Nocturnal Rites

Tales Of Mystery And Imagination

In 1990 guitarist/vocalist Fredrik Mannberg formed a band called Necronomic, then by the end of the same year the only two remaining members (Fredrik and drummer Tommy Eriksson) recruited bassist Nils Eriksson and started with the monicker of Nocturnal Rites. In 1991 the band made their first, and still only, official demo recording. A four track release called "The Obscure". It attracted some indie-labels but the band decided to wait for something better. While writing material to be a two track promo recording they found themselves having drifted away from the death metal sound, towards a more melodic and harmonic oriented sound. This new approch, again, attracted some label attention. But the band was not be willing to sign. Around this time drummer Tommy Eriksson left the band and was replaced by Ulf Andersson. The band also added a second guitarist, Mikael Söderström. Through 1993 the band continued writing material and by this time their sound had come to grow into traditional heavy metal, influenced by the likes of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. The band describes this transition as a normal continuance on what they started on in 1992. By the end of 1993 they felt they had gathered enough good material for another recording. This recording, however, made the band realized Fredrik's vocals didn't quite fit their new sound. So they felt they had to recruit a proper, melodic singer. Fredrik's replacement was found in Anders Zackrisson, a talented and experienced vocalist, formerly of Gotham City band. With 1993's recording with newly recruited Zackrisson they felt the songs had potential and it was sent out to various labels. The tape caught swedish label Dark Age's attention. A deal was worked out and by the end of 1994 the band signed it. Dark Age's intention was always to license the album to a bigger label with better funds and distribution. The partner was found in Megarock Records and finally Nocturnal Rites debut album "In a Time of Blood and Fire" (1995) was launched upon the world. It was critically a big success but, unfortunately, due to some distribution problems and poor efforts in promoting the album, it never became “big” as it potentially could have been. While writing for a follow-up, guitarist Mikael Söderström decided to leave the band and was replaced by Nils Norberg, equally talented as musician and songwriter. In late 1997 the band's second CD, "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" was released in Japan. But since Megarock didn't please Dark Age, they looked for a better deal in Europe and found it in Century Media and so the album was finally released in March 1998. At this point, a whole new era was to begin for the band. After touring Europe in support of the "Tales..." album, the band came back with a newfound confidence to write and record its third offering, the critically acclaimed "The Sacred Talisman" (1999). It showed a more mature and able side of the band and a new addition to the rythm section, the drummer Owe Lingvall. Then the boys joined Nevermore and Lefay for an intense european tour. When all touring duties were done the band and vocalist Anders Zackrisson separated. Quite quickly a replacement was found in local singer, Jonny Lindqvist and with him Nocturnal Rites released the following albums: "Afterlife" (2000), "Shadowland" (2002), "New World Messiah" (2004),"Grand Illusion" (2005), "The 8th Sign" (2007) all under Century Media, then "Phoenix" (2017) under AFM.