FULL POWER METAL FUCK YEAH
In 1993, Sweden’s second city, Gothenburg, was fast becoming the hub of a vital new movement. Swedish death metal had been a phenomenon for six years, but local pioneers At The Gates, In Flames and Dark Tranquillity were refining the elements into something far more melodic and sophisticated, creating a ‘Gothenburg sound’ that was soon to become legendary. Guitarist Oscar Dronjak began the year embedded in this scene, fronting Ceremonial Oath alongside In Flames multi-instrumentalist Jesper Strömblad.
Oscar could have comfortably surfed this wave as his hometown became internationally renowned for quality melodeath, but he was getting restless (and wild); by April ’93, what he calls “musical and clothing differences” led to him being effectively fired from his own band. “I felt my world had blown up,” confesses Oscar, but he didn’t stay glum for long. He’d begun writing an ’80s-influenced headbanger, , for Ceremonial Oath; by the time it was finished, it
