Aeternus

Aeternus is a Norwegian blackened death metal band from Bergen. It was formed in 1993 as an idea of Ronny Hovland, calling himself Ares, and Erik Heggernes, a.k.a. Vrolok. Later in 1996 Nicola Trier, a.k.a. Morrigan, joined the duo as a bass player, forming the core trio that created the band's first two albums. Morrigan also created the logo picture of ravens and axes that still exists as one of the band's trademarks.

History

For the first two albums, the band called their own style "dark metal". They released their debut album, Beyond the Wandering Moon, in 1997 on Hammerheart Records (now Karmageddon Media), and toured that year with black metal bands Emperor and Limbonic Art through Europe. Their second album, ...And So the Night Became was released in 1998, accompanied by a tour supporting Deicide, and was later re-released in several different formats.

In 1999, they added guitarist Radek, and their sound moved from darkened black metal toward a faster and more aggressive death metal sound for 1999's Shadows of Old. Morrigan left the group in 2001 for personal reasons and was later replaced by V'gandr, head of the Norwegian Viking metal band Helheim. Later that year they released their fourth full-length album called Ascension of Terror and did some live shows. They then departed from Hammerheart Records and also split way with guitarist Radek. Their next album A Darker Monument was released on the new Nocturnal Art Productions label in 2003. After the release of their sixth full-length HeXaeon, long-time member Vrolok left the band and was replaced by S. Winter on drums early in 2006. The group toured Europe later that year to support their new album. In September 2007, S. Winter was no longer in the group.

In the period between 2008 and 2011, the band entered a lull. V'gandr left the band to concentrate his work on his own band Helheim and continued to be a session member at Norwegian black metal band Taake. Ares reformed the band with Phobos on drums and new guitarist Specter. Soon the work for a new album began. In the current line-up they were back on stage in 2013 and released their seventh album, ...And the Seventh His Soul Detesteth.

Members

Current

• Ares – vocals, guitar (1993–present)
• Gorm – guitar (2019–present)
• Eld – bass (2013–present)
• Phobos – drums (2007–present)

Former

• Lava – guitar (1999–2004)
• Stanley – guitar (2004–2005)
• Dreggen – guitar (2005–2010)
• Ørjan – bass (1993–1996)
• Morrigan – bass, keyboards (1996–2001)
• V'gandr – bass (2001–2012)
• Vassago Rex – Drums (1993)
• Vrolok – Drums (1993–2006)
• S. Winter – Drums (2006–2007)
• Specter – guitar (2010–2017)

Timeline

<timeline> ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:110 bottom:60 top:0 right:15 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1993 till:04/22/2026 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1993 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1994

Colors =

id:vocals  value:red    legend:Vocals
id:guitar  value:green  legend:Guitars
id:bass    value:blue   legend:Bass
id:drums   value:orange legend:Drums
id:studio  value:black  legend:Studio_albums

LineData =

layer:back
color:studio
at:04/14/1997
at:09/15/1998
at:10/01/1999
at:07/01/2001
at:05/01/2003
at:08/01/2006
at:03/18/2013
at:10/12/2018
at:11/17/2023

BarData =

bar:Ares         text:"Ares"
bar:Lava         text:"Lava"  
bar:Stanley      text:"Stanley"
bar:Dreggen      text:"Dreggen" 
bar:Specter      text:"Specter"
bar:Gorm         text:"Gorm" 
bar:Ørjan        text:"Ørjan"
bar:Morrigan     text:"Morrigan
bar:V'gandr      text:"V'gandr"
bar:Eld          text:"Eld" 
bar:Vassago      text:"Vassago Rex"
bar:Vrolok       text:"Vrolok"
bar:S.           text:"S. Winter"
bar:Phobos       text:"Phobos

PlotData=

width:11
bar:Ares         from:start      till:end        color:vocals 
bar:Ares         from:start      till:end        color:guitar width:3
Bar:Gorm         from:01/01/2018 till:end        color:guitar
bar:Lava         from:03/01/1999 till:04/01/2004 color:guitar
bar:Stanley      from:04/01/2004 till:06/01/2005 color:guitar
bar:Dreggen      from:06/01/2005 till:07/01/2010 color:guitar
bar:Specter      from:07/01/2010 till:01/01/2017 color:guitar
bar:Ørjan        from:start      till:06/01/1996 color:bass
bar:Morrigan     from:06/01/1996 till:11/01/2001 color:bass  
bar:V'gandr      from:11/01/2001 till:03/01/2012 color:bass
bar:Eld          from:03/01/2012 till:end        color:bass
bar:Vassago      from:start      till:08/01/1993 color:drums
bar:Vrolok       from:08/01/1993 till:11/01/2006 color:drums
bar:S.           from:11/01/2006 till:06/01/2007 color:drums
bar:Phobos       from:06/01/2007 till:end        color:drums

</timeline>

Discography

• Walk My Path (Demo, 1994)
• Dark Sorcery (EP, View Beyond Records, 1995; re-released on Hammerheart Records, 1997)
• Beyond the Wandering Moon (Hammerheart, 1997)
• ...And So the Night Became (Hammerheart, 1998)
• Dark Rage (7-inch EP, 1998)
• Shadows of Old (Hammerheart, 2000)
• Burning the Shroud (EP, Martyr Records/Hammerheart, 2001)
• Ascension of Terror (Martyr, 2001)
• Demo 2002 (Demo, 2002)
• A Darker Monument (Candlelight Records, 2003)
• HeXaeon (Karisma Records/Dark Essence Records, 2006)
• ...And the Seventh His Soul Detesteth (Dark Essence Records) (2013)
• Heathen (Dark Essence Records, 2018)
• Philosopher (Agonia Records, 2023)