~History~

The beginning of Sweden’s DRACONIAN can be traced back to May 1994, when Johan Ericson (drums, vocals), Andy Hindenäs (guitars) and Jesper Stolpe (bass, vocals) joined forces as KERBEROS, a melodic heavy/death metal ensemble with black metal influences. Seven months later, lead vocalist and poet Anders Jacobsson joined the band, which then changed its name to what it is today.

Over the next months, DRACONIAN worked diligently on new material that eventually found its way to their first demo recorded in Studio Källgren on 27 Oct 1995, exactly one week of their live debut. With the help of Jessica Eriksson (flute, vocals), Susanne Arvidsson (vocals, keyboard) and Andreas Haag (responsible for the intro My Nemesis) Shades of a Lost Moon was created. However, it was not made public until February 1996, as Magnus ”Bergis” Bergström (guitars), a longtime friend of the band, joined DRACONIAN. Shades of a Lost Moon received excellent reviews worldwide, prompting the interest of several labels. At the end of January 1997, DRACONIAN recorded their second demo, In Glorious Victory. Unfortunately, the band quickly grew discontent with the sound quality of the recording and decided not to release it. The months that followed were less productive for DRACONIAN, as two of its members completed their military service. Nevertheless, rehearsals and new composition were still a part of the band’s agenda. The new material called for yet another addition to the band. Keyboardist Andreas Karlsson joined them, taking Susanne Arvidsson’s place, who was forced to leave the band for personal reasons.

In 1998 and 1999 DRACONIAN headed for the stage. The positive feedback convinced them that it was again time to tackle the studio. In early August 1999, DRACONIAN entered Studio Kuling to record The Closed Eye of Paradise, an album that dealt with the mystical dark theme of Lucifer and his fallen angels, the true face of God, and the forthcoming battle. On it, Susanne Arvidsson made guest vocal appearances. Unfortunately, the recording, suffering from a bad production, was again not up to DRACONIAN’s high standards. The band thus opted to attempt some polishing before its official release. During the months of May and June 2000, Andreas Karlsson, Anders Jacobsson, and Johan Ericson were dedicated to improve the quality of the demo. New melodies were applied, as well as effects, which had erroneously been left out in the studio. The effort paid off, and the demo was finally released.

DRACONIAN now concentrated on creating something new. Their sound became slower, darker, and doomier. The material that ensued guided DRACONIAN in a different direction. Their 2-track promo Frozen Features was made available on the Internet, as well as in CD format. Shortly after recording Frozen Features, Andy Hindenäs took a sabbatical from the band. He was replaced by Johan, who left the drumming responsibilities to Jerry Torstensson. A final demo was recorded in the summer of 2002 featuring the vocal talents of Lisa Johansson and for the last time, the skill of Jesper Stolpe on bass, who opted to leave the band to pursue other ventures. Stolpe was replaced by longtime friend and supporter, Thomas Jäger. Dark Oceans We Cry paved the final way for DRACONIAN out of the unknown and into the limelight. The demo received outstanding reviews and the band signed a long-awaited record deal with NAPALM RECORDS.

DRACONIAN recorded their debut album, Where Lovers Mourn in Studio Mega under the supervision of Chris Silver (ex Sundown and Cemetary member) in July 2003. Under the direction of Pelle Saether, DRACONIAN entered Studio Underground in Västerås to record Arcane Rain Fell in 2005.

Later the same year; Magnus Bergström decided to take a sabbatical from the band due to work-issues. This left a slot open for Daniel Arvidsson; a long-time friend of the band and also the brain behind the well-criticised black metal band SCORCHED. The band also needed a bassist, since Jesper Stolpe in recent times had left due to family commitments. During this time the band went through another transition. By reason of personal setbacks; keyboardist Andreas Karlsson felt he could not risk his mental health to go on longer excursions with the band to participate in live shows. The band needed a session-keyboardist and Sanne Carlsson, a new acquaintance, stepped in to be the keymaster in absence of Mr. Karlsson.

In the beginning of 2006 DRACONIAN finally found themselves a great and dependable bassist, so Fredrik Johansson joined in the horde. DRACONIAN began working on their third release. But due to myriad fan requests, the band decided to first deliver a bonus album to include remakes of old tracks from The Closed Eyes of Paradise demo. The Burning Halo would also include three new tracks and two covers. Plagued by numerous problems throughout the production phases, the album was delayed and finally completed in June.

