Morgana Lefay

Morgana Lefay (known as Damage from 1986 until 1989) is a power/thrash metal band from Bollnäs in Sweden. It is named after Morgan Le Fay of the Arthurian cycle. They independently released their first album, Symphony of the Damned, in 1990. The success of Damned allowed the band to tour and eventually landed them with Black Mark records. In May 2006, drummer Robin Engström left the band because of ‘personal differences’. Later that month, Pelle Åkerlind became the new permanent drummer. In late August 2006 the band went into Studio Soundcreation to record a new album (titled Aberrations of the Mind), it was released on March 19, 2007. It was the first album with Åkerlind on drums.

In 1997, Morgana Lefay split up. Persson, Heder and Söderlind kept the name. Meantime, Rytkönen and Eriksson were joined by drummer Robin Engström (formerly of M.I.D., Dark Tranquillity, and Fantasmagoria), and continued under the name Lefay, changing their record label to Noise Records. After releasing three albums, they got back the name Morgana Lefay when they returned to Black Mark Records. The albums The Seventh Seal, Symphony Of The Damned, re-symphonised and S.O.S were made when the band was called Lefay. In 1999, a self-titled album was made with Thomas Persson on guitar.

History:

1989 the Swedish metal band DAMAGE decided to modify their name to MORGANA LEFAY. The first album “Symphony Of The Damned” appeared in 1990, self-financed and printed in only 537 copies.

Here follows a complete biography of the band from the beginning to present day…

1986:
The band DAMAGE was founded by Jonas Söderlind (Drums), Joakim Lundberg (Bass), Tony Eriksson (Guitar) and
Stefan Jonsson (Guitar).

1988:
The former singer of SEPHER JEZIRAH, Charles Rytkönen, joined the band. Worth to mention is that all the
members of DAMAGE and SEPHER JEZIRAH had known eachother for a long time and had played together in
different constilations.

1989:
The band changes their name to MORGANA LEFAY. S.Jonsson left the band and was replaced by Tommi Karppanen
(Guitar), a companion of C.Rytkönen from the SEPHER JEZIRAH-era.
With this line-up, in 1990 the band released the self-finaced album ” Symphony Of The Damned”.

1991:
During additional demo recordings (the “Rumours Of Rain” demo) at FS-Studios, Söderhamn, Sweden. J.Lundberg left the band
due to difference of opinion. His successor was Joakim Heder (Bass).
The superior master quality of this demo tape convinced the label Black Mark Productions to sign the band. To give the recording an acceptable total playing time the band added a bonus track that became the title song of the upcoming album “Knowing Just As I”.

1993:
The Album “Knowing Just As I” was released and got great reviewsworldwide. In autumn the album “The Secret Doctrine” was recorded at the Swedish Wavestation L.A Studios. Engineered and mixed by Ulf Peterson. It was released in December followed by a European tour.

1994:
Early this year MORGANA LEFAY played at the Swedish Metal Music Awards, the so called “Zeppelin Gala”. In April they made their first promotional video entitled “Rooms Of Sleep”. T.Karppanen sadly left the band in June and was replaced by FANTASMAGORIA’s P.Grehn (Guitar) to ensure a tour in Finland and gigs at “The Stockholm Water Festival” in Sweden and the ”PopKomm Festival” in Cologne, Germany. Peter then returned to his band FANTASMAGORIA.

The empty spot was taken by Daniel Persson (Guitar), former member in local act SHOTGUN ALLEY (currently member of BABYLON BOMBS).

1995:
The third album “Sanctified” was released and got raving reviews. The band headed for Europe again, now as a part of a festival tour together with CEMETERY, MEMENTO MORI and TAD MOROSE. The videos “To Isengard” and ” In The Court Of The Crimson King” was released and the band went on a headline tour in Sweden. The compilation “Past, Present,Future”, also containing four new tracks, was released and at the same time the band toured Europe once again, this time supporting GAMMA RAY.
Recordings for the next album began in October.

1996:
The album “Maleficium” was released and the new title track video was getting high rotation on various TV channels.

1997:
First headliner tour across middle Europe, supported by the US band SOLITUDE AETURNUS and the German quintet BRAINSTORM.
A new compilation album, “Fata Morgana” was released. It contained the bands faster songs.
J.Heder, D.Persson and J.Söderlind left the band, moving to Stockholm. P.Grehn (guitar) returned to the duo Eriksson/Rytkönen with his FANTASMAGORIA friends Mikael Åsentorp (bass) and Robin Engström (drums).

