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Birth ／ Debut ／ Children Of Bodom ／ New Rules of Metal Throne ／ Further Leap
GRIFFIN, hailing from Trondheim, Norway, was formed in late ﾔ98. Although the band started playing around just to have fun, as each member was all involved in different bands simultaneously (Atrox, Bloodthorn and Dark Ages), just after a couple of rehearsals they found out that performing classic heavy metal was so much fun that they decided to continue with the band. Eventually, they all decided to leave their respective bands to pursue their mutual dreams and ambitions with the band, and thus GRIFFIN became a permanent group.
After two demos quickly recorded in 99, the band got the attention of French label Season of Mist, and released the debut album "Wasteland Serenades" in the following year. Despite the critical acclaim especially in Europe, the album didn't give the band fame nor fortune, and the band decided to put all of their efforts in the next album. Having added the second guitar player, Marcus Silver, to have more guitar melodies and twin leads, the band released the second album "The Sideshow" in 2002, again on Season of Mist. Upon the release, the band went on a few tours, first as the support to the black metal legends Mayhem, then as an opening act for Dark Tranquillity's extensive European tour, with Sinergy as a special guest. Just before hitting the road with Dark Tranquillity, the singer Tommy Sebastian quit the band to pursue his career outside of music, and the band got their long-time friend and the singer for such bands as Fig Leaf and Atrox, Pete Beck, in as their new singer. With his enormous talents and musical understanding, the band was getting ready to make further steps.
The band started writing new materials in the late 2002. In the meantime, they decided to end their relationship with Season of Mist and signed a one-album deal with the Norwegian label FaceFront in the beginning of 2003. They enter the Skansen studio in the summer of 2003 and started recording the new album. Children Of Bodom frontman Alexi Laiho not only produced the album, but also provided some guest appearances on both vocals and guitars. This happened because of the years of friendship between Laiho and GRIFFIN guitarist Kai Nergaard, and in fact Laiho offered Nergaard the position of his guitar partner in Children Of Bodom, who had just lost the guitar player! After much thought, he decided to turn the offer down to pursue his ambitions to succeed with GRIFFIN.
Following the release of the new ﾒNo Holds Barredﾓ album in Norway in September, 2003, the band went on a Scandinavian tour with other Norwegian bands Einherjer, Lumsk and Scariot organized by the Norwegian metal magazine "Scream Magazine". The album received outstanding reviews in all of the Norwegian press, with some describing the band as "the new rules of the Norwegian metal throne"! A licensing deal with SPIRITUAL BEAST quickly followed, and they finally made a debut in Japan in 2004. The Japanese version featured two exclusive live bonus tracks along with the video clip of the album opener "The Sentence", which, in the meantime, was among the top 5 requested tracks on a Norwegian metal video show for more than a half year.
Although Pete Beck suffered from a heart attack in the spring of 2004, and was away from the band for a while, he made a full recovery and returned to the band, to prove that his heart is in the music, and much stronger than before! The band signed a multi-album deal with SPIRITUAL BEAST in August 2004, and took the world by storm by playing a sensational performance at the Wacken Open Air in the same month (included on "Armageddon Over Wacken" compilation both on CD and DVD). In January 2005, they entered the Godt Selskap Studios in Trondheim, Norway, to record their 4th album "Lifeforce". The album was produced by the King Diamond guitar player, Andy LaRocque, together with the band, and is scheduled for the release in June/July 2005 by SPIRITUAL BEAST. To promote the album, the band is currently working on touring options in Europe, and it looks positive that they will be on tour with a very well-known act later this year
* Discography
1999 Wasteland Serenades
2002 The Sideshow
2004 No Holds Barred
2005 Lifeforce
Johnny Wangberg (Bass)、Marcus Silver (Guitar)、Kai Nergaard (Guitar)、
Pete Beck (Vocals, Moog)、Marius Karlsen (Drums)
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GRIFFIN Artist:GRIFFIN Exclusive for Japanese Edition |
Track List: +1 Video Clip (only for Japan） |
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GRIFFIN Artist:GRIFFIN
Exclusive for Japanese Edition |
Track List: +2 Bonus Tracks (only for Japan） +1 Video Clip (only forJapan） |
