Ofermod

Ofermod derived its name from an obsolete Swedish expression denoting bravado and came into being in 1996 when vocalist Jonas Tengner, also known as Nebiros or Nord, joined forces with multi-instrumentalist Mika Hakola, credited as Michayah or Belfagor on guitar, bass, and drums. For the following ten years the pair remained on the outermost fringes of the Scandinavian black metal underground, resembling a reticent apparition. Their first offering, the 1998 single “Mystérion Tés Anomias,” was followed in 2004 by the two-track demo “Netivah Ha-Chokmah”; one year later the EP Mystérion Tés Anomias appeared, simply collecting the quartet’s four existing compositions. Hopes of expanding this deliberately gritty style—echoing Watain, Dark Funeral, and Gorgoroth—were interrupted in March 2006 when Michayah received a prison sentence for assault and robbery. Upon his release, however, the incarceration appeared to supply fresh impetus: the duo, long reliant on session players, finally completed and issued their first full-length album, Tiamtü. Issued solely on cassette by Satanic Propaganda Records in 2008, the recording later received a CD reissue from Southern Lord.