1998:
Under the name of LEFAY (modified for legal reasons), the band recorded the album “The Seventh Seal”, now signed to the label of Noise Records.

1999:
“The Seventh Seal” was a big success. The album was released early during a European tour with NEVERMORE (US), NOCTURNAL RITES (SWE) and SACRED STEEL (GER). That summer the band made a re-recording of the “unofficial” debut album “Symphony Of The Damned”. They played the “Wacken Open Air” festival in Germany.

1999/2000:
The band entered the Soundcreation Studios, Bollnäs, Sweden to record the concept album “…—…”(SOS). Engineered by Per Ryberg, later mixed by Fredrik Nordström at Studio Fredman, Gothenburg, Sweden.

2000:
Various festival appearences like the “Bang Your Head” festival in Balingen, Germany beeing one of the larger ones.
The band headlined the “Lost In Europe” tour supported by ANGEL DUST (GER), STEEL PROPHET (US) and STORMHAMMER (GER). The co-operation with label
Noise Records ended in Berlin over a cup of coffee and a biscuit with a bitter taste.

2001/2003:
The band took a long vacation, but the addiction to play resulted in various stray-gigs in Sweden. Mikael Åsentorp left the band due to difference of opinion.
He was replaced by Fredrik Lundberg (bass) former DIVINE SIN, FANTASMAGORIA, INCARNATED.

2004:
The idea of a new album is taking form. A lot of rehearsals and brainstorming leads to the idea of a concept album. The working title is “Grand Materia”.
The band signs a new deal with their old label Black Mark in September. Leaving the past behind the band is once again MORGANA LEFAY. A funny idea of a homevideo is getting real. One song “HOLLOW” is recorded in October for that purpose. With the help of some really good friends  and a budget of 500 000 Skr they create the most proffessional video in the history of music!

2005:
The band release the “Grand Materia” album in spring and go for a european tour supported by German acts Mind Crime and Lanfear. Morgana Lefay perform at a lot of festival gigs during the summer and fall.

2006:
After the gig at the Chicago Powerfest in April Robin leaves the band. He is replaced with Pelle Åkerlind (Lednote, Bloodbound, Rocktools).
Morgana Lefay continue playing at different festivals and events and start working on new material for an upcoming album. They enter Studio Soundcreation in September to record the new album “Aberrations of the mind”.

2007:
On February 26th, the band is releasing their first single from the upcomimg album. The tracks on the single will be “Over and Over Again” and “Face of Fear”. The new album “Aberrations of the Mind” is planned to be released in March followed by a european tour.

2007 – 2012
2007 – Morgana Lefay decide to take a break. And so they do after the release of ” Aberrations of the mind” and some gigs inGermany, Sweden and Norway.
The break turns out to be quite a long one…
During this period of time Peter start his band ” Lady Die ” and Charles is one of the founder of the band “Cibola Junction “. Both these bands are still active!
Tony is the founding member of ” Mad Messiah “.
Fredrik is involved in different music projects and Pelle continues to play with ” Bloodbound ” and other projects.
Charles is asked to sing with Inmoria ( Danne Eriksson ex. Tad Morose and the Tad Morose guys ) and so he does for a while.
2012 – After a request from Sweden Rock Festival Morgana Lefay reunites for a gig on the Sweden Rock Cruise in October. And thanx to SRF the band decides to roll up their sleeves once again.
Their work with Lady Die and Cibola Junction continues as usual though!

2013
Morgana Lefay are honoured, and are looking forward to play at the upcoming shows for 2013.
To be continued…

Studio albums:
Symphony of the Damned – 1990 – Self Released
Knowing Just as I – 1993 – Black Mark Records
The Secret Doctrine – 1993 – Black Mark Records
Sanctified – 1995 – Black Mark Records
Maleficium – 1996 – Black Mark Records
The Seventh Seal – 1999 – Noise Records
Symphony of the Damned, re-symphonised – 1999 – Noise Records
S.O.S. – 2000 – Noise Records
Grand Materia – 2005 – Black Mark Records
Aberrations of the Mind – 2007 – Black Mark Records