Narnia (band)

Narnia
Origin	Jönköping, Sweden
Genres	Heavy metal Power metal Neo-classical metal Progressive metal Christian metal
Years active	1996–2010
Labels	Massacre Records Attic Arcade Nuclear Blast Records Pony Canyon
Associated acts	Divinefire Saviour Machine Rob Rock Harmony Audiovision
Website	Official website
Members
Germán Pascual Carl Johan Grimmark Andreas Olsson Andreas Johansson
Past members
Christian Liljegren Jakob Persson Linus Kåse Martin Claésson Fredrik Junhammar

Narnia is a Christian neo-classical progressive power metal band founded by guitarist Carl Johan Grimmark and singer Christian Liljegren. The band formed in Sweden in 1996. Their album themes heavily reference The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis.

History

Liljegren and Grimmark met for the first time in 1993 in Jönköping, a town in the south of Sweden. At this time Liljegren and his band Modest Attraction were just about to release their first album, The Truth in Your Face. Grimmark was a member of a band named Sentinel. They remained in contact over several years, during which both had trouble with their bands. Modest Attraction produced its second album Divine Luxury in 1996, at the same time as Grimmark decided to leave Sentinel.^{[citation needed]} Liljegren phoned Grimmark and asked him whether he was interested in working together on a project. Liljegren had a passion for melodic hard rock, which he was not able to explore in the band Modest Attraction. Grimmark was instantly interested in a project along those lines.^{[citation needed]}

A few months later Liljegren called Grimmark again and told him that Modest Attraction would go on tour to Germany and the guitar player Stephan Mohlin could not accompany them. Thus Grimmark replaced Stephan. Stephan soon left the band all together, and Grimmark was asked whether he would like to become a full-time band member. Grimmark accepted, thus giving Liljegren and Grimmark time to plan their project.^{[citation needed]} They took a few old songs from other bands and altered them to their own preferences. In September 1996 they went into the Top Recording Studio.^{[citation needed]} Grimmark played all of the instruments and Liljegren sang. The recordings took several months. They had several guests on the album, including Jakob Persson, who later played bass in Narnia. Janne Stark (Overdrive, Locomotive Breath, Baltimoore) was responsible for a guitar solos and Mart Hallek played the violin.

In January 1997, the recordings was finally finished. After hard work the album Awakening was mixed.

Thanks to their manager Magnus Söderkvist their album was taken up by ten Japanese labels. Nine of these labels wanted to take Narnia under contract, finally Narnia decided for Pony Canyon. In May, Liljegren and Grimmark went on their last tour with Modest Attraction. They met Matthias Mittelstädt, who possessed an enterprise named MCM Music. Mittelstädt, along with his brother, Rainer Matthias, loved the album and Mittelstädt became their manager.^{[citation needed]}

With a demo in hand and new management, they began to search for talented new members and finally Narnia was born.^{[citation needed]}

Subsequently the group signed with Nuclear Blast Records, and would release the albums Long Live the King (1999), Desert Land (2001), and The Great Fall (2003) on that label. They opened once for Stratovarius during this time.

A live-DVD and live album was released of their concert in Germany, both titled At Short Notice... Live in Germany (2006). The following album, Enter the Gate (2006), was released on MCM Music, as was the compilation album Decade of Confession (2007).

On April 9, 2008, Narnia began recording their latest album. On April 29, Liljegren announced his departure from the band. On August 29, the band announced on their official MySpace that the new vocalist is Germán Pascual. Germán grew up in Rio de Janeiro/Brazil, but moved to Sweden in his teens. Previously he has worked with various bands and artists, such as Minds Eye and Mendez. Course of a Generation was released in Europe by Massacre Records on July 24, 2009.

On April 15, 2010 the band announced that they would be breaking up. On October 20, 2010 they anounced that they would hold two final concerts - one in Germany, and one in Mexico. Original keyboardist Martin Claesson rejoined for the final two concerts.

Members

Current

• Germán Pascual - vocals (2008–2010)
• Carl Johan Grimmark - Guitar, vocals (1996–2010)
• Andreas Olsson - Bass (2001–2010)
• Andreas Johansson - drums (1997–2010)
• Martin Claésson (now Härenstam) - keyboards (1997–2003, 2010)

Former

• Christian Liljegren - vocals (1996–2008)
• Jakob Persson - Bass (1997–2001)
• Linus Kåse - keyboards (1999–2004)
• Fredrik Junhammar - drums (1997)
• Sonny Larsson - Backing vocals (1997–2000)

Original

• Christian Liljegren - vocals
• Carl Johan Grimmark - Guitar, Bass, keyboards, Drum-Programming

Discography

• Awakening (1998)
• Long Live the King (1999)
• Desert Land (2001)
• The Great Fall (2003) (Not released in Japan)
• At Short Notice... Live in Germany (2006)
• Enter the Gate (2006)
• Decade of Confession (2007)
• Course of a Generation (2009)

Videography

• At Short Notice... Live in Germany (2004)

External links

• Official Narnia Myspace
• Narnia at Metal Archives
• Narnia at nolifetilmetal.com