Antestor

Antestor (Norwegian: [ˈɑ̀ntəstuːɽ]) is a Norwegian Christian extreme metal band formed in 1990 in Jessheim. Credited for starting the northern European Christian black metal scene, Antestor is the only Christian band to have an album released on Cacophonous Records, which has also released records by Dimmu Borgir, Sigh, and Cradle of Filth. The band's only release on Cacophonous, The Return of the Black Death, was influential for the Christian black metal movement. It has sold over 10,000 copies. In the late 1990s, they dubbed their style "sorrow metal" rather than black metal because the early Norwegian black metal scene was affiliated with Satanism in Norway. According to HM magazine, the progressive elements on the debut album, Martyrium, were ahead of their time in the Norwegian extreme metal scene. The group has gone through several line-up changes over the years, and currently Antestor consists of founding guitarist Lars Stokstad (Vemod), vocalist Ronny Hansen (Vrede), bassist Erik Normann Aanonsen, guitarist Robert Bordevick, and drummer Henning Børven. Original vocalist Kjetil Molnes (Martyr) and drummer Svein Sander (Armoth) left the band around 2000, and the members of a fellow Norwegian black metal group, Vaakevandring, joined Antestor. Norwegian extreme metal drummer Jan Axel Blomberg (Hellhammer) played session drums for their 2005 album The Forsaken and the Det tapte liv EP. A fourth studio album, Omen, was released in 2012.