User:H. 217.83/MysticumMysticum

Mysticum are a Norwegian industrial black metal band.

Biography
Mysticum were formed in 1991 or 1992 as Sabazios. After the first demo, Wintermass, recorded in December 1992 and released in 1993, the name was changed to Mysticum. Euronymous of Mayhem signed Mysticum on his Deathlike Silence Productions (DSP) label, but was murdered before the band could release any records on DSP; the band consider his death to be "[t]he most tragic day in the history of Black Metal", and Mysticum's bassist Robin Malmberg stated that without Euronymous, "Mysticum would never be what it is today".

Mayhem's drummer Hellhammer joined Mysticum in autumn 1993, but "it didn't work out, simply because Mysticum is nothing without their industrial drumming from a computer - and with a human drummer, the music gets more alive and more human (which destroyed valued art)". On June 14, 1994, Necromantic Gallery Productions released the Ulver/Mysticum 7" split EP, limited to 1000 copies. In 1995, the band recorded the songs "Kingdom Comes" and "In Your Grave" for the Nordic Metal – A Tribute to Euronymous compilation album in 1995 and signed to Full Moon Productions who released Mysticum's debut album In the Streams of Inferno in autumn 1996, followed by a tour with Marduk and Gehenna; a new song introduced during that tour, "Eriaminell" ("Here I am in Hell"), was released on A Tribute to Hell – Satanic Rites in 1998.

In 2003, the song "Black Magic Mushrooms" was released on the split 7" single with Audiopain released on Worship Him Records. In 2004, the band released Lost Masters of the Universe, a compilation consisting of non-album tracks (without the contributions to Nordic Metal – A Tribute to Euronymous).

Mysticum signed to Peaceville Records for the announced second album Planet Satan and re-mastered re-releases of In the Streams of Inferno and Lost Masters of the Universe. Planet Satan was released on the October 27th 2014.

Musical style and legacy
Unlike other bands from the early Norwegian black metal scene, Mysticum use a drum computer to create a "cold and aggressive sound", described by Peaceville Records as "a completely unique brand of psychedelic discordant black metal with insane drum machine patterns & synths". Decibel author Jeff Treppel writes, "[w]hile Immortal were traipsing through the woods and Emperor were playing with orchestral keyboards, Mysticum went right for the industrial apocalypse awaiting us all"; Treppel featured In the Streams of Inferno in Decibel The Lazarus Pit section for "should-be classic metal records that don't get nearly enough love", claiming that the band "pretty much single-handedly invented industrial black metal", influencing DHG, The Kovenant and Nachtmystium. French band Arkhon Infaustus referred to Mysticum among other influences. The album was also featured on the German Rock Hard magazine's list 250 Black-Metal-Alben, die man kennen sollte. The lyrics "are dark and depressive and come straight from the depressive hearts of the crew (often gaining suicide among the living)".

Line up

 * Robin "Mean" Malmberg (aka Dr. Best ) - Bass, programming
 * Cerastes (aka Der General ) - Guitars, vocals
 * Prime Evil (aka Ravn, SvArTrAvN and Necrocum ) - Guitars - also of Amok and Aborym

Former members

 * Hellhammer (Jan Axel Blomberg) - Drums (1993-1994)

Discography

 * Medusa's Tears (demo, 1993)
 * Wintermass (demo, 1993)
 * Mysticum/Ulver (split, 1994)
 * Piss Off (demo, 1995)
 * "Kingdom Comes" and "In Your Grave" on Nordic Metal – A Tribute to Euronymous (compilation, Necropolis Records 1995)
 * In the Streams of Inferno (full-length, Full Moon Productions 1996)
 * "Eriaminell" on A Tribute to Hell – Satanic Rites (compilation, Full Moon Productions 1998)
 * Audiopain/Mysticum (split, 2003)
 * Lost Masters of the Universe (best of/compilation, 2004)
 * Planet Satan (full-length, Peaceville Records, 2014)