This Ending

Sweden's This Ending fused the ferocious onslaught of death metal with melodic contours and exacting technique that amplified their overall force. Although the group issued its debut album in 2007, the musicians at its core had already collaborated for more than fifteen years. Drummer Fredrik Andersson, vocalist Marten Hansen, and guitarist Linus Nirbrant first united in 1991 with the explicit aim of forming a no-compromise metal outfit; the later arrival of bassist Jesper Lofgren and guitarist Leo Pignon prompted them to adopt the name A Canorous Quintet. That ensemble issued its initial recording, the EP As Tears, in 1994, followed by the full-length albums Silence of the World Beyond in 1996 and The Only Pure Hate in 1998. While these releases earned the band a loyal audience in Sweden and Germany, broader commercial impact remained modest, and after the second album the members turned to separate endeavors: Hansen joined Sins of Omission and October Tide, Pignon contributed guitar to Niden div. 187, and Nirbrant, Lofgren, and Andersson became part of Guidance of Sin, though Andersson departed after twelve months to become the drummer for Amon Amarth. In 2004 Andersson began composing material under the working title Curriculum Mortis, and once a five-song demo was completed he set about assembling musicians to perform it. By the start of 2005 he had convinced Hansen, Lofgren, Nirbrant, and Pignon to return, and the resulting project initially operated under the name the Plague. A subsequent demo, Let the World Burn, circulated online and secured a deal with Metal Blade Records. Upon discovering that another act already used the name the Plague, the musicians settled on This Ending and tracked their first album, Inside the Machine, at Offbeat Studio in Stockholm during September 2006.