extol v : praise, glorify, or honor; "extol the virtues of one's children"; "glorify one's spouse's cooking" [syn: laud, exalt, glorify, proclaim] [also: extolling, extolled]

English

Verb

1. to praise; to make high

Extol is a Christian metal band from Oslo in Norway that formed in 1993. They are known for playing a variety of different styles of metal which include melodic death metal, technical thrash metal, and currently a mix between progressive metal and post-hardcore. They are mainly described as a melodic death metal band since they gained their popularity primarily through their earlier works in that genre.

Signed to Century Media Records, the band has released 4 studio albums and 2 EPs. The band is noted for their precise, technical musicianship. Currently on a hiatus, their recent line-up included vocalist Peter Espevoll, guitarists Tor Magne Glidje and Ole Halvard Sveen, drummer David Husvik, and bass player John Robert Mjåland.

History

Extol was formed in 1993 by drummer David Husvik and guitarist Christer Espevoll, who had been playing together and wanted to start a band. Peter Espevoll became their vocalist. In 1994, bassist Eystein Holm joined the band just before their first gig. Emil Nikolaisen joined as a second guitarist in 1995.

The next year, they released the EP, Mesmerized, which featured three industrial remixes of songs from Burial by the bands Raison d'être and Sanctum. Eystein was replaced by Tor Magne Glidje on bass. They later recorded Undeceived, which was much darker and more intense. Then Ole left the band, so Tor Glidje switched over to guitar, and John Robert Mjåland joined as bassist.

In 2001, another EP, Paralysis, was recorded; it was only released in Sweden. This EP featured a cover of "Shadow of Death" by the reputive American thrash metal group Believer, whom the band considers to be a great influence. After Paralysis, Tor Magne left the band to focus on his other project, Ganglion, and Ole returned to the line-up. After Undeceived was released, Extol was no longer obligated to Endtime, and they signed with Century Media in 2002. Their album Synergy, released in 2003, showed an even greater appreciation of the band Believer. The music on the album is very similar to Believer's style of thrash metal. Following the release, Extol toured Europe and US with the Swedish progressive death metal group Opeth.

In June of 2004, Ole Børud and Christer Espevoll left Extol to "invest their time and energy elsewhere". Taking their place as permanent members in the band are the return of Tor Magne Glidje and Ole Halvard Sveen, both from Ganglion, that merged with Extol when four out of five bandmembers ended up playing in both bands.

In 2005, the band released what could be considered their most diverse album; The Blueprint Dives, or "Blueprint" for short. A music video was shot for the song "Pearl." The album was nominated for the Norwegian Grammy, Spellemannprisen, for best Norwegian metal album in 2005. Also, Blueprint was voted for the Top 5 metal albums of the year list by the reades of the biggest newspaper in Norway, Dagbladet. Afterwards, Extol toured Europe with Mastodon, God Forbid, and Opeth, and US with Haste the Day, Becoming the Archetype, and The Showdown. The album received rave reviews: For example, Eduardo Rivadavia of All Music Guide gave the album 4.5/5 and writes that "To Extol's greatest credit, offhand comparisons to other bands are almost impossible!".

On August 9, 2007 the band announced through their MySpace page that they are currently on a hiatus.

Members

Most recent members

• Peter Espevoll - vocals, acoustic guitar (1993–2007)
• Tor Magne Glidje - bass guitar, guitar (1999–2001); guitar (2004–2007)
• Ole Halvard Sveen - guitar (2004–2007)
• David Husvik - drums (1993–2007)
• John Robert Mjåland - bass guitar (2001–2007)

Past members

• Christer Espevoll - guitars (1993–2004)
• Ole Børud - guitars, flute, vocals (1996–2000) (2001–2004)
• Eystein Holm - bass guitar(1994–1999)
• Emil Nikolaisen - guitars (1995–1996)

Discography

All recordings are licensed to Solid State Records

Studio albums

• 1998: Burial (Endtime Productions)
• 2000: Undeceived (Endtime Productions, re-issued by Century Media in 2003)
• 2003: Synergy (Century Media)
• 2005: The Blueprint Dives (Century Media)

Miscellanious

• 1997: Embraced (demo)
• 1999: Mesmerized (EP, Endtime Productions)
• 2001: Paralysis (EP, Endtime Productions)

Side projects

Tor Magne Glidje, Jon Robert Mjåland, and Ole Halvard Sveen are the sole members of Lengsel, a progressive black metal band that formed in 1995 and released one album, called Solace, on Endtime Productions, which was subsequently licensed to Solid State Records for an American release. Shortly after releasing "Solace", Lengsel changed their name to Ganglion and turned away from the progressive black metal to a progressive-aggressive rock sound. In 2006, they reunited as Lengsel and released their second album, The Kiss, The Hope.

Christer Espevoll and David Husvik went out of their way recently to form a band named Absurd². They put out an EP in 2004.

Under the name Aperture, Peter Espevoll and David Husvik released an album of softer, acoustic rock songs, entitled Salvage. "Aperture" is also the name of an acoustic song off of Synergy.

Christer Espevoll was for a period of time in the band Benea Reach, which also features former members of Selfmindead.

Several members of Extol have founded a new side project, "Mantric," which can be heard here: http://www.myspace.com/mantricofficial.

References

• http://web.archive.org/web/20000918052320/www.hmmagazine.com/Current_Issue/84Extol/84extol.html
• MySpace page

External links

• Official Website
• MySpace Page
• Extol's Purevolume Page
• Extol discography at Discogs
• Extol at Encyclopaedia Metallum
• Official Forum

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