Blood Red Throne


Blood Red Throne are a Norwegian death metal band. They were formed in Kristiansand, Norway, in 1998 by former Satyricon live guitarist Daniel "Død" Olaisen.
Stylistically, they are regarded as the most pure death metal band in Norway alongside Cadaver, with a distinct influence from what is known as Florida death metal. They are known for their energetic live performances.
Blood Red Throne have released twelve studio albums as of December 2025. They have toured large parts of the world multiple times—both as headliners and as a supporting act for bands such as Dimmu Borgir, Enslaved, Suffocation, and Cryptopsy—and have performed at festivals including Wacken Open Air, Hellfest, Bloodstock, 70000 Tons of Metal, and Norway’s Hole In The Sky.
Founder Olaisen is the only permanent member and has been the band’s stated leader throughout its entire career. He writes the music for most of the songs, while the lyrics are written by the vocalists.

History

Olaisen had ambitions to start his own death-metal band as early as 1993, but he has said that the lack of a capable drummer prevented anything from happening until 1998, when he met Freddy "Fred the Shred" Bolsø and began jamming with him. At the time, Olaisen and Terje "Tchort" Vik Schei were touring as live musicians with Satyricon, and Vik Schei was invited to join what would become Blood Red Throne. Soon after, bassist Erlend Caspersen joined the newly formed group. The band recorded a demo, entitled Deathmix 2000, with Ronny Thorsen from Trail of Tears providing the vocals. This demo received positive feedback and Blood Red Throne got offers from multiple labels.
Recruiting their long-time friend Flemming "Mr. Hustler" Gluch as the permanent frontman, the same line-up recorded the debut Monument of Death and released it through Hammerheart Records in 2001. The limited edition included a package called "The Suicide Kit", which contained a printed razor blade and a poster with the album. The kits were hand numbered in the band member's own blood. Blood Red Throne never did any live shows with this line up, Freddy Bolsø moved back to his hometown and the band had to find a new drummer.
Espen "Beist" Antonsen of The Sickening joined and the band recorded Affiliated With The Suffering in 2002 and this was their last album through Hammerheart Records. The band did two European tours and the Inferno Fest with this lineup and Beist left as they were about to record their first album for Earache Records. With the help from Bernt Moen, Blood Red Throne managed to record their third album, Altered Genesis. That album was released in 2005 and after this release, Mr. Hustler had to leave the band due to work commitments and Vald was handed the microphone. To make things easier, Blood Red Throne also had to find a permanent and local drummer, and this led to the recruitment of Anders Haave. He joined the band in 2006 and Blood Red Throne went on a new European tour several live shows until going into the studio to record their fourth album, Come Death, for Earache Records.
Blood Red Throne released their fifth album, Souls of Damnation, on June 1, 2009, through Earache Records. The digipak version of the CD included a DVD to celebrate the bands 10-year career. Blood Red Throne was confirmed February 7, 2009, to play at the Infernofestival in Oslo which took place April 8–11, 2009. It was set to take place on the stage called BLÅ, where they played with bands like Terrordrome.
On April 23, 2010, Blood Red Throne announced via a MySpace blog post that guitarist Tchort was leaving due to "work and family commitments" and was being replaced by Ivan "MeathooK" Gujic of Neongod for the remainder of their tours and gigs that year. A short time later, it was announced in another post that 19-year-old Emil Wiksten would be taking over the position of drummer. The band has toured with Dimmu Borgir, Enslaved and Dawn of Ashes in November–December 2010. They toured with Grave, Pathology and Gigan in August–September 2011. In December 2011, Yngve "Bolt" Christiansen replaced Osvald “Vald“ Egeland as vocalist, and would remain with the band until 2023.

Members

Current members

  • Sindre Wathne Johnsen – vocals, bass
  • Daniel "Død" Olaisen – guitar
  • Ivan "Meathook" Gujic – guitar
  • Stian "Gunner" Gundersen – bass
  • Freddy Bolsø – drums
  • Kristoffer Lunden – drums

    Former members

  • Terje "Tchort" Vik Schei – guitar
  • Flemming "Mr Hustler" Gluch – vocals
  • Osvald "Vald" Egeland – vocals
  • Yngve "Bolt" Christiansen – vocals
  • Erlend Caspersen – bass
  • Ole Bent Madsen – bass
  • Espen Antonsen – drums
  • Anders Kobro – drums
  • Anders Haave – drums
  • Emil Wiksten – drums
  • Martin Skar Berger – vocals

    Associated members

  • Ronny Thorsen – vocals on demo

    Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

  • Monument of Death
  • Affiliated with the Suffering
  • Altered Genesis
  • Come Death
  • Souls of Damnation
  • Brutalitarian Regime
  • Blood Red Throne
  • Union of Flesh and Machine
  • Fit to Kill
  • Imperial Congregation
  • Nonagon
  • ''Siltskin''

    Other releases

  • A Taste for Blood
  • A Taste for Butchery
  • ''Gore Encore''