NARNIA

Numerous heavy metal ensembles have sought inspiration in Tolkien's Middle Earth for their thematic material, yet Sweden's Narnia instead drew upon the less frequently mined but equally enduring writings of C.S. Lewis. United by the same Christian beliefs that shaped Lewis, the band pursued a rapid, richly melodic variety of heavy rock incorporating progressive, neoclassical, and power metal characteristics. That approach first reached listeners on the 1998 album Awakening. The founding pair of vocalist Christian Liljegren (ex-Borderline) and guitarist Carljohan Grimmark (ex-Sentinel) captured the record with session support, and its unexpected commercial traction persuaded the pair to expand Narnia into a stable unit. Keyboardist Martin Claésson, bassist Jakob Persson, and drummer Fredrik Junhammar joined for the follow-ups Long Live the King in 1999, Desert Land in 2001, and The Great Fall in 2003, every one issued by Nuclear Blast Records and adorned with lion imagery referencing Aslan from Lewis' novels.

Throughout this period the group steadily enlarged its live audience even while Liljegren and Grimmark maintained multiple outside projects. A lengthy gap nevertheless preceded Enter the Gate, which appeared on Massacre Records. Without a permanent keyboardist and now employing bassist Andreas Olsson, Narnia resumed touring, including a November 2006 all-Christian package trek through South and Central America alongside Rob Rock, Mortification, and Exousia. Another extended pause before the next recording project ended when original vocalist Liljegren departed in 2008. The remaining members continued, recruiting Germán Pascual (also of Mind's Eye) to complete the sixth album, Course of a Generation, released in 2009. Although it was the first Narnia release without lion artwork, the Christian-based fantasy themes endured. Pascual's tenure proved brief, and the band dissolved in 2010.

Four years afterward Narnia reassembled to mark the fifteenth anniversary of Long Live the King. Liljegren returned on vocals and the lineup began work on a seventh album. Issued in 2016 under the title Narnia, the record contained typically uplifting head-banging tracks such as "Reaching for the Top" and "I Still Believe."