The nucleus of the band Antestor (Vemod, Pilgrim, Martyr and Paul W.) formed in 1990 in Norway, with their musical style being a blend of Death and Thrash Metal (shown in their first demo - released in Autumn 1991).  Nevertheless, in the Spring of 1992 due to personal commitments, the band broke up.

During the spring/summer of 1993, the band reformed, calling themselves "Antestor", With Armoth (drums) and Gard (new permanent bass player), and released a demo entitled "Despair" soon after.  An aggressive new style had now developed, incorporating death/doom metal influences.  The band slowly progressed further and at the end of 1994 they entered the studio 'Norsk Lydskole'.  They did this to record nine songs for the album with the title "Martyrium".  They hoped this would secure the band a record deal, but unfortunately Antestor's style did not fit in with the trends of the time.

In July 1995, the band replaced their guitarist Pilgrim with the new blood of Erkebisp and consequentially changed their sound too.  Influenced by Norwegian legends and folk songs, the compositions became more atmospheric and melancholic, leading the band to coin the term "sorrow metal" to describe their creations.

From that point the band began to create around that concept, refining themselves both technically and musically, though Erkebisp left the band in the winter of 1996/97.  This left the remaining members of the band to continue developing the musical path they had steered down.  Lyrically, the band steered away from the well worn paths of occultism and violence, concentrating more on the self and one's emotions:  despair, sorrow, ennui, coping with life, facing death, and what happens thereafter.

In the Spring of 1997, Antestor entered "Studio S" to record this new material under the working title of "Kongsblod" (King's Blood) and soon signed with Cacophonous.  The album was re-worked and given the title "The Return of the Black Death", with cover art by fantasy artist Joe Petagno.

"The birth of northern Europe's Christian extreme metal scene can be attributed to one main act, ANTESTOR, appropriately meaning "Witness" in Latin.  Producing their groundbreaking brand of black sorrow metal, they led the way for the hordes of light to penetrate the darkness and hatred of the then prevalent Norwegian Black Metal Inner Circle.  The intrusion was not taken kindly, standing up for their faith in Life and Hope, ANTESTOR received serious death threats during this time from some of the major bands and key players in the scene.

After producing two demos, "THE DEFEAT OF SATAN" (1991) & "DESPAIR" (1993), it took a full 5 years (until 1998) before the release of their first official album, "THE RETURN OF THE BLACK DEATH".  Originally entitled "KONGSBLOD", it was put out on Cacophonous Records, famed for bringing black metallers Cradle Of Filth & Dimmu Borgir to the masses.  This release further strengthened their credibility in the scene; much ground having been already gained through the independently recorded MARTYRIUM (1994), an album that forever changed the sound of true underground metal.  Though not officially released until 2000 on the influential Swedish label Endtime Productions, bootlegs up to fifth generation tape copies of the album spread like wildfire and drastically helped widen the close circle of listeners.  MARTYRIUM was rightly considered a cult classic, feeding the publics appetite for ANTESTOR's dark sorrow metal, the full fury consequently being revealed on "RETURN OF THE BLACK DEATH".

So now it is time for us to come back to the beginning, the start of it all remastered and re-released for you to travel back and hear a piece of extreme metal history...Relax, turn off the lights and thank the Master that there is hope amongst the darkness…"

All Material Used With Permission From Bands.