Band

Vocals - Johan Schuster
Guitar - Tobias Olsson
Guitar - Johan Blomstrom
Bass - Roy Erlandsson
Drums - Staffan Franzen

Sweden has given birth to some of the best heavy metal bands over the years, and Blinded Colony are the next to follow in those footsteps.

Never imitating, but building upon the bricks laid by bands like The Haunted, Soilwork, In Flames and Children of Bodom, Blinded Colony is the representation of the next generation of aggressive metal. With adrenaline-laced guitar rhythms, dizzying keyboards and ripping vocals, Blinded Colony creates a distinguished harmonic aggression that hits the listener harder than a size 16 boot-to-the-face.

Formed in January 2000, by guitarists, Johan Blomstrom, Tobias Olsson and original vocalist Niklas Svensson, Blinded Colony was known as Stigmata. By 2002, the band had released two demos, Painreceiver and Tribute to Chaos. Tribute to Chaos caught the attention of Italy-based Scarlet Records. Coinciding with their newfound record deal, the band officially changed their name to Blinded Colony. Their full-length debut, Divine, was a testament to their work ethic, self-produced and released in 2003 on Scarlet Records. Divine not only featured artwork by Carlos del Olmo Holmberg, but the album also created such a buzz that it received full, proper, distribution in Japan through Soundholic Records. Blinded Colony and Scarlet Records parted ways a year later. This also marked ushering in of new vocalist, Johan Schuster. The band recorded an industry demo that showcased Schuster’s use of powerful, throat-tearing screams and soaring, clean vocals. While this style is used often in contemporary metal music, Schuster’s style made him a noticeable standout among the herd. Combined with the growth and maturity of the band as musicians, this demo caught the attention of US based record label Pivotal Rockordings, who immediately took note of Schuster’s vocals and the energetic boost he brought to the band as a unit.

Blinded Colony began the recording process of their second full-length album, Bedtime Prayers, in the spring of 2006. The band chose once again to work without a producer and to record the album themselves. Not only was this a decision to keep out the influence of producers and others, but, it was a decision that would present Blinded Colony’s music in the most organic form possible. The band once again recorded at their home studio, SoundPalace, in Karlshamn, Sweden. With song titles such as “In Here,” “Need,” “Aaron’s Sons,” and “Bedtime Prayers,” in addition to the three singles, “Heart,” “Once Bitten, Twice Shy,” and “My Halo,” Blinded Colony have their sights set on breaking out of the Swedish underground and into the global metal scene. With music videos planned for the songs, “Once Bitten Twice, Twice Shy,” “Heart,” and possibly “My Halo,” Blinded Colony intend to not only assault the listeners musically, but also visually with the videos to be directed by Thomas Tj�der (In Flames). The first video from Bedtime Prayers, for the song “Heart” is set to hit television and computer screens in early November.

It’s a feat of Blinded Colony’s own determination and vision that they have established themselves with a unique sound, without falling into the bottomless pit of Swedish copycat clone bands. Their drive to succeed has already landed them on the same stage with international acts such as Hammerfall, Dark Tranquillity, Evergrey and Mercenary. Additionally, Blinded Colony headlined the Roskilde Festival warm-up show with their countrymen By Night and The Psyke Project and on November 12 rocked the stage of Gothenburg’s Belsepub with former label mates Sonic Syndicate and Arise at the first Belsefest 666. With their Pivotal Rockordings worldwide debut geared for November 10 in Europe and November 14 worldwide, Blinded Colony will follow it up with dates with Ektomorf in December and a proper European tour in early 2006. Don’t be surprised when Blinded Colony breaks through as a household name.