Tongues’ and ‘Blitzkrieg’ from Termination Bliss. ‘Black Medicine’ may be linked to the song ‘Tongues’ as the song ‘Tongues’ describes “white medicine”. Termination Bliss, new line-up (2004-2006) Plans to commence recording of a second album in June 2004 were delayed as, returning home from an appearance at the Wave Gotik Treffen festival in Leipzig, Germany, Deathstars had over $15,000 worth of gear stolen from their tour bus. The band later landed the support to the resurrected Dissection at their Stockholm Lilla Arenan gig in late October. Deathstars undertook album recordings in early 2005 at the band’s own Black Syndicate Studios for the Termination Bliss album. In outside activity, both Emil Nodtveidt and bassist Skinny scored production credits on the Dissection album Reinkaos. Deathstars also remixed the track “Vyperpunk” on Dope Stars Inc’s Neuromance album. The band parted ways with guitarist Erik Halvorsen in August, citing “lack of enthusiasm.” Termination Bliss saw release in January 2006. Limited edition variants added a “Driven On” remix of the track “Blitzkrieg” by Mortiis. The band supported Cradle of Filth on their 2006 tour through Europe. In September 2006 Deathstars’ website announced that Eric Bäckman (“Cat Casino”) was now a full time guitarist for Deathstars. Deathglam and current events (2007-Present) In September 2007 Deathstars’ website announced that they would open shows for Korn on their European tour throughout January and February 2008. Deathstars headlined a few shows on their own between the dates they perform with Korn. Later, it was announced that “Bone W Machine” would not partake in the upcoming European tour with Korn due to personal reasons. Bergh attributed this to the fact that the drummer “had to take care of his family back home”. On 29 October 2007 Deathstars entered Metrosonic Recording Studios in NYC to begin the recording of their third studio album. The mixing was set for January 2008 with the album scheduled for release during Spring 2008. In a January 2008 interview, Bergh revealed that Deathstars’ third studio album would be titled Deathglam. Also, in May 2008 Nuclear Blast released an ultimate edition of the bands second album ‘Termination Bliss’ called ‘Termination Bliss Extended’ containing a CD and DVD. This contains 1 bonus track, “Termination Bliss (Piano Version)”, but does not include “Blitzkrieg (Driven On Version)”. The special-DVD includes all the music videos and special “making of” of them. They have also released a single DVD entitled ‘Termination Bliss EXTENTION” |
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