Selfmindead

Observing black metal’s growing dominance across Sweden’s music landscape, vocalist Ilkka Viitasalo, drummer Marko Hautakoski, guitarist Timo Sillankorva, and bassist Tapani Hoikkaniemi found themselves drawn to the sound—until the scene’s prevailing anti-religious stance became impossible to ignore. Rather than follow that path, the four musicians launched Selfmindead, adopting the same sonic approach while deliberately choosing to frequent churches instead of setting them ablaze. Their debut album received an American license from Solid State Records in 1998, allowing the band to spend that year touring Europe behind the record; bassist Emil Nikolaisen had joined by then as a replacement.