The early to mid 90s was really an interesting time for heavy metal. The hard rock
scene was evolving and changing into alternative music and grunge. Thrash metal had
started to turn tail and run, led by their leaders Metallica simply abandoning their roots
for a new type of mainstream profile. Strange hybrids of industrial and metal started to
form in bands like Helmet, Ministry, Marilyn Manson, Korn, and even W.A.S.P.
While all
that was churning, the rural landscapes like Norway, Finland, and Sweden were really
starting to establish their own metal visions, a dark melodic brew that eventually
captured the global metal community. But the time between the mid 90s and 2003 was really
an experimental stage that never caught the eye of the huge metal circles. Bands like
Darkseed, Gandalf, Amorphis, Sentenced, Pyogenesis, Sarnath, and Edge Of Sanity were
really creating unique and atmospheric metal built on melody and harsh vocal contrast that
was like a new direction of Florida death metal. One of the really great bands that helped
spark this scene was Finland's Cryhavoc. However as soon as that spark lit...it dimmed
into nothing.
This issue is dedicated to finding Cryhavoc.
The band is in no way associated with the English hard rock band also known as Cry Havoc.
Instead this band is a dark poetic venture that captured the mood of Sentenced, the gothic
elegance of Paradise Lost, and the imagery of Norway's blackest chapter. I simply
considered the band to be another great leader in what was soon becoming the best
sub-genre of metal, melodic death. Cryhavoc formed in 2002 and released their first
record, "Sweet Briars", for Spinefarm in 1998. At the time Spinefarm was really
heaping out great metal, releasing early albums from Night In Gales and Children Of Bodom.
"Sweet Briars" was an impressive debut that saw the band hit on all cylinders
through impressive wonders like "Come With Me" and "I Fade Away".
Vocalist Kaapro Ikonen was like a dead-ringer for ex-Sentenced singer Taneli Jarva, with
his raspy delivery bordering on death metal. Often the band shifted from NWOBHM to goth to
the sensational folk elements made famous by the likes of Amorphis and Skyclad. In 1999
the band followed their success with an album equally as good, "Pitch Black
Blues". From there I just assumed that it was a matter of time before the band signed
to Nuclear Blast (like Children Of Bodom) or Century Media, who by that time were signing
up these types of bands left and right.
That label signing never happened and Cryhavoc disappeared into the darkness...
Maximum Metal is asking the metal and rock community Where Are You Cryhavoc?