Back in 1989 Tom, Lawrence and Patrick started up a band called Bacterial Disease. They were playing traditional grind/hardcore, heavily influenced by Napalm Death and Carcass. They wrote some songs like "War With Strings", "Chemical Huppeldepup", and "Going Up, Going Down". Much fun, indeed, but after a while that didn't seem satisfying or challenging enough to go on with. With the release of albums such as Severed Survival, Lost Paradise, The Key and Piece Of Time, the band felt inspired and so the first steps towards Phlebotomized's own style were set: combining brutality with melody...

Late 1990 Barry (vocals) and Ben (keyboards) joined the band. Their first gig was in April 91 and in July 91 another gig was recorded. The band distributed these recordings as the Live-Tape among friends and venues to get more gigs. Later that year a good friend of the band - Jordy - joined as the second guitar player. Satisfied with this line-up, Phlebotomized recorded the demo Devoted To God in February 1992 (a title that wrongfully labeled the band as a "white metal" band in spite of the lyrical content).

The tape was sent to all kinds of labels, and soon MMI Records from Germany offered to release some songs from the demo on a 7" EP. The band took MMI up on their offer. This collaboration first resulted in the In Search Of Tranquility EP on red vinyl (3,000 copies were pressed). Next, in August 92, Phlebotomized hit the studio once more to record new material, initially for Cenotaph Records. These songs were to be put on another 7", but due to the length of the songs and more complications with Cenotaph, MMI released Preach Eternal Gospels as a 5-track mini-CD. During these recordings, the band experimented with a violinist named Maarten. Initially this was to be a mere studio thing, but during the rehearsals the band began to appreciate his melancholic tunes more and more. A little later Maarten became Phlebotomized's seventh permanent member.

Late 1993, Barry left and the band recruited another member of the legendary Ploink, the band in which Maarten played bass for at the time. Dennis joined in March of 1994. The band signed up with Cyber Music and recorded their debut that summer. Immense Intense Suspense was released in September 1994 at the Overkill Festival in Hoorn. Consequently, the band had a lot of press coverage and did a lot of gigs from 1994-1995.

During the summer of 1996, Phlebotomized recorded Skycontact. By that time, Maarten and Patrick had already left the band. Jordy would soon follow, but not until after the recordings. Jaro had already replaced Patrick on bass, and ended up as Maarten's replacement on violins as well. After the recordings, but before the release of Skycontact, Peter joined joined the band. Eventually the album was released in February 1997, after which Phlebotomized performed live just eight more times. Jaro left, replaced by Ivar. Several months later Phlebotomized disbanded. Their final gig was in Roermond on October 17, 1997.

The band has announced it's reformation in 2013. To celebrate the releases, Phlebotomized has 4 members of their heyday lineup: Tom Palms (guitars), Jordy Middelbosch (guitars), Patrick Van Der Zee (bass) and Maarten Post (violin), teamed up with special guests Bastiaan Boekesteijn (keys), Gerben Mol (drums) and Carl Assault (vocals) to take Phlebotomized back to the venues. Their setlist will be made of their classic debut album Immense Intense Suspense. According to the band, further shows will be announced.