Faith (Swe)

Bio (from Metal Knights The Resurgence Of Swedish Steel 1983-85)
Stormbringer was founded back in 1984 by Roger Johansson (guitar), Jörgen Thuresson (guitar), Christer Nilsson (bass and vocals) and Peter Svensson (drums). The idea with the music was to make extremly heavy songs, something that they hadn't been able to do in previous bands. In the early days Peter also played with Magus. The first songs were recorded two days in January 1985. Quite soon after the first demo the band started to experiment a bit more with the music. They decided to change their name to Faith and soon recorded a new demo simply called 'Faith'. The music had now a more symphonic touch, but still heavy. During the summer of 1985 Jörgen left the band and the music became a bit more back to basics. Roger Berntsson joined the band and took over the microphone. The only recording this line-up did was a 7" with the songs "Hymn of the Sinner" and "Possession" that was released in 1986. Roger left the band shortly after the 7" for family reasons.

New singer was Zenny Hansson who never got to record anything with the band. Destiny who were looking for a new singer found out about Zenny and gave him an offer he couldn't refuse, so he left for Gothenburg to join them. The band recorded the next demo, 'Insanity', as a three-piece with Christer singing once again. Around new year 1986-87 a guitarist named Peter Zweiniger joined. THe band did plenty of gigs in Southern Sweden and even did a tour in Finland. In the summer of 1987 the band decided to take a break as they had different opinions of what the next step would be.The minor rest became seven years!. In the meantime Christer, Peter and Roger had all played in Mercy. Later on Peter moved to Gothenburg but eventually moved back to Karlshamn. In 1995 Faith was resurrected. In the summer that year they recorded a new demo called 'In the Twelfth Hour'. Unfortunately this reunion didn't last that very long, as all members were busy with families and work. At the moment the band is taking another break but there's been talk about getting the band back together again.

Biography in Swedish from "Musikforum 20 år - En Kul Tur I Kulturen"
Faith grundades hösten 1984 med affärsidén att ingenting kan gå för långsamt. Med andra ord var tyngden den absolut viktigaste ingrediensen. Bandet hetter från början Stormbringer, men bytte tidigt namn till Faith. Musiken var mycket brutal med texter som skulle fått H.P. Lovecraft att skräckslagen ligga sömnlös. Förebilderna rent musikaliskt var bla Black Sabbath, Mercyful Fate och Metallica. Faith's första sättning, som bestod av Christer Nilsson - bas och sång, Roger Johansson - gitarr, Jörgen Thuresson - gitarr samt Peter Svensson - trummor och percussion, gjorde två demos vilka skickades runt till skivbolag, arrangörer och annat löst folk men resultat, förutom en del låtar i etern, uteblev. Den första framgång som röntes var att bandets debut på vinyl sålde riktigt hyggligt och inbringade, visserligen ganska få, men välförtjänta slantar till kaffekassan. Strax efter singeln gjordes ett sångarbyte och Zenny Hansson tog över micken efter Roger Berntsson. Denna konstellation varade dessvärre bara några månader eftersom Zenny fick ett bud från Destiny i Götet vilket gjorde att Christer fick damma av sina rossliga stämband än en gång. Om man kan använda ett så pretentiöst ord som storhetstid så inföll den sig 1987.

Ronnebygitarristen Peter Zweineger tillkom och gav Faith en duktig vitamininjektion och stilen ändrades till mer 70-talsstandard á la Thin Lizzy etc. Bandet spelade mycket runt om i Blekinge under 1987's första hälft och som grädde på moset inhyrdes en styck buss som styrde kosan mot Finland för en veckas turné. Denna innehöll allt som det sköna rocklivet skall innehålla och var en fantastisk upplevelse. Väl hemma i Svedala igen tog bandet sin utrustning och stack till skogs. I skogen fanns nämligen en sommarstuga som intet ont anande föräldrar lånade ut för repetitioner. Resultatet av detta "lägerliv" var först och främst en astronomisk elräkning samt att medlemmarna kom underfund med att alla hade olika önskemål angående vilken musikalisk väg som skulle väljas. Detta ledda sedemera till Faiths upplösning 1987.

Värt att veta (?) om bandet: Värsta Spelning: Utan tvivel den i Ronneby på en Valborgsmässoafton då tom en pingvin hade frusit ihjäl. Roligaste spelning: Inför en fullsatt ishall i Heinola, Finland. Gladast: Var Christer då brist på autografblock hos en söt finska gav honom möjlighet att skriva sin namnteckning på ett trevligt ställe på hennes kropp. Bästa mående: Hela bandet då gaget för en spelning avnjöts i bubblande form på Viking Line. Sämst mående: Peter S. efter en helkväll i Lahtis under Finlandsturnén. Mest frustrerad: Ljudteknikern Malmberg som aldrig förr hade varit med om att två bassträngar hade "gått" under samma dag. Tyngst: Förutom att huvudingridiensen i musiken var bly var utan tvivel Peter Svensson den minst smalbente. Lättast: Kaffekassan då singeln vart betald.

Official Biography (from Faith)
Faith was founded back in 1984 by the three guys that have been the heart of the band ever since: Roger Johansson - guitars, Christer Nilsson - bas and vocals and Peter Svensson - drums. The first year another guitar player, Jorgen Thuresson, was also a member of the group.

The idea with the music was not to beat any speedrecord whatsoever but to make extremly heavy songs. The first compositions were based on Roger's dark chord-changes and Christer's lyrics that mainly were taken from Swedish history and lore. These first songs were recorded two cold days in January -85.

