Narnia (Swedish band)

Infobox musical artist
Name = Narnia


Img_capt =
Background = group_or_band
Origin = Jönköping, Sweden
Genre = Heavy metal Power metal Neo-classical metal Progressive metal Christian metal
Years_active = 1996–present
Label = Massacre Records Attic Arcade Nuclear Blast Records Pony Canyon
Associated_acts = Divinefire Saviour Machine Rob Rock Harmony Audiovision
URL = [http://www.narniaworld.com/ Official website]
Current_members = Germán Pascual
Carl Johan Grimmark Andreas Olsson Andreas Johansson
Past_members = Christian Liljegren Jakob Persson Linus Kåse Martin Claésson Fredrik Junhammar

Narnia is a Christian neo-classical progressive power metal band founded by guitarist Carl Johan Grimmark and singer Christian Liljegren. The band formed in Sweden in 1996.

History

Liljegren and Grimmark met for the first time in 1993 in Jönköping, a town in the south of Sweden. At this time Liljegren and his band Modest Attraction were just about to release their first album, "The Truth in Your Face". Grimmark was a member of a band named Sentinel. They remained in contact over several years, during which both had trouble with their bands. Modest Attraction produced its second album "Divine Luxury" in 1996, at the same time as Grimmark decided to leave Sentinel. Liljegren phoned Grimmark and asked him whether he was interested in working together on a project. Liljegren had a passion for melodic hard rock, which he was not able to explore in the band Modest Attraction. Grimmark was instantly interested in a project along those lines.

A few months later Liljegren called Grimmark again and told him that Modest Attraction would go on tour to Germany and the guitar player Stephan Mohlin could not accompany them. Thus Grimmark replaced Stephan. Stephan soon left the band all together, and Grimmark was asked whether he would like to become a full-time band member. Grimmark accepted, thus giving Liljegren and Grimmark time to plan their project. They took a few old songs from other bands and altered them to their own preferences. In September 1996 they went into the Top Recording Studio. Grimmark played all of the instruments and Liljegren sang. The recordings took several months. They had several guests on the album, including Jakob Persson, who later played bass in Narnia. Janne Stark (Overdrive, Locomotive Breath, Baltimoore) was responsible for a guitar solos and Mart Hallek played the violin.

In January 1997, the recordings was finally finished. After hard work the album "Awakening" was mixed.

Thanks to their manager Magnus Söderkvist their album was taken up by ten Japanese labels. Nine of these labels wanted to take Narnia under contract, finally Narnia decided for Pony Canyon. In May, Liljegren and Grimmark went on their last tour with Modest Attraction. They met Matthias Mittelstädt, who possessed an enterprise named MCM Music. Mittelstädt, along with his brother, Rainer Matthias, loved the album and Mittelstädt became their manager.

With a demo in hand and new management, they began to search for talented new members and finally Narnia was born.

Subsequently the group signed with Nuclear Blast Records, and would release the albums "Long Live the King" (1999), "Desert Land" (2001), and "The Great Fall" (2003) on that label. They opened for once Stratovarius during this time.

A live-DVD and live album was released of their concert in Germany, both titled "At Short Notice... Live in Germany" (2006). The following album, "Enter the Gate" (2006), was released on MCM Music, as was the compilation album "Decade of Confession" (2007).

On April 9, 2008, Narnia began recording their latest album. On April 29th, Liljegren announced his departure from the band. [ [http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=95948 Blabbermouth] ] On August 29, the band announced on their official MySpace that the new vocalist is Germán Pascual. Germán grew up in Rio de Janeiro/Brazil, but moved to Sweden in his teens. Previously he has worked with various bands and artists, such as Minds Eye and Mendez. [Myspace.com/narniaofficial]

Members

Current

* Germán Pascual - vocals
* Carl Johan Grimmark - Guitar, vocals
* Andreas Olsson - Bass
* Andreas Johansson - drums

Former

*Jakob Persson - Bass
*Linus Kåse - keyboards
*Martin Claésson "(now Härenstam)" - keyboards
*Fredrik Junhammar - drums

Original

*Christian Liljegren - vocals
*Carl Johan Grimmark - Guitar, Bass, keyboards, Drum-Programming

Discography

* "Awakening" (1998)
* "Long Live the King" (1999)
* "Desert Land" (2001)
* "The Great Fall" (2003) (Not released in Japan)
* "At Short Notice... Live in Germany" (2006)
* "Enter the Gate" (2006)
* "Decade of Confession" (2007)

Videography

* "At Short Notice....Live in Germany" (2004)

References

External links

* [http://www.narniaworld.com/ Official Narnia Homepage]
* [http://www.myspace.com/narniaofficial Official Narnia Myspace]
* [http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=4452 Narnia] at Metal Archives
* [http://nolifetilmetal.com/narnia.htm Narnia at nolifetilmetal.com]