It was in the year 1999, when Peter Fritz (git/voc) and Roland Strahlhofer (drums) decided to start a new project. Peter was in some other bands at this time as well, but he and Roland wanted to make something totally new. Therefore they immediately asked Tina Suppan to do the keyboards in their new-formed band. Their style could have been best described as some mid-tempo gothic metal with clean vocals. Soon, Jan Zelenka (bass) joined the band and the style changed more to the genre of straight power metal. Now, the need for a second guitar player seemed really urgent and Thomas Stock (git) came in.
In summer 2000 private troubles in the band forced them to put down their instruments for some weeks. After having settled their differences, Tina left the band and the others decided to get together once again. Peter brought some new material with him, which made them go into a different, musical future and finally Midgard was born.
Aggressive rhythm met melodic guitar work, destructive power drums and raw vocals. Those specific ingredients still characterize Midgard’s sound today. So, it can be best described as modern melodic death metal, that uses the English language to reach a broader audience. Midgard are musically inspired by all kinds of heavy and new metal, but there are some other influences,which do not belong to the realm of metal, as well. Their first two-song demo was called Claiming for World Domination. For this demo the band already received much attention from the Austrian underground scene. Some gigs here and there over the next months, led to Roland’s decision that his priorities were not with the band any longer. And regrettably, he finally left the band. For the following gig Michael Lang (git/drums) replaced Roland. He is still a session musician and a good friend of the band.
In May 2002, Midgard got the big chance to go on a mini-tour together with Atenoux and Legacy of Darkness, which led them to Germany and Belgium. But, unfortunately Midgard still had no permanent drummer. So, they asked Wildan Srkalovic to join them for this tour, and he did it. This worked out wonderfully and so, Midgard for the first time had a complete and totally satisfying line-up.
In the following period, their live performance and song writing (with good variance of tempos and strong Nordic metal influences) were getting better; proving that Midgard was and of course still is, one of the better metal bands in the Austrian underground.
In later summer, Midgard did a mini-tour to Italy together with Embryo. It was an amazing experience and a big satisfaction for the band, to get good reactions also in another European country.
In late 2002, they started recording their next promo CD , which will be another important step towards a record-deal. This CD, entitled Welcome to Chaosland, includes seven songs and was released in July 2003. Midgard’s next step will be claiming for the rest of Europe and of course, also to await the reactions on their latest record all over the world.
official Website: http://www.midgardmusic.at