Produced by Andreas Karlsson and Johan Ericson, and mixed in Anders Ljudbild by Anders Bergström, The Burning Halo is a majestic blend of DRACONIAN’s previous two releases, which shows the Swedish Doom Metal masters in perfect form, having developed into one of the scene's top acts.

Heavy guitars and intense growls meet romantic female vocals, head-splitting drumming, and sorrowful piano arrangements. Draconian immaculately unite these elements to create a perfect symbiosis of Gothic Metal and Doom.

Turning Season Within is both tragic and beautiful, and filled with songs of longing and drama. Only DRACONIAN is able to so skillfully follow romantic passages and wonderful female vocal arrangements with the tuned-down walls of darkish riffs and violent vocal passages or even compose dreamy melodies fit for an eternity, only to forcefully tear them down, thus creating a beguiling yet heavy fusion of Doom and Gothic Metal.

Vocalist Anders Jacobsson had this to say about the most personal and down-to-earth DRACONIAN lyrics to date: “Failing and hopeless love relationships, as well as how we deal with them is what this album is about.” Refuting the belief that such subject matter doesn’t go well with dark and heavy music, he further explains “Pain is a topic that never grows old in musical themes. Some people seem to forget that love can be the greatest hell you have to manage, while remaining vital to our existence. In this way, I think that our music, with both the harsh and tender moments, fits these lyrics extremely well. The disparate dispositions define our emotional world, and love can be both heaven and hell.”

~The Band~



Anders Jacobsson: Vocals, Writing
DOB: 12th of April 1975
Zodiac sign: Aries
Lives: Säffle, Sweden
Civil status: Single
Date Joined Band: 1995


Lisa Johansson: Vocals
DOB: 27th of October 1981
Zodiac sign: Scorpion
Lives: Åmål, Sweden
Civil status: Single
Date Joined Band: 2002


Johan Ericson: Guitar, Writing
DOB: 1979
Zodiac sign: Gemini
Lives: Säffle, Sweden
Civil status: Spoken for
Date Joined Band: 1994


Daniel Arvidsson: Guitar
DOB: 5th of July 1979
Zodiac sign: Cancer
Lives: Säffle, Sweden
Civil status: Girlfriend
Date Joined Band: 2005


Jerry Torstensson: Drums, Percussion
DOB: 1st of May
Zodiac sign: Taurus
Lives: Säffle, Sweden
Civil status: Janaina
Date Joined Band: 2000


Fredrik Johansson: Bass
DOB: 29th of November 1974
Zodiac sign: Sagittarius
Lives: Falkenberg, Sweden
Civil status: I live together with my girlfriend
Date Joined Band: 2006


Andreas Karlsson: Keyboards, Programming
DOB: July - 1979
Zodiac sign: Cancer
Lives: Säffle, Sweden
Civil status: Taken
Date Joined Band: 1997


FORMER MEMBERS
Andy Hindenäs - Guitar (1994-2000)
Susanne Arvidsson - Vocals, Keyboard (1995-1997)
Thomas Jäger - Bass (2002-2004)
Magnus Bergström - Guitar (1995-2005)
Jesper Stolpe - Bass (1994-2002, 2004-2006)

~The Vocals~

~Anders~
DRACONIAN

Position in Draconian:
Vocalist

Music equipment:
Just a microphone

Personal goal as member of the band:
To grow artistically and individually

Best Draconian demo/promo song(s):
The Amaranth The Gothic Embrace Serenade of Sorrow Death, Come Near Me The Midwinter Sleep Away

Best "Where Lovers Mourn" song(s):
The Cry of Silence A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal

Best "Arcane Rain Fell" song(s):
A Scenery of Loss Daylight Misery Expostulation

Best "The Burning Halo" song(s):
The Dying

Other bands/projects than Draconian:
Not at the moment, no.

Former band(s):
Measureless Azazel Rites Rektum Misanthropiah Midnight Masquerade etc.


ALL TIME BEST OF:

All time favorite album(s):
My Dying Bride - Turn Loose the Swans Theatre of Tragedy - Velvet Darkness ... King Crimson - In the Court of the... Anathema – Serenades The 3’rd and the Mortal - Tears Laid in... Bathory - Under the Sign of the Black Mark Celestial Season - Forever Scarlet Passion Katatonia - The Dance of December Souls Bal-Sagoth - Starfire Buring upon... Fields of the Nephilim - The Nephilim Summoning – Nightshade Forests Elend - Les Ténèbres du Duhors Elend – The Umbersun Black Sabbath - Headless Cross Porcupine Tree - Stupid Dream Saviour Machine - Legend II etc...

