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= Messenger (band) =

Messenger (of Evil) was a German Death Metal band from Mannheim. The band was formed on 10.04.1992 by Michael Krämer (Guitar) and Torsten Kress (Drums). Messenger went through a few name changes during its infancy (initially formed as CURSED, later renamed to become MORTUARY), but settled on the name "Messenger" permanently after having started to compose original music. The early days of the band were heavily influenced by bands such as Slayer and Metallica and early adopters of the new genre Death Metal with typecasts such as Death, Sepultura, Entombed, Carcass and Morbid Angel.

Background
All band members were students of Waldschule in the suburb of Mannheim-Gartenstadt. Soon after formation, Messenger found support from Thorsten Szast (Bass) and Daniel Herter (Vocals), all being members of the school band at Waldschule. A few weeks later Jochen Haberkorn joined Messenger on lead guitar, taking a break from his engagements with X-Mess (a touring Hair musical production with his brother).

Music history

Messenger played several gigs in the southern part of Germany with other notable bands of similar genre such as Crematory, Arcus, Ferocity and Excess. The 1993 Death & Thrash Metal Festival held in Colgenstein on 28.11.1992   was the largest venue Messenger played  in support of Terteros, Evil Church and Gommorrha. Terteros being a befriended band at the time, with whom Messenger played several gigs. Messenger recorded their first demo "No Brain no Pain" during a studio session in Ludwigshafen am Rhein in January 1993. Most music and lyrics were created by Michael Krämer. The demo was received very well locally and more gigs followed further afield from the Rhine-Neckar district.

During 1994 Messenger evolved to a more technical guitar play with Jochen Haberkorn having more influence on new songs. As the band became more professional, personal differenced developed, vocalist Daniel Herter and bass player Torsten Szast were replaced with Soeren Scherer. The vocals of Soeren Scherer shaped the sound of Messenger quite significantly. The influence of the Hardcore bands such as Pro Pain, Prong, Biohazard and Clawfinger grew, leading to a renaming of Messenger to become Hope Hits Zero.

During autum of 1994 a second demo was recorded at the rehearsal room of Messenger with equipment of befriended band X-Mess.

In springtime 1995 guitar player and founding member Michael Krämer left the band permanently, due to increasing substance abuse within                                                                                  the band and associated circles. Sometime in 1995 drummer Torsten Kress died of an overdose of illicit substance leading to the collapse of                                                                              the band Messenger.

Jochen Haberkorn continued developing his musical career contributing to German Soul- / R&B band Groove Guerrilla as DJ Slick.

Discography
No Brain no Pain (released January 1993)