In early 2002, Swedish guitarist Joachim Nordlund and drummer Johan Lindstedt teamed up and decided to write some metal songs in the spirit of the old heroes Rainbow, Dio, Sabbath and Deep Purple. Nils Patrik Johansson, an old time friend with Johan, was asked to do the vocals in the project. Nils Patrik accepted the offer and ASTRAL DOORS was almost a reality.
Joachim asked his former band-mate Jocke Roberg, if he wanted to join, and a handshake later the band had a keyboarder. Martin Haglund from “Universal Puppies” was asked to fill in on the bass. However, in early 2003 Martin moved onto the guitar, to provide the band with a real dual guitar attack sound, and into the line-up came Mika Itaranta as bass player. ASTRAL DOORS was born…
They completed the recordings of their debut-album (mixed by Peter Tägtgren at Abyss Studio) and began working with Danish based metal-agency Intromental Management. Deals were locked down for “Of The Son And The Father”. The band caught immense media attention, with fantastic reviews everywhere, and various festivals were not late to book ASTRAL DOORS. The band performed at Wacken Open Air, Sweden Rock Festival and Decibel 2000 during the summer of 2004, gaining an impressive number of new fans.
Not resting on the laurels of their success, ASTRAL DOORS finalized their 2nd opus “Evil Is Forever” very quickly and the album was released by the same labels as the debut album. The release, which once again received amazing media and fan support, was followed by an extensive European tour as support act to German metal-gods Grave Digger, as well as several festival gigs in Sweden, and not to forget a successful gig in Germany with the hard rock princess herself, Doro Pesch.
Wanting to please their European fans with some extra and exclusive material, while waiting for their next full length, the band gathered a variety of material of unreleased songs and Japanese bonus track, and in October 2005 released the “Raiders Of The Ark” EP.
In late 2005 the band once again went back to the Abyss Studio and Peter Tägtgren to record their 3rd full length album, “Astralism”. The album was released in 2006 and stunned everybody with its roaring riffs and technicality. However, the band wasn't happy at all with the sound and made a re-mix and re-master of the album to bring justice to the songs. It was released a couple of months after the original version. Astral Doors was offered the prestigious spot as official support band for the power metal kings Blind Guardian on a full scale European tour in the fall of 2006. Astral Doors accepted the offer, impressed everybody and left deep musical tracks in their wake…
After the very successful, 2 month long tour with Blind Guardian, Astral Doors immediately started writing new material for the fourth album. Astral Doors will always stand with both feet in the classic hardrock, but this time around they decided to bring more elements, moods and variations to the classic Astral Sound. "New Revelation" became a big success for the band and the band went out on two headline tours to promote the album.
The upcoming release, "Requiem of Time" will show the world Astral Doors at its very best: The album is nothing but a big hit parade and is best described as a mixture between the classic hard rock you find on the debut, "Of the Son and the Father" and the more basic power/heavy metal style you can hear on the previous "New Revelation". Make sure to check it out, Astral Doors will be back with a vengeance January 29, 2010.
Discography
"REQUIEM OF TIME", THE NEXT FULL LENGTH ALBUM:OUT JANUARY 29, 2010.
I was wondering (not to sound greedy or anything) but if there's any chance we can get a sound sample from the new album anytime soon? Just a thought ;)
Tack för att du vill vara vän med oss! Rockstad: Falun kommer att äga rum 28-29/5 2010 & alltså utökas till en 2-dagars festival & just nu har vi massor med kul band på G! Sabaton kommer att göra en rejäl show, det är allt som är bekräftat just nu, men mycket mer tillkommer! Massor med nyheter finns redan nu på www.rockstadfalun.se om du vill läsa mera. :) Hoppas Du kommer, det blir en höjdare...
Hej kommpis! Hoppas du mår bra? Min skiva är nu ute och finns att ladda hem i länken här nedan. Hoppas du har tid att lyssna på den och hoppas att du kommer gilla den. Ha det så bra och Tack så mycket för din uppmärksamhet / Jimmie ..