All time favorite movie(s):
Manhattan [Woody Allen] Casino [Martin Scorsese] Snow Falling on Cedars [Scott Hicks] Magnolia [Paul Thomas Anderson] Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf [Mike Nichols] La Pianiste [Michael Haneke] Ladri di Biciclette [Vittorio de Sica] Umberto D [Vittorio de Sica] L’Année dernière à Marienbad [Alain Resnais] Hiroshima Mon Amour [Alain Resnais] Raging Bull [Martin Scorsese] Germania Anno Zero [Roberto Rosselini] Goodfellas [Martin Scorsese] Viskningar och Rop [Ingmar Bergman] Det Sjunde Inseglet [Ingmar Bergman] 8 1/2 [Federico Fellini] Rear Window [Alfred Hitchcock] Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari [Robert Wiene] Barry Lyndon [Stanley Kubrick] Happiness [Todd Solondz] Rope [Alfred Hitchcock] Mulholland Drive [David Lynch] The Notebook [Nick Cassavetes] Sleepless in Seattle [Nora Ephron] Lost in Translation [Sofia Coppola] Napoleon Dynamite [Jared Hess] etc...

All time favorite book(s):
A Man of Honor [by Joseph Bonanno] Bound by Honor [by Bill Bonanno] Poems and Prophecies [by William Blake] The Sorrows of Young Werther [by Goethe] Paradise Lost [by John Milton] Mörk Magi [by Tommie Erikson] The Necronomicon-inspired short-stories [by H.P. Lovecraft]


INFLUENCES AND FAVORITES

Music influences:
Wagner, Debussy, Elend

Influences other than music:
The past, dreams, fantasies, the night and the essence of darkness, love and purity, the soul, life, death and beyond.

Interests other than music:
Movies, poetry, cooking, the mafia, friends, spirituality and occultism (mostly the dark path)

Favorite band(s):
Elend Porcupine Tree My Dying Bride Anathema (old) Saviour Machine Bal-Sagoth Summoning Opeth Riverside Fields of the Nephilim Arena Raison d’être Nevermore The Mission (old) Debussy Wagner etc...

Favorite album-cover(s):
Jean-Michel Jarre - Oxygene

Favorite male vocalist(s):
Tony Martin (known from Black Sabbath)
Eric Clayton (Saviour Machine)
Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree)
Favorite female vocalist(s):
Kari Rueslååten (from her The 3rd and the Mortal period)
Favorite actor(s):
Robert de Niro Al Pacino James Stewart

Favorite actress(es):
Mia Farrow Jean Arthur Greta Garbo Lena Endre Liv Ullman

Favorite author(s):
P.B. Shelley William Blake John Keats Erik Johan Stagnelius H.P. Lovecraft August Strindberg Rousseau Charles Baudelaire John Milton...

Favorite artist(s):
[no answer]

Favorite website(s):
www.allmovie.com
The best info-resource of movies.
www.helgon.net
A great community for metal-heads, goths and similar.
www.dragonrouge.net
Take the dark path and find your inner self!

Favorite food:
Very hot and spicy... mostly meat dishes. Generally no vegetables. I like to cook with red wine, cognac, garlic, thyme and hot chili’s as piri-piri and habanero. I like Mexican, Italian and Lebanese food a lot as well.

Favorite alcoholic drink(s):
Murphy’s Red, red wines of Merlot and Pinot Noir, White Russian, Whiskey (not bourbon) or Cognac with Coke and a twist of lemon, Absinth (the favourite is Absinthium 1792. I really recommend this one).

Favorite non-alcoholic drink(s):
Icewater, Sodas as Pepsi twist/light, Trocadero, Champis, herbal tea and lemon juice.

Favorite animal(s):
Cats (certain breeds like Siamese, Turkish Angora and Sphynx)
I would like a Borzoi or a Saluki dog later in life.

Favorite travel destination(s):
Prague… and I really would like to go to Sicily.

Favorite color(s):
Black, purple, crimson


ABOUT LIFE

Main goals/aspirations in life:
To grow within the areas of my interests.

Life philosophy/motto:
“Long better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.” /John Milton

Your viewpoint regarding death:
Death is just a new beginning. It’s also a release from physical bondage.

What achievement in life are you most proud of:
Nothing really. I do think I have more spiritual insight than most people though. For that I feel kinda "proud".

What do you regret most in life:
I regret I don’t practice more magic than I do these days. I also regret that I spend more money than I can afford.

