Falconer - Biography
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2001-2002
Biography
In 1999, Falconer recorded a demo as a solo project by Stefan Weinerhall and Mathias Blad was found to do the vocals as a session member. Karsten Larsson joined on drums and the project became an official band.
The debut album Falconer was released in March 2001. They were heralded as one of the year's best new acts by many leading magazines. From the beginning, the band had not planned to play live, but with the success of the album many offers came.
Exactly one year after the last recording session, Falconer returned to the studio to record Chapters From A Vale Forlorn which was released in March 2002. Joining the band's touring line-up were Anders Johansson on second guitar and Peder Johansson on bass. In order to play live regularly, they had to get a new vocalist. Mathias had a tight schedule at work and could not devote enough time to the band. They split amicably in November 2002.
Kristoffer Göbel came in to fill Mathias' shoes. In November 2003, the album The Sceptre Of Deception was released. After its release, the band embarked on a small tour of Europe.
Anders and Peder parted with the band in mutual agreement in 2004 and were soon replaced with Jimmy Hedlund and Magnus Linhardt. The band now had their most consistent bassist and greatest lead guitarist to date.
In May 2005 Grime Vs. Grandeur was released, but it wasn't the typical Falconer album. It was harder and more mainstream than before. Many thought that it didn't fit under the Falconer moniker. Slowly the band started to realise this as well. As the song writing for a next album progressed, folk music and epic metal found it's way back into the band's style. They felt that to do this material justice, it had to be sung by former member Mathias Blad, who returned in November 2005.
The album Northwind was released in September 2006. Falconer spent the summer of 2007 playing various festivals throughout Europe before heading back home to being work on the next album.
For the sixth time, they've returned to Andy LaRocque's Sonic Train Studios to record Among Beggars And Thieves. The new album has more tempo variations and guitar action than its predecessor and the lyrics revolve around the misery, poverty and hard times of medieval Sweden.
(Source: Facebook, 17.1.2015)
Following the demise of viking/folk-themed black metal band Mithotyn in 1999, Swedish guitarist/bassist Stefan Weinerhall and drummer Karsten Larsson took a right turn toward power metal with their next project, Falconer, whose studio lineup was initially completed by accomplished stage actor and singer Mathias Blad.
Promising demos quickly landed the group a deal from America's Metal Blade Records, and early Falconer albums like 2001's eponymous debut and 2002's Chapters From A Vale Forlorn distinguished themselves for meshing lingering traces of Scandinavian folk music into power metal's often predictable template.
But the band's rising fortunes only led to conflict - Blad decided to quit rather than let ever increasing touring commitments get in the way of his parallel theatrical career, forcing Weinerhall and Larsson to replace him with new vocalist Kristoffer Göbel even as they hired second guitarist Anders Johansson and bassist Peder Johansson to flesh out their concert lineup. This same quintet also recorded Falconer's third album, The Sceptre Of Deception, in 2003, but a subsequent falling out resulted in the Johanssons being ejected in favor of new members Jimmy Hedlund and Magnus Linhardt.
On 2005's Grime Vs. Grandeur, Falconer did away with their medieval/fairy tale/Tolkien-esque lyrics and, coincidentally or not, the album was their first to receive wide-scale negative reviews. Getting back to basics, singer Mathias Blad returned to the band, making his triumphant return on Falconer's fifth album, 2006's Northwind, an album that found the band returning to the more fantasy-oriented sound of its earlier work.
Although 2008's Among Beggars And Thieves would trend toward the heavier side of their sound, Falconer continued to integrate the sounds of traditional Swedish folk music into their seventh album, Armod, which was released in 2011, as well as their eighth album, 2014's driving and elegant Black Moon Rising.
(Source: Allmusic, 17.1.2015)
The debut album Falconer was released in March 2001. They were heralded as one of the year's best new acts by many leading magazines. From the beginning, the band had not planned to play live, but with the success of the album many offers came.
Exactly one year after the last recording session, Falconer returned to the studio to record Chapters From A Vale Forlorn which was released in March 2002. Joining the band's touring line-up were Anders Johansson on second guitar and Peder Johansson on bass. In order to play live regularly, they had to get a new vocalist. Mathias had a tight schedule at work and could not devote enough time to the band. They split amicably in November 2002.
Kristoffer Göbel came in to fill Mathias' shoes. In November 2003, the album The Sceptre Of Deception was released. After its release, the band embarked on a small tour of Europe.
Anders and Peder parted with the band in mutual agreement in 2004 and were soon replaced with Jimmy Hedlund and Magnus Linhardt. The band now had their most consistent bassist and greatest lead guitarist to date.
In May 2005 Grime Vs. Grandeur was released, but it wasn't the typical Falconer album. It was harder and more mainstream than before. Many thought that it didn't fit under the Falconer moniker. Slowly the band started to realise this as well. As the song writing for a next album progressed, folk music and epic metal found it's way back into the band's style. They felt that to do this material justice, it had to be sung by former member Mathias Blad, who returned in November 2005.
The album Northwind was released in September 2006. Falconer spent the summer of 2007 playing various festivals throughout Europe before heading back home to being work on the next album.
For the sixth time, they've returned to Andy LaRocque's Sonic Train Studios to record Among Beggars And Thieves. The new album has more tempo variations and guitar action than its predecessor and the lyrics revolve around the misery, poverty and hard times of medieval Sweden.
(Source: Facebook, 17.1.2015)
Following the demise of viking/folk-themed black metal band Mithotyn in 1999, Swedish guitarist/bassist Stefan Weinerhall and drummer Karsten Larsson took a right turn toward power metal with their next project, Falconer, whose studio lineup was initially completed by accomplished stage actor and singer Mathias Blad.
Promising demos quickly landed the group a deal from America's Metal Blade Records, and early Falconer albums like 2001's eponymous debut and 2002's Chapters From A Vale Forlorn distinguished themselves for meshing lingering traces of Scandinavian folk music into power metal's often predictable template.
But the band's rising fortunes only led to conflict - Blad decided to quit rather than let ever increasing touring commitments get in the way of his parallel theatrical career, forcing Weinerhall and Larsson to replace him with new vocalist Kristoffer Göbel even as they hired second guitarist Anders Johansson and bassist Peder Johansson to flesh out their concert lineup. This same quintet also recorded Falconer's third album, The Sceptre Of Deception, in 2003, but a subsequent falling out resulted in the Johanssons being ejected in favor of new members Jimmy Hedlund and Magnus Linhardt.
On 2005's Grime Vs. Grandeur, Falconer did away with their medieval/fairy tale/Tolkien-esque lyrics and, coincidentally or not, the album was their first to receive wide-scale negative reviews. Getting back to basics, singer Mathias Blad returned to the band, making his triumphant return on Falconer's fifth album, 2006's Northwind, an album that found the band returning to the more fantasy-oriented sound of its earlier work.
Although 2008's Among Beggars And Thieves would trend toward the heavier side of their sound, Falconer continued to integrate the sounds of traditional Swedish folk music into their seventh album, Armod, which was released in 2011, as well as their eighth album, 2014's driving and elegant Black Moon Rising.
(Source: Allmusic, 17.1.2015)