Artillery (band)

For other uses of the term, see Artillery (disambiguation).

Artillery
The band in 2010
Background information
Origin	Taastrup, Denmark
Genres	Thrash metal, speed metal
Years active	1982–1991 1998–2000 2007–present
Labels	Neat, Metal Mind, Roadrunner, Mighty Music, Die Hard Music
Website	Artillery
Members
Peter Thorslund Morten Stützer Michael Stützer Carsten Nielsen Søren Adamsen
Past members
Per Onink Carsten Lohman John Mathias Mickey Find Jørgen Sandau Samir Belmaati Anders Gyldenøhr Per M. Jensen Henrik Quaade Benny Dallschmidt Flemming Rönsdorf Michael "Romchael" Nielsen Mikael Ehlert

Artillery is a Danish thrash metal band. They participated in the early development of the genre, and their highly energetic, riff-centric and often fast-paced music is similar in style to that of Voivod, Coroner, Megadeth and Sabbat from the same era. After releasing three full-length albums and touring extensively throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Artillery disbanded in 1991, but decided to reform seven years later, only to disband once again in 2000. However, they reformed again in 2007 and are still together today.

History

The band formed in 1982 in Taastrup, a suburb to Copenhagen. The members were guitarists Jørgen Sandau and Michael Stützer, bassist Morten Stützer, drummer Carsten Nielsen and singer Carsten Lohmann. The group recorded the demos Shellshock and Deeds of Darkness in 1984.

Artillery's first commercial debut came in early 1985 with the inclusion of the song "Hey Woman," on Volume One of the Speed Metal Hell compilation series which was released on New Renaissance Records. Later that year, Carsten Lohmann left and was replaced by Flemming Rönsdorf. Later the same year, Artillery recorded a third demo, Fear of Tomorrow, signed with Neat Records, and released their first album, also titled Fear of Tomorrow. In 1986, Carsten Nielsen was contacted by Quorthon of Bathory asking him if he was interested in drumming for Bathory. Nielsen turned down the offer since he thought Artillery would become a much bigger band than Bathory. Their second album, Terror Squad, was released in 1987.

Guitarist Jørgen Sandau left the band in 1989. Bassist Morten Stützer took over his position, lending the bass to recruit Peter Thorslund. Their third album, By Inheritance, was released in 1990 on both LP and CD, by Roadrunner Records. Artillery disbanded in 1991, some of the members pursuing musical projects of their own during the rest of the 1990s.

Following the 1998 release of an Artillery compilation CD, Deadly Relics by Mighty Music, featuring a mix of old demo recordings and two songs from the 1989 promotional tape, the band reformed to record a fourth album, B.A.C.K, which was released in 1999 by Die Hard Music. Then in 2000, Artillery decided to split up again.

In 2007, the band released a limited edition 4-CD boxset entitled Through the Years, which contains the band's four studio albums and all their demo material.

On November 6, 2007, Michael Stützer confirmed on the official Artillery website that they were once again active. However, longtime Artillery singer Flemming Rönsdorf is not involved. On November 27 the same year, it was confirmed that singer Søren Adamsen would be the new frontman.

A new album, titled My Blood, was released on March 21, 2011.

Members

Michael Stützer, the guitarist, during concert at The Rock in Copenhagen, 2008

Current members

• Søren Nico Adamsen – Vocals
• Michael Stützer – Guitars
• Morten Stützer – Guitars
• Peter Thorslund – Bass
• Carsten Nielsen – Drums

Past members

Vocals

• Flemming Rönsdorf
• Per Onink
• Carsten Lohman
• John Mathias
• Mickey Find

Guitars

• Jørgen Sandau
• Samir Belmaati

Bass

• Mikael Ehlert
• Michael "Romchael" Nielsen

Drums

• Per M. Jensen
• Henrik Quaade
• Benny balschmidt
• Anders Gyldenøhr

Discography

Studio albums

• Fear of Tomorrow (1985)
• Terror Squad (1987)
• By Inheritance (1990)
• B.A.C.K. (1999)
• When Death Comes (2009)
• My Blood (2011)

Compilation albums

• Deadly Relics (1998)

Box sets

• Through the Years (2007)

DVDs

• One Foot in The Grave - The Other In The Thrash (2008, Metal Mind Productions)

External links

• Official website
• Artillery on Myspace
• All Artillery lyrics at LyricsMania
• Khomaniac - free demo MP3 (6.3 MB) of the song Khomaniac from the album Deadly Relics (originally the 1989 promo tape), provided by Mighty Music