Vomitory

Swedish death metal outfit Vomitory came together as a three-piece in 1989. Ronnie Olson handled bass, Urban Gustafsson played guitar, and Tobias Gustafsson sat behind the drums. After the group’s debut performance in 1990, Olson stepped away from the low end to focus solely on vocals, prompting the arrival of Bengt Sund on bass. Guitarist Ulf Dalegren joined the following year, giving the lineup a temporary sense of stability. By 1992 the musicians had completed a self-titled demo that circulated through underground networks, earning the band attention from Swiss label Witchhunt Records. That imprint pressed the three-song 7-inch Moribund in 1993, featuring “Untouchable Challenge,” “Undivulged,” and the title track; roughly five hundred copies sold within Sweden. Later the same year Olson and the two Gustafssons removed Sund, installing Thomas Bergqvist on bass.

A second promotional tape failed to attract major-label interest, so the band issued Through Sepulchral Shadows itself in 1994, moving around one thousand units. Roughly eighteen months afterward Vomitory toured Poland. Dutch company Fadeless Records signed the group in 1996, leading to the swift recording and release of the full-length Raped in Their Own Blood. Shortly thereafter Olson and Bergqvist departed; vocalist Jussi Linna and bassist Erik Rundqvist filled the vacancies. Redemption appeared in 1999, followed by two European tours before the decade closed. Metal Blade Records issued the next pair of albums—Revelation Nausea in 2001 and Blood Rapture in 2002—with Henrik Larsson producing the former. Primal Massacre surfaced in 2004, marking the final recording for longtime guitarist Ulf Dalegren, who exited the following year. Peter Östlund took his place, and new producer-engineer Rikard Löfgren collaborated with the band on the 2007 release Terrorize Brutalize Sodomize. Carnage Euphoria arrived in 2009 as the group marked its twentieth anniversary, while Opus Mortis VIII in 2011 showcased the veterans’ broadest and most dynamic sound to date.