Godgory was a Swedish melodic death metal

Melodic death metal

Melodic death metal is a heavy metal music style that combines elements from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal with elements of death metal. The style was developed during the early and mid-1990s, primarily in England and Scandinavia...

 band that was formed August 1992 by Erik Andersson (Drums) and Matte Andersson (Vocals) of no relation.

Formation

In the beginning Godgory only played covers from bands like Napalm Death

Napalm Death

Napalm Death are a death metal band formed in Birmingham, England in 1981. While none of its original members remain in the group, the lineup of vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway, bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitch Harris and drummer Danny Herrera has remained consistent for most of the band's ...

, Entombed

Entombed (band)

Entombed is a Swedish death metal band which formed in 1987 under the name of Nihilist. Though Entombed began their career as an early pioneer of Scandinavian death metal which initially differed itself from its American counterpart with its distinct guitar tone, by the early 1990s their sound had...

, Cemetery

Cemetery

A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...

, Unleashed

Unleashed (band)

Unleashed is a Swedish death metal band that was formed in 1989 by Johnny Hedlund. Viking culture, recollection of a pre-Christian world, and Norse folklore are common themes found in the band's songs. A number of their recent songs also contain references to J. R. R. Tolkien.-Biography:Unleashed...

 and Grave

Grave (band)

Grave is a Swedish death metal band that formed in 1986 by vocalist and guitarist Ola Lindgren, who is their only constant member. The band had particular success in the early 1990s, and their first four albums, Into the Grave, You'll Never See..., Soulless and Hating Life, cemented their...

. It wasn't until April 1994 they entered the Unisound

Unisound

Unisound is a recording studio that used to be in Finspång but was closed down by Dan Swanö it because of his family but it was relocated to Örebro, Sweden into his Home....

 studio and recorded their debut demo entitled "Demo-94".

They sent out the demo to labels and zine

Zine

A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....

s around the world and the response was very good. One label wanted to sign Godgory for a full length CD, so they went to Unisound again in November 1994 and recorded "Sea of dreams", they recorded it over a weekend with much overtime. The deal with that label went up in smoke, so Godgory was left with a full length CD recorded and no label. They decided to send out the tape to labels and ask them if they want to release the album. Invasion Records from Germany wanted to release Godgory's CD and signed them for one more album. These things took some time, which is why "Sea of dreams" wasn't released until January 1996.

"Sea of dreams" received very good reviews in magazines around the world and has sold about 5000 copies. Godgory wanted to prove that they could do a better album, so in October 1996 they went to Unisound again and recorded "Shadow's dance". This time they had a sixth member, Thomas Heder on keyboard, and they spent 3 weeks in the studio and recorded every instrument one by one and not live like they did on "Sea of dreams". Shadow's dance also received very good reviews and ended up on the 7th place on Rockhards Dynamite list. Shadow's dance has sold about 10,000 copies.

New line up

After Godgory had recorded "Shadow's dance", Erik and Matte thought it was better to let 3 of the members go from Godgory: Mikael Dahlqvist Guitar, Fredric Danielsson Bass, and Thomas Heder Keyboard. They were involved in another band to which they gave first priority. Erik and Matte wanted members that could concentrate on Godgory 100% and things can easily crash with each other if there is another band to do things with. Stefan Grundel (formerly Olsson) rhythm guitarist left Godgory to concentrate on his education. So now it was only the Erik and Matte left, with no contract and no members. Godgory had heard that Nuclear Blast

Nuclear Blast

Nuclear Blast is an independent record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The record label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on to releasing albums by melodic...

 were interested in them, so they phoned them up and asked if they still were interested, lucky for Godgory they were. Godgory signed with Nuclear Blast. In May 1998 Godgory recorded one new song for the Nuclear Blast

Nuclear Blast

Nuclear Blast is an independent record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The record label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on to releasing albums by melodic...

 sampler "Beauty in darkness vol 3", the song entitled "Conspiracy of silence". They recorded in studio "Fasaden" which is 80 kilometres from Godgory's hometown Karlstad. Since Godgory had no members they asked their former members Mikael Dahlqvist (Guitar) and Thomas Heder (Keyboard) if they had time to help them in the studio, they accepted and did a great work. Godgory decided to use that studio for their third album "Resurrection" so in October 1998 they went to studio "Fasaden" again and spent 5 weeks in the studio. Mikael and Thomas was session musicians also this time. Godgory also invited Fredrik Olsson as a reciter, since he has written many lyrics for Godgory, they thought it could be cool to let him do all the whispering and Matte handled the growl parts. It worked out excellent. "Resurrection" was released in May-99 and received good reviews from Mags around the world and it also ended up at number 8 on the Rockhard Dynamite list.

After the successfully Resurrection, Godgory decided to take some time of to concentrate and feel where they wanted to go with their music. The whole album was written in six months and pre produced in a homestudio, and then directly after that Godgory entered studio Fredman. Godgory were really looking forward to enter such great and famous studio, with the excellent producer Fredrik Nordström

Fredrik Nordström

Björn Tom Fredrik Nordström, born on 5 January 1967, is a Swedish record producer and guitar player for the heavy metal band Dream Evil. Nordström is one of the leading melodic death metal producers in Sweden, and he has worked with some of the genre's top acts, including At the Gates, Arch Enemy,...

.

Studio Albums

Date of Release	Title	Label
1995	Sea of Dreams	Invasion Records
1996	Shadow's Dance	Invasion Records
1999	Resurrection Resurrection (Godgory album) Resurrection is the third full-length album by the Melodic death metal Doom metal band Godgory. In October 1998 the band went to studio "Fasaden" and spent 5 weeks in there. Session musicians were Mikael and Thomas. Godgory also invited Fredrik Olsson as a reciter...	Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast is an independent record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The record label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on to releasing albums by melodic...
2001	Way Beyond	Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast is an independent record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The record label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on to releasing albums by melodic...