The folk metal band Svartsot was started in February 2005 in Randers (Denmark), arising from the ashes of an earlier, more black metal-based folk metal act. With the addition of Claus B. Gnudtzmann on vocals to guitarists Cris J. S. Frederiksen and Michael L. Andersen, bassist Henrik B. Christensen and drummer Marcelo Freitas, came a change in course for the lyrical content, with songs being now based on traditional Danish folklore and Nordic mythology. The music still kept elements of black metal, together with other contemporary metal-styles merged with Nordic folk music.



Already within a couple months of the bands inception, a support slot was offered by goth/industrial act, Clone Circle, from Svartsots hometown, and the bands debut concert was played on the 12th May 2005, at Copenhagen’s The Rock.



Shortly after this concert whistle and bodhran-player Stewart Lewis joined the band, bringing an added folk element and supporting Cris J. S. Frederiksens guitar leads. The band went into the rehearsal studio to consolidate all the elements before new concerts in the autumn of 2005. During this period Marcelo Freitas stopped due to career responsibilities. With just one month left before the autumn’s concerts, new drummer Niels Thøgersen was brought into the line up.



The first concert of the autumn season, supporting The Psyke Project and MCIP at Café Von Hatten in Randers, was a success, being played to a packed house. Other concerts during the autumn/winter season 2005/2006 saw the band refine their live performance, achieving praise from concert-reviewers as can be read on revolution-music.dk.



During November 2005 the band went into Pop Shit Studios in Randers to record their first 4-tracker, „SVUNDNE TIDER”, with the tracks Jotunheimsfærden, Havets Plage, Valhal and Hævnen. The EP received good reviews on various webzines, including danishmetal.dk, and helped to ensure the band a place in the Danish Metal Grand Prix 2006. Svartsot took second place in the initial heat at 1000Fryd in Aalborg and went ahead to win the competition at Studenterhuset in Aalborg a week later (on 17th February, the bands official first birthday!)



The spring/summer season was reasonably quiet for Svartsot, but in April 2006 the band supported VolBeat from Copenhagen at a packed Café Von Hatten (in fact the place registered a full house two times – once for each band). Svartsot had by now definitively consolidated their home base.



The summer was not wasted, as the band stepped up their promotional work, making many contacts abroad. The colossal myspace.com has been a major part of this work, and has gathered Svartsot a lot of positive feedback from all over the world. But also a band profile on the Danish website metalzone.dk has seen Svartsot with profile view placements amongst the top 10. The popular song Jotunheimsfærden has even been played on a BBC radio folk music show. This track was also included on the English Terrorizer magazines Fear Candy Unsigned CD, which followed the October 2006 edition of the magazine.



The autumn of 2006 saw increased activity in the band. Svartsot had landed themselves support slots with Danish death metal veterans Illdisposed on their Danish tour. Although the two bands have very different styles, many new fans were converted, helping to increase Svartsots popularity in Denmark.



Svartsot had won three days studio time with Hatespheres Jacob Bredahl at Smart n’ Hard studios in Århus at the DMGP earlier in the year. The studio time was used in September 2006 to record a 3-track follow up to 2005’s „SVUNDNE TIDER”. This EP called „TVENDE RAVNE” includes the tracks Skønne Møer, Brages Bæger and TVENDE RAVNE. The first song from this recording (Skønne møer) was played on Thursday the 26th of October 2006 on the Danish nationwide radio station P3. This recording was released in January 2007, achieving good reviews; see the media section of the homepage. This month also saw the band taking the stage for the first time of that year at a one day festival, headlining alongside Mercenary, another concert that went down well with concert goers and reviewers.



Less than a month later, in February 2007, it was decided that bassist Henrik S. Christensen and Svartsot were to go their separate ways. In the start of March Martin Kielland-Brandt joined the band on bass.

Source : Official svartsot site