What are your main fears in life:
Achieving nothing of worth in life and die a loser.

Despite/dislike:
The human race in general, bright sunlight and light’s divinity.

If you could live your life as another person for one day - who would that be:
Even if it hurts a lot, I only want to be me. My soul is my own.

If you had to choose to live in another era/age/time than the present - which one:
The Romantic Age (the beginning of the 1800’s). Or as a poetic absintheur in the Parisian turn of the century, where I’ll be hanging around as a bohemian in the Montmartre quarters. Honestly.

~Lisa~
DRACONIAN

Position in Draconian:
Vocalist

Music equipment:
My voice and a microphone

Personal goal as member of the band:
To develop as a studio- and live singer

Best Draconian demo/promo song(s):
Serenade of Sorrow, The Amaranth

Best "Where Lovers Mourn" song(s):
Reversio ad Secessum, A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal

Best "Arcane Rain Fell" song(s):
Heaven laid in Tears, A Scenary of Loss

Best "The Burning Halo" song(s):
[no answer]

Other bands/projects than Draconian:
Singing in a choir

Former band(s):
Ronja

ALL TIME BEST OF

All time favorite album(s):
[no answer]

All time favorite movie(s):
The Lord of the Rings triology
Amelie from Montmartre
The Sixth Sense
The Fifth Element
Thelma and Louise
The Long Kiss Goodnight
What’s Love got to do with it
High Fidelity

All time favorite book(s):
[no answer]

INFLUENCES AND FAVORITES

Music influences:
Sharon den Adel in Within Temptation

Influences other than music:
Nature, beautiful things

Interests other than music:
Art, design, interior decoration

Favorite band(s):
Three Doors Down, Within Temptation, Nightwish, Kent

Favorite album-cover(s):
[no answer]

Favorite album-cover(s):
Viva Emptiness – Katatonia

Favorite male vocalist(s):
[no answer]

Favorite female vocalist(s):
[no answer]

Favorite actor(s):
John Cusack, Bruce Willis, Mel Gibson

Favorite actress(es):
Renee Zellweger, Sandra Bullock, Winona Ryder, Geena Davis

Favorite author(s):
Nora Robert

Favorite artist(s):
Hjördis Clemens

Favorite website(s):
www.helgon.net

Favorite food:
Pasta, Tai-food

Favorite alcoholic drink(s):
Red Bull Vodka, Galliano Coffee Shots, Beer (Killkenny, Heineken etc)

Favorite non-alcoholic drink(s):
Tropicana Orange Juice

Favorite animal(s):
Dogs

Favorite travel destination(s):
London

Favorite color(s):
Green and black

ABOUT LIFE

Main goals/aspirations in life:
[no answer]

Life philosophy/motto:
Be positive and try not to fuck things up.

Your viewpoint regarding death:
Death is just the beginning.

What achievement in life are you most proud of:
[no answer]

What do you regret most in life:
[no answer]

What are your main fears in life:
Being eaten by a shark.

Despite/dislike:
Sharks and jellyfish.

If you could live your life as another person for one day - who would that be:
Cleopatra

If you had to choose to live in another era/age/time than the present - which one:
Year 3000

~Note To All~
This Is A Fan Page Being Used With Permission From Jerry Torstensson (Drummer For Draconian).

~Draconian Appreciates Your Support And Hopes Will Will Keep Giving It~

[Myspace]

[HomePage]

[NapalmRecords]

~The Albums~
Where Lovers Mourn (2003)
1. The Cry of Silence
2. Silent Winter
3. A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal
4. The Solitude
5. Reversio ad Secessum
6. The Amaranth
7. Akherousia
8. It Grieves My Heart


Arcane Rain Fell (2005)
1. A Scenery of Loss
2. Daylight Misery
3. The Apostasy Canticle
4. Expostulation
5. Heaven Laid in Tears (Angels' Lament)
6. The Abhorrent Rays
7. The Everlasting Scar
8. Death, Come Near Me


The Burning Halo (2006)
1. She Dies
2. Through Infectious Waters (A Sickness Elegy)
3. The Dying
4. Serenade of Sorrow
5. The Morningstar
6. The Gothic Embrace
7. On Sunday They Will Kill The World
8. Forever My Queen


Turning Seasons Within (2008)
1. Seasons Apart
2. When I Wake
3. Earthbound
4. Not Breathing
5. The Failure Epiphany
6. Morphine Cloud
7. Bloodflower
8. The Empty Stare
9. September Ashes