Assailant - Biography

Biography

Oskar Norberg and Joakim Jonsson started playing together around 1996-1998. In 1999 their band took the name Sacra Via, and played music greatly influenced by Dream Theater. The original line-up of Sacra Via is unknown, the drummer's name was Lars, and the keyboardist's name was Fredrik. In 2000 Fredrik quit the band and Peder Sandström took his place behind the Keyboard. They did not have a vocalist, but soon produced an instrumental demo (unknown title). In 2001 Lars was replaced by new drummer, Patrik Larsson, an old friend of Peder Sandström, and the band decided changed its name to Ecliptica. They produced some songs, recorded demos and soon were able to find vocalist Marcus Granberg. With a full line-up they could now do more live performances. After some time they felt they needed a more full sound on stage and, in 2003, recruited Kristofer Eriksson, childhood friend of Patrik and Peder, on guitars.

In early 2004 Marcus Granberg left the band for a job in Spain and around that time Kristofer moved to Stockholm to study music. At this time the band seemed to disappear for a while, but apparently just to come back stronger than ever. During the summer of 2004 they recruited vocalist Peder Sundqvist (Dead street journal, former Lesra) and later on Marcus Sundbom (Dead street journal, Diaspora), and also changed their sound totally. The new sound was more raw and aggressive, reminiscent of Evergrey and the "Gothenburg sound" (In flames), and they felt it was time for a change of name again. The band Assailant had erupted from the remains of Ecliptica but with very little similarities in sound.

In 2005 Assailant produced a demo record named Mental State, consisting of 8 songs. This record was however only for promotion, record companies and reviews - not for sale or free to download. In April/May they played at Demons of the Opera in Umeå, not with the philharmonic orchestra though, but on the "Black Box" stage. The German label Dockyard 1 quickly took the bait, and signed with the band around August/September 2005. Emil Norberg (Persuader), the brother of Oskar, might have been the one hooking them up with Dockyard since Persuader already had a contract with that company. Another brother of Oskar is Nils Norberg, guitarist in Nocturnal Rites. The band had a lot of gigs between this time and May 2006 when their debut album Nemesis Within was released. Both Nils and Emil made small guest performances on Nemesis Within, a solo part featuring all three brothers.

Assailant's second album, Wicked Dream, was released March 21, 2008 followed by a music video for the song A Day Tomorrow filmed by Owe Lingvall

In May 2009, Assailant performed at Chicago Powerfest along with Devildriver and Black Label Society. A few month later in August keyboardist Peder Sandström parted with the band.

December 30, 2009 Blabbermouth.net reported that Assailant had split with record label Dockyard 1.

According to Assailant's official website and blabbermouth.net they are working on a third album and new songs, not yet released, can be heard at the website of their booking agency HornsUp Agency and their Myspace site.

A performance at festival Rock out wild, in Sorsele, August 12, 2011, where Peder Sandström was playing with Assailant suggests he might have joined the band again.