History

Sweden's reputation for producing quality death metal continues with Seance. The band was formed in March 1990 with the fusion of two local Linköping bands Orchriste and Total Death, both formed in early 1987. Orchriste suffered a number of line-up changes due to the Swedish military service a problem Total Death managed to handle with better luck. The only two original members left when Orchriste broke up was the singer, Johan Larsson, and the guitarist Patrick Jensen. They joined up with the Total Death guys; Tony "Toxine" Kampner on guitar, Christian "Bino" Carlsson on bass and Micke Pettersson on drums. They called themselves Seance, which was taken from an old Orchriste song. Both bands have had a lot of live-experience and have played with bands like Carcass, Midas Touch etc.

Orchriste did a demo called 'Necronomicon', which they never released due to certain reasons, but in strange ways it took itself down Italy where radiostations and 'zines showed their interest. Total Death participated on an album along with other local acts.

In December 1990 Seance had their first gig with Merciless, Toxaemia and others. They played their second gig as opener for Disharmonic Orchestra. Seance released their first demo 'Levitised Spirit' in August 1991, delayed since January 1991 due to problems with the studio, which was totally new at that time and Seance was the first band ever recording in it. This first demo received a lot of very good reactions amongst the international media and 12 record companies showed interest to sign the band.

The band's first album 'Fornever Laid to Rest' (1992) is pure aggression with complex riffs and the extreme death vocals by Johan. The lyrics are not only dealing with the typical death metal topics, but also with subjects like Aids and drugs, mixed with a good deal of horror. With this album Seance did penetrate their fans ears to the limit. The album got an incredibly good response, not only in Scandinavia, but worldwide.

Seance's second album 'Saltrubbed Eyes' was released in 1993 by Black Mark productions.

There was some line-up changes later in the 90s, e.g. Jensen left to join The Haunted. In 1998 Seance split up.

In early 2008 was the second chance for Seance, as they decided to reform. Three original members (Johan Larsson on vocals and bass, Micke Pettersson on drums and guitarist Tony Kampner, who also was in Witchery at this time). Another old, but not original member was Rille Rimfält on guitar (also he was in Witchery). He had played with the band during 1995-1998, but hadn't recorded anything with them. This line-up recorded the band's third album, 'Awakening of the Gods'. It was released in January 2009 via Pulverised Records.

(source: the official Seance website in 19??, last 3 chapters by AM)

(discography incomplete)