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The Forsaken - Biography


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Biography

The Forsaken, with its base camp in southern Sweden, had its foundation in 1997 under the name Septic Breed by Patrik Persson [guitars], Nicke Grabowski [drums], Stefan Holm, Roine Strandberg [bass] and Pascal Poulsen [vocals], one demo was recorded and released in 1998; Patterns of Delusive Design. With a fairly unstable line-up, vocalist Anders Sjöholm, at that time also in infamous Malmö based death metal band Ominous, assisted doing a few local shows and was to become full member in late 1998 bringing better stability and great inspiration by his powerful voice capabilities. In the beginning of 1999 Roine Strandberg dropped out due to lack of interest and Michael Håkansson, at that time in Embraced, was recruited as the missing link in the rhythm section.

Due to two new additions and slightly different musical approach Septic Breed was changed into what is still The Forsaken. New devastating material was quickly drafted and The Abyss with Tommy Tägtgren was booked for the recording of the second outburst of destructive metal. The second demo, named Reaper, was well received among the underground metal heads as well as by media - and resulted in several labels showing great interest to get the latest Scandinavian death metal war machine signed. Century Media was the label of choice, and the first album Manifest of Hate, including the tracks Deamon Breed and Truth of God from the Reaper demo was recorded in The Abyss in 2000 for release early 2001.

Shortly after the release Michael Håkansson departed in favour of Evergrey and The Forsaken was once again without a solid line-up. Despite the loss, the Manifest of Hate release was quickly followed up by successful touring throughout Europe with the likes of The Haunted / Carnal Forge and Nile, with Sören Sandved (Ominous) filling the empty spot in the rhythm section.

With the first album giving The Forsaken solid recognition in the extreme metal scene a second manifest was forming and in late 2001 The Abyss was booked once again for the recording of what was to become Arts of Desolation, a relentless delivery and the bands most brutal album up to date. At the time of the recording no bassist had been recruited and axe man Patrik Persson cut in on the bass duties with drilling precision. Shortly after returning from the studio Stefan Berg was recruited to fill in the empty gap on bass, and finally the line-up was complete and still is, up to this date, alive and solid. As with the first album Arts of Desolation was highly-acclaimed and to support the album a pounding tour through Europe with Grave and Disinter was executed.

The third, important album, Traces Of The Past turned out to be a stylistically sinister release, with melody and dual harmony guitar work mixed with pulverizing brutality and diverse song-writing known to be the trademark of The Forsaken. Album was released in late 2003 and was supported by touring with old friends and southern Sweden warmongers Soilwork in early 2004. As with the bands earlier recordings, the decision was to record the third album as well together with producer Tommy Tägtgren at Abyss Studios in Sweden, achieving the most impressive and powerful sound quality result so far.
In the next years to come the band fell into the shadows due to other duties. In the shadow, but never dead, and one-off shows on clubs and festivals passed on in a slow pace throughout the coming five years.

In 2009 the band legally parted ways with long term label Century Media and the next chapter was starting to take form in by tons of new blasting creations and a new target to once again get back on track to deliver some furious metal to both old and new fans.

(source: http://www.myspace.com/theforsakensweden)