Andreas Hedlund

Infobox musical artist |
Name = Andreas Hedlund


Img_size = 170
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Andreas Hedlund
Alias = Vintersorg Mr. V
Born = Birth date and age|1973|11|17|mf=y
Died =
Origin = Skellefteå, Sweden
Instrument = Vocals Guitar Bass Guitar Keyboard
Genre = Black metal Folk metal Progressive metal Progressive rock Melodic death metal
Occupation = Musician Composer Music Producer Audio engineer
Years_active = 1991 - Present
Label = Century Media Records Lion Music Napalm Records
Associated_acts = Borknagar Cronian Fission Gravisphere Havayoth Otyg Vintersorg Waterclime
URL = http://www.vintersorganic.com/
Current_members =
Past_members =
Notable_instruments =

Andreas Hedlund (born on November 17, 1973), also known as Vintersorg and Mr. V is a Swedish vocalist, musician and producer known for his multi-range singing styles in black metal, progressive metal, folk metal and many other musical realms.

Biography

Beginnings

Andreas' musical career began with the bands Masticator, a death metal band, and Cosmic Death, a black metal band. Both bands existed for brief amounts of time and only produced obscure demos. In 1994, after the demise of these bands, Andreas decided to explore the idea of mixing black metal elements, such as blast beats, fast, tremulous guitar riffs, and harsh vocals, with folk and melodic, cleanly sung vocals. He called this new band "Vargatron", which means "Wolfthrone" in English. The band lasted until the summer of 1996, when the other band members left due to lack of interest. The band was soon resurrected by Andreas as a solo project, which he renamed Vintersorg, which means "Winter sorrow" in English. However, he has stated in interviews that the name has no relation to its English translation, but rather to a character from one of his favorite books. Vintersorg continues to exist to this day on Napalm Records and has gone through many stylistic changes in order to progress and innovate the music. During Vargatron's existence, another band had formed in the Summer of 1995. This band, consisting of Vintersorg on vocals and guitar, Mattias Marklund on guitar and Stefan Strömberg on drums, was born out of the ashes of "Blackburning Evening", a death metal band that the three men had played together in previously. Weary of the songs they played in Blackburning Evening, they decided to form Otyg, to pay homage to their roots and play melodic folk metal, rich in Scandinavian heritage. The three eventually got in touch with Cia Hedmark who could sing and play violin, and Daniel Fredriksson who could play bass, willow flute, keyed fiddle and lute guitar, and with these additions to the band, they were set. They went on to release 3 demos, and eventually signed to Napalm Records, who they released two full-lengths with. After the first full-length, Stefan, and Samuel Norberg who played mouth harp, left the band and Fredrik Nilsson took over on drums in 2002. Daniel took over mouth harp duties. The band was laid to rest in 2002 as Andreas and Mattias lost inspiration for the project.

The New Millennium

As the year 2000 arose, so did a new project for Andreas. This new band, entitled Havayoth, was a gothic metal band formed by Marcus "Vargher" E. Norman from Ancient Wisdom, Bewitched, Naglfar, and Throne of Ahaz and Morgan Hansson, also from Naglfar. Andreas sang on the 2000 full-length, His Creation Reversed, but left the band a few years later before he participated with them on anything else. The band continues on today without Hedlund.

Old Friends

Following the departure of ICS Vortex as vocalist, Borknagar was in need of a new singer. Having been friends for some time, Øystein G. Brun asked Andreas to take the reins for their forthcoming album, Empiricism. Andreas joined the band in 2001, and is still their vocalist to this day, having now recorded three full-lengths on Century Media Records, and playing live on many occasions. In 2002, Benny Hägglund, long time friend of Andreas, and live drummer for Vintersorg, began working on music for a project that would combine melody and aggression into energetic songs. He eventually felt compelled to ask Andreas for support in this project, thus Fission was born. With Benny playing drums, guitar, and bass, and Andreas singing and adding his experimental edge to their melodic thrash metal with his unique synths, the band recorded their first full-length, entitled Crater, released in 2004 through Napalm Records.

Present Day

In the autumn of 2004, Andreas began writing music in his spare time. The difference though was this music was a reflection of a more personal, emotional side of his mind, and it came out in the form of progressive rock & symphonic rock rather than any of the genres of metal he had become known for. As he continued to write more, this project began to culminate into a full-fledged solo band, which he called "Waterfield." Eventually Mr. V had enough material for a full-length, which he released through Lion Music on January 20, 2006 under the title The Astral Factor, now with the band name Waterclime. Being long time friends, Øystein G. Brun and Mr. V eventually began to form a musical bond and found a mutual vision. They played with the idea of a band starting in 2000, but when Andreas joined Borknagar the idea was put on hold for some time. Starting in 2005, the project finally returned though, originally called "Ion", and now called Cronian, the band was their joint vision. Music that went beyond standard song structures to create a cinematic feel, while invoking images of grand & epic arctic landscapes was the goal, and the goal came into fruition on March 27, 2006 with the release of Terra, through Century Media Records.

Discography

With Masticator

# Demo Demo (1991)

With Cosmic Death

# Crimson Nightgate Demo (1997)

With Otyg

# Bergtagen Demo (1995)
# I Trollskogens Drömmande Mörker Demo (1996)
# Galdersång till Bergfadern Demo (1997)
# Älvefärd (1998)
# Sagovindars Boning (1999)

With Vintersorg

# Hedniskhjärtad EP (1998)
# Till Fjälls (1998)
# Ödemarkens Son (1999)
# Cosmic Genesis (2000)
# Visions From The Spiral Generator (2002)
# The Focusing Blur (2004)
# Solens Rötter (2007)

With Havayoth

# His Creation Reversed (2000)

With Borknagar

# Empiricism (2001)
# Epic (2004)
# Origin (2006)

= With Fission =

# Crater (2004)
# Pain Parade (2008)

With Waterclime

# The Astral Factor (2006)
# Imaginative (2007)

With Cronian

# Terra (2006)

External links

Band pages

* [http://www.itrollskogens.tk/ I Trollskogens Drömmande Mörker: Comprehensive Andreas Hedlund Fan Site]
* [http://www.vintersorganic.com Vintersorg Official Homepage]
* [http://www.borknagar.com Borknagar Official Homepage]
* [http://www.cronian.com Cronian Official Homepage]
* [http://www.lionmusic.com/artists/waterclime_bio.html Waterclime Official Homepage]
* [http://www.fission.se/ Fission Official Homepage]
* [http://www.havayoth.cjb.net/ Havayoth Official Homepage]

Forums

* [http://ultimatemetal.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=157 Borknagar Official Forum]
* [http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=42 Vintersorg Official Forum]
* [http://www.nocturnalhorde.com/forums/index.php?c=11&sid=0c172fa65162ab792641164570ad8de7 Cronian Official Forum]