Vanquished officially formed in late October 2001. Beginning as a crossbreed Death-Black metal Act, the Band developed and progressed at a steady rate, defining their style as various live performances and demos began to surface. The "Vanquished" self-titled EP and "Dark Tower' demo were independently recorded and released with 50 copies each in 2002. During the next six months the band began to tour, playing throughout Ontario alongside Cephalic Carnage, Agiel and December.
The Following January of 2003, Vanquished entered Wild Studios with engineer J.F. Degenais (Kataklysm) to record their first full length album, "71029". Unfortunately this album would not be officially released, due to financial problems and label disputes at the time. Through hardship and loss, Vanquished continued to put their music first and concentrate on writing better material, without compromising or allowing any influential interference. At this point, Vanquished was growing stronger by the moment, holding down a rigorous 7-day rehearsal schedule.
Founding members Grimnyr (guitars/vocal), Dertah (guitars/vocals), and Warhammer (drums) became a dedicated unit consistently churning out evil and raw black metal. The release of "NOBM" (four songs in a blacker vein) displayed a blistering attack of blasting drums, screeching guitars and a coarse vocal assault. Vanquished had defined their sound as simply, "Northern Ontario Black Metal."
The "NOBM" recording was extremely raw and attracted a more underground cult fan base, allowing the band to sell over 200 copies of the EP while on a short tour of Quebec and Ontario supporting Averse Sefira in July of 2003. Upon returning home after the tour, Vanquished eagerly began to focus on new songs.
As their music progressed, so did the atmosphere surrounding the band's ideology and members. Unlike most underground black metal bands, they chose to deter from common themes of Satanism and devil worship, concentrating instead on a more personally-defined theme of dark vicious black metal. Combining old school elements of pioneer black metal and a Canadian-born breed of utter brutality, they fused their own patented aura of melodic guitar and high-pitched screams from the cold realms of Northern Ontario.
The writing process continued with absolute dedication to musicianship, as did the band's standards for quality song-writing and severely brutal riffing.
Almost two years passed between albums and the band decided to release a compilation. As Years Pass was released independently through Northern Darkness Records, with only 50 copies produced. In July 2004, the band embarked on a brief 4-date tour of Northern Quebec, cementing their status as road warriors.
Months after the tour, Vanquished was left without a bass player, but the dominant core of Grimnyr, Dertah and Warhammer endured and developed into a more professional and organized unit. Stepping up the intensity, the theme and concept for Black Northern Storm were developed and soon new material was completed.
In July 2005, Vanquished signed with Krankenhaus Records and soon thereafter, Black Northern Storm became the first official Vanquished release, hitting streets in late August.
Finally, new bassist Iconoclast joined the fold the same summer. Bringing highly skilled musicianship and energetic proficiency to the lineup. With the bassist position solidified Vanquished performed an opening gig for Behemoth in Ottawa late 2005.
Vanquished relocated to the west coast of Canada in early 2006. The city of Vancouver would be the setting for a new and revamped form of the band. Without wasting time Grimnyr and Dertah sought out to find two new members. Drummer Lord Goatesque joined the band shortly after and song writing for the new album commenced. A new bassist Artep was added to the line-up a month later.
Vanquished played their first show on the west coast with the new band mates in march of 2007.While local shows and festivals followed in later months to come.
The band then embarked on a short tour of Ontario (Canada) with Empyrean plague in early August. Upon returning home to the west, Dertah and Grimnyr continue to focus on the writing of the new album Chthonian Scourge due to be recorded in March/April of 2008.
Source : http://www.myspace.com/vanquishedcanada
