Near the end of the last Millenium, a feeling of unease started to grow within the Oslo underground scene. Thrash metal was back...and it was time to serve punishment where punishment was due...

**The Vile Birth**

Nocturnal Breed was spawned from this pitch black mentality during the summer of 1996. The band was started together with my partner in crime, Ed Damnator. We wanted the band to go back to the 'roots of all evil', thrash metal, which many tend to forget is the foundation of all the extreme metal music we hear nowadays. Fed up with the music scene and 'no-balls' posers, we felt the need to play music with no compromises, no remorse and no respect whatsoever. And so we did. During the next six months, we recorded both the "Raping the Angels" as well as the "Black Cult" demoz, experimenting with sound and different session musicians. Creating most of the songs on the spot as we were in the studio, getting wasted on whatever we could get our hands on, and just letting all hell burst out through the amplifiers.


**A Contract With The Devil**

After having a couple of tracks from the demoz on some compilation albums, we were approached by a few labels and ended up signing with Dutch label, Hammerheart Records. As a result of this, we recorded the Aggressor album in Gordon Studios,Oslo, in April 1997. Clocking in at three weeks, we finished the album in a blurry but intense state of mind, filling the studio with some of the raging alcothrashiacs we call friends. It featured most of the songs from the demoz as well as a few new ones made while thrashing around in the studio. Stepping in at the frontline, session members, 'Red Devil' Astennu, executed the lead guitars, and Rick Hellraizer beat the skins. The Aggressor album was released in October 1997 simultaneously as we went out on a European tour with Emperor and Bal-Sagoth. Since the session members were preoccupied with other bands, we hired axeman I.Maztor to do the lead guitars, and Andy Michaels to do the battery for the tour.
The Aggressor album was released during the tour, and we also released a 10" vinyl titled "Raping Europe '97" as a treat for those who came to the shows. It featured leftover material from the Aggressor session, demo tracks and a cover track of W.A.S.P. As a bonus, we also put on the infamous "Screaming For A Leatherbitch", which was recorded while we were rehearsing for the tour.
After a very successful tour, the band went straight back to work on a new album while Hammerheart Records released the Mini Album, “Triumph of the Blasphemer” - featuring live tracks from the Raping Europe Tour as well as the W.A.S.P. cover and the title track, which also was a leftover track from the Aggressor recordings.


**The Second Coming - A Devil In Disguise**

After ending the tour we needed to get some permanent members for the band. I asked I.Maztor to do the lead guitars, and after Andy Michaels was done in the band after the tour, we got skin basher Tex Terror to pound the drums.
With that lineup, we recorded the follow-up to "Aggressor", "No retreat...no surrender", at Gordon Studios in March/April 1998.
Again we made more than 50% of the tracks on the spot in the studio while edong some pretty hefty experimenting with...well you know...substances. After the recording of the album, Ed Damnator left the band due to other projects and was quickly replaced by guitarist and old friend Ben Hellion, with whom I had played alongside in other bands previous to Nocturnal Breed.
As we started on our second European tour just after the "No retreat...no surrender" album was released in November 1998, we started to notice the label's lack of support in the band.
This was the final nail in the coffin and it finally drove us to pull the plug on the whole thing. And in April 1999 we finally got rid of them and started looking to the US for a new label...


**Too Damned To Conquer**

As the band was waiting for a new record deal to be finished, we entered Gordon Studios again in September 1999 to start recording our third album to be named "The tools of the trade."
This time we did it without a label. "The tools of the trade" was a project designed to be done exclusively in the studio, creating and producing the whole album while being in recording.
We spent almost 3 months recording the album, wearing out 2 technicians and smoking more shit than you'll ever believe possible. We sent the raw mix to some labels and ended up signing with American label, Holycaust Records who had done some great work for one of my former bands Gehenna in the summer of 1999. The deal was for one album and for the whole back-catalogue including the demoz. Everything to be re-released with re-mastered sound, brand new covers and booklets.
The "Tools..." album was delayed in printing and other stages of the production, such as having to master the album twice, so when it finally was released, it had stretched to late 2000. The album was only released in parts of the US and is very hard to get hold of in Europe and the rest of the world. Trouble didn't end there: a couple of months prior to the release our labelcontact disappeared, and we didn't hear from them again until six months later...
The result was an album that was only partly released and 5 back catalogue releases that never got out to the metalheads. And yes of course, we told the label to fuck off and went straight on to the next disaster...


**The Curse**

Wanting to re-release the "Tools..." album, we got in touch with Belgian label Painkiller Records who had allready made an awesome vinyl gatefold version of album. So, after closing all contracts and deals with Holycaust Records, we started discussing to do the releases on Painnkiller. After a meeting in Oslo we signed with them. After signing, we spent the whole summer re-mastering and re-furnishing the old albums and covers - again. To be released on Painkiller was a 5 CD boxset and limited LP/picture discs (with more than 10 unreleased tracks as a treat for those who'd been waiting for some new material from Breed). But again, faith rattled its bony finger and we lost almost all contact with the label for almost a year. Resulting in the
back-catalogue being stalled again, as well as all plans for a new album.
During this process, we also got a new lead guitarist. Thrawn (who previously had mastered all of our releases including the re-releases) was now a part of the Breed posse, since I.Maztor left the band because of family matters.


**Resurrection - Back From the Dead**

Now Breed is slowly waking up and coming back to life. Releasing two new 7" singles and two double-split 7", featuring brand new songs, The Beast has resurrected.
After a bunch of killer live shows and a new album in the making, we're coming back much stronger than ever. Even though we've had our amount of shit with fucked up coincidences, near death experiences and shady people, we've come out of it as a more focused band, set with intent on coming back with ultimate force...






www.nocturnalbreed.no