"...and there are rumors of Extol members meeting in the studio"

by Lex Metalis Wed Aug 09, 2023 6:39 am

(from Extol FB page)

The Extol anniversaries are abundant this year.

30 years ago, the summer of 1993, the 14 year old cousins David Schwarz Husvik and Christer Espevoll decided to start a band. To begin with we practiced at Davids parents' house (God bless their souls!) and right away we decided that we didn’t want to be a cover band. We were determined to write our own music. Needless to say we didn't sound amazing the first couple of years, but eventually we felt like we had come up with something that deserved the light of day, and in 1996 we released three songs on «Northern Lights», a Norwegian metal compilation released by Steve Rowes Rowe productions. As Mortification fans this was a big deal for us. By now Christer’s brother, Peter Espevoll, had joined on vocals in addition to Emil Nicholaisen on guitars and Eystein Holm on bass.

Later in 1996 we released another three songs on the Embraced demo, and the Extol sound was starting to crystalize. Around the same time Emil decided that he wanted to embark on his own musical path and that opened the door for Ole Børud to join us. Looking back, there has been so many inspiring encounters and experiences that made a strong impression and paved the way for a long Extol journey. Some of these are:

* When David and Emil went to the Cornerstone Festival in 1996
*Our first show outside of Norway when we played in Stockholm in ’96 and met the Selfmindead guys
*Seeing GROMS at Romjulsrock in ’94 - they set the bar for circle headbanging
*Meeting and working with Samuel Durling who signed us on his label when nobody else would. He was a decisive contributor to our visual expression.
*Our first US shows at Texas Rock Fest and Cornerstone in ’98

We are so grateful for all the fine people we have met over the years, and all the great bands we’ve had the pleasure of playing with. It has been a long journey, but it’s not over. We have a couple of shows this fall, and there are rumors of Extol members meeting in the studio..