Quite soon after the first demo the band started the hard work of experimenting with weird beats and even more crazy chord-changes. After a tremendous amount of rehersals the "Faith"-demo was recorded. The result of this demo was pretty close to symphonic rock, however, yet very heavy.

During the summer of -85 Jorgen left the band and the music became a bit more back to basics. The tempo increased and the songs were simplified. After Jorgen left, Roger Berntsson joined the band and took over the microphone and after some "serious saving" Faith had the financial possibility of producing their own first record. The result was a two-track single that was named "Hymn of the Sinner", a guitar-based production somewhat close to the first demo in style. After just few months Roger Berntsson left the band due family reasons and Zenny Hansson took over. Zenny was a wonderful singer with really amaizing voice-resources. Unfortunately, other bands agreed with this and the richest of them - Destiny - gave Zenny an offer he couldn't refuse. He therefore packed his things and moved to Gothenburg to join them.

Christer had to "dust off" his throat once again and do the vocals on the nextcoming production that was recorded in the hometown of Faith: Karlshamn. This demo - "Insanity" - did not really come out the way the band expected but it was also in a period of trying new band members and different material.

Around new year 86/87 a new re-organisation was implemented and a guitarist named Peter Zweiniger joined. A few cover songs were put in between "the oldies" and Faith made quite a few gigs around southern Sweden. Faith also went east and made a successful tour in Finland.

Peter Svensson moved to Gothenburg, Roger and Christer stayed in the south but were busy with work and parties. However, the three all the time had different projects going on probably also with the idea and dream of getting their band back together again.

So, therefore it was a natural step to take when Peter moved back to Karlshamn to meet and let the E minor scream out of the Marshall speakers. The E minor was of course immediately followed by some other chords and very soon a pretty nice bunch of new songs were finalized. In the exitement of getting back together Faith was re-united in July -95 the band went to the same studio as they recorded "Hymn of the Sinner" in to put the new ones on tape. This turned out well and "In the twelfth hour", as it called, contains the old energy and ideas but maybe it's a little bit matured.

Family and work situation again made the band to put it all on hold shortly after the recordings of "In the twelfth hour". For the second time a long period of time passed before Faith was resurrected. In winter of 2002/2003 the members wanted to quit the project they were in at that point and had a desire of playing together under own flag again. Niclas Johansson, the man behind Stormbringer Productions, was approached and the decision was taken to commence a project together. Old songs were dusted off, slightly rearranged and during summer 2003 the band was to be found in Soundpalace for yet more recording sessions. Guest appearances were made by friends e.g. Janne Stark, Jorgen Thuresson and Anders Smedenmark. The result of these hot days in the studio was the first full length album by the band; "Salvation Lies Within" released as a gatefold vinyl LP, numbered and with the first 150 ea. in yellow vinyl including a 1987 promotion poster. The reviews in various media (to be found in another location on this site) were very positive although the bands music still is, as someone commented, "nothing for the trendies". In August 2003 Faith also did their first gig in over 16 years (!) at the reborn Rockslagsfestivalen and in December Faith did a show together with their colleagues in Overdrive ? a truly nostalgic evening for the 80's metal connoisseur...
In early 2004 Faith was in contact with the Italian label Doom Symphony and soon a one record deal was signed.

Biography (from MusicMight)
Karlshamn Doom combo. Previous to the release of the debut 1986 single, 'Hymn Of The Sinner', cult Swedish outfit FAITH was known as STORMBRINGER. The original line-up, assembled during 1984 comprised vocalist / bassist Christer Nilsson, guitarists Roger Johansson and Jorgen Thuresson with Peter Svensson on drums. This quartet cut a January 1985 demo session. The next set of demos would be recorded minus Thuresson, the guitarist having had his nose broken in a fight the day before recording. Thuresson left the ranks in the summer of 1985 as FAITH introduced new lead singer Roger Berntsson.

Sometime after the single's release vocalist Roger Berndtsson quit. FAITH would be joined by erstwhile ARROWZ man Zenny Hansson. However, the new vocalist then received an offer to join DESTINY and duly took his leave, leaving bassist Christer Nilsson to take on the additional role of frontman once again. A third set of demos, entitled 'Insanity', was then laid down, after which second guitarist Peter Zweiniger was introduced and in this incarnation FAITH toured both southern Sweden and Finland.

Whilst the group continued for a period, FAITH broke up and drummer Peter Svensson joined the much Doomier MERCY and later joined GLOBE. The drummer also performed on three OVERHEAT tracks included on Janne Stark's 'Guitar Heroes Of Sweden' series of albums. He would strengthen the connection with Janne Stark by drumming on LOCOMOTIVE BREATH's version of 'I Can't Feel Nothin' to the 2000 CAPTAIN BEYOND tribute album. Besides these activities Svensson could be found on the live circuit as a member of Blues Rockers SIX PACK BOOGIE. Both Nilsson and Johansson kept active with THIN LIZZY cover band THIN LIPZTICK.

Johansson and Nilsson have since been reunited with Svensson and reports emerged that a FAITH reunion was under consideration. Sure enough, the newly resurrected act signed to Stormbringer Productions for a 2003 album 'Salvation Lies Within'. Subsequently, FAITH scored a further deal with Doom Symphony, a division of the Italian label Underground Symphony to re-issue 'Salvation Lies Within' in digipack format during 2004.

Peter Svensson contributed session drums on Janne Stark's November 2006 MOUNTAIN OF POWER tribute collection.