Blinded Colony

Sweden has given birth to some of the best heavy metal over the few years, and Blinded Colony will be the next to follow in those footsteps. Along with The Haunted, Soilwork, and In Flames, Blinded Colony is the representation of the next breed of aggressive metal. With adrenaline-laced guitar rhythms, atmospheric synthesizers, and ripping vocals, Blinded Colony creates a distinguished harmonic aggression that hits you harder than a Chuck Norris roundhouse-kick-to-the-face. Formed in January 2000, by guitarists, Johan Blomström, Tobias Olsson and original vocalist Niklas Svensson, Blinded Colony was known as Stigmata. By 2002, the band had released two demos, Painreceiver and Tribute to Chaos. Tribute to Chaos caught the attention of Italy-based Scarlet Records. Coinciding with their newfound record deal, the band officially changed their name to Blinded Colony. Their full-length debut, Divine, was a testament to their work ethic, self-produced and released in 2003 on Scarlet Records and received full, proper, distribution in Japan through Soundholic Records. Blinded Colony and Scarlet Records parted ways a year later. This also marked ushering in of new vocalist, Johan Schuster. whose powerful, throat-tearing screams and soaring, clean vocals caught the attention of US based record label Pivotal Rockordings, who immediately took note of Schuster’s vocals and the energetic boost he brought to the band as a unit. Blinded Colony began the recording process of their second full-length album, Bedtime Prayers, in the spring of 2006. The band choose once again to work without a producer and to record the album themselves at their home studio, SoundPalace. Not only was this a decision to keep out influence from producers and others, but, it was a decision that would present Blinded Colony’s music in the most organic form possible. With song titles such as “In Here”, “Need”, “Aaron’s Sons,” and “Bedtime Prayers,” in addition to the two singles, “Heart” and “Once Bitten, Twice Shy,” Blinded Colony have their sights set on breaking out of the Swedish underground and into the global metal scene. The band also used online sites and services such as Myspace, Helgon, and Garageband to promote their new music. With music videos planned for the songs, “Once Bitten Twice, Twice Shy” and “Heart,” Blinded Colony intend to not only assault the listeners musically, but also visually with all videos to be directed by director Thomas Tjäder (In Flames). The first video from Bedtime Prayers, for the song “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” will hit your television and computer screens in later this winter. It’s a feat of Blinded Colony’s own determination and vision that they have established themselves with a unique sound, without falling into the bottomless pit of Swedish copycat clone bands. Their drive to succeed has already landed them on the same stage with international acts such as Hammerfall, Dark Tranquillity, Evergrey, and Mercenary. With their Pivotal Rockordings worldwide debut geared for January 12 in Europe and January 9 worldwide, Blinded Colony plan to lead a path of aural and visual destruction through European tour in early 2007. Don’t be surprised when Blinded Colony breaks through as a household name. Blinded Colony recently completed the 'Outcasts Over Europe' tour in support of Ektomorf and former Scarlet Records label-mates Kayser. They have also shared the stage with notable acts such as former Pivotal Rockording label-mates Sonic Syndicate, and Dark Tranquillity. After touring Blinded Colony would take part in summer festivals for 2007. In late August 2007 it was announced that vocalist Johan Schuster and bassist Roy Erlandsson had been replaced by Denny Axelsson and Jeoan Olsson. The split was announced as "professional differences." After a quiet winter spent with the band writing new material, another replacement was announced, as Tobias Olsson moved from guitar to bass and the band added new guitarist Martin Bergman to fill the slot left by the switch. Although Pivotal Rockordings never released a press release about the departure of the band, they are currently unsigned and are writing new material for their third full length studio album. It was announced on October 9, 2008 that vocalist Denny Axelsson and the band had parted ways citing "professional differences" as the reason. on may-june 2010 Blinded Colony announced that they have found a replacement for Johan & Axelsson Current members Joel Andersson - vocals Linus Arelund Månsson - vocals Tobias Olsson – bass Martin Bergman - guitar Johan Blomstrom – guitar Staffan Franzen – drums, (formerly bass guitar) Former members Christoffer Nilsson – drums Annika Haptén – vocals Niklas Svensson – vocals Johan Schuster – vocals Roy Erlandsson – bass Johan Olsson - bass