Count Raven

Of the several Black Sabbath-inspired bands on the Hellhound label, Sweden's Count Raven, founded in 1987, was probably the most representative of the classic doom sound for which Hellhound was renowned. The band comes dangerously close to cloning (especially with the vocals being very Ozzy Osbourne-like) but in general the songs are strong enough to overlook this. After four albums (all pretty similar in style), a deteriorating working relationship between founder Dan Fondelius (vocals, guitar) and the other two members, Tommy Erikkson (bass) and Christer Pettersson (drums) forced the band to fold in March of 1999. Fondelius went on to form a new band by the name of Doomsday Government. All of their albums have been re-issued by Cyclone Empire Records in 2006. After the reunion in 2004 the trio split again two years later, so Dan Fondelius hired Jens Bock (drums) and Fredrik Jansson (bass). Discography: 1990 - Storm Warning 1992 - Destruction of the Void 1993 - High on Infinity 1996 - Messiah of Confusion 2009 - Mammons War