Obtained Enslavement

Norway's Obtained Enslavement operated as a black metal band across a decade that ran from 1989 through 2000, though later years have blurred the memory of their output. The group began as a trio whose members were vocalist and bassist Pest, whose real name is Thomas Kronenes, guitarist Døden, born Ove Sæbø, and drummer Torquemada, whose given name is Ørjan Risan. By the time the quartet format was in place following the arrival of guitarist and keyboardist Heks, real name Heine Salbu, the band issued its first album, Centuries of Sorrow, in 1994. That record already hinted at an emerging symphonic bent within the raw severity of the group's intensely "occvlt" black metal approach. The same symphonic leanings reached fuller expression on the next two releases, Witchcraft in 1997 and Soulblight in 1998, both of which earned the band its greatest recognition. To realize those broader arrangements the lineup was augmented for a time by bassists Tortur and T. Reaper, the latter also known as Torgrim Øyre, along with keyboardist Morrigan. Their collective aim was to craft music that might serve as Beelzebub's own chamber pieces. When the final album, The Shepherd and The Hounds of Hell, appeared in 2000, the original four members had shifted toward conventional metal structures in a manner that left longtime listeners unable to recognize the band, a change that preceded Obtained Enslavement's dissolution.