Rising (Swe / Vänersborg)

There once was a hard rocking group called RISING. Five young guys dedicated to making music from the heart and from the times, the rolling 1980’s! This was of course the time of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal and mighty bands like Iron Maiden, Angelwitch, Motorhead, Saxon, Tygers Of Pan Tang, Tank and others making a huge splash in little old Sweden and in the minds of the boys in RISING. Urban Svensson on guitar, Paul Utter on vocals, Peter Andersson on bass, Magnus Svensson on guitar and Lars Berger on drums absorbed all the new music and included older influences in the shape of Deep Purple, Rainbow, Motorhead, Led Zeppelin. This melting pot in the form of the rehearsal space where they almost spent more time than at home moulded these five people in to a tight combo determined to make their own music and unknowingly being a integral part of what in hindsight becam the New Wave Of Swedish Heavy Metal.

Rising was formed by Lars Berger and the first guitarist Dag Eriksson. Peter Andersson soon followed and he knew of this hot shot guitar player named Urban Svensson that was soon hi-jacked from his previous group. Urban Svensson had a brother called Magnus that was trried out for singer duties but as Dag was pursuing other musical interests he was replaced on guitar by Magnus and for a while Urban and Magnus shared both singing and guitar work. Urban, Peter and Magnus were promising talents in soccer and ice hockey, but soon ditched sports for music, this being an all consuming activity of the brain and body. Thinking about music, creating music and reharsing all together and individually thus improvin their musical skills and being made aware of thei own talent created ballsy young men confident in their own abilities. The first studio recording for Rising was "On the Road to Freedom" featuring Urban Svensson and Magnus Svensson on vocals. Shortly thereafter Paul Utter was recruited as the singer for the band and the classic line-up of Rising was in place. The single 'Metal Bird / She's Got Bright Eyes' was recorded in Pahrda Studio in Stockholm and released on Pan Records.

Determined to do better Rising began recording what would become their magnum opus, the 'Just One Bite' tape. No stone was unturned to produce the ultimate Rising vehicle for world domination. Heroes in their hometown and never forgetting the love from the home turf Rising however wanted more and glanced at the bigger picture of Sweden, England and the world!. Much time was spent bombarding record companies both in person and by mail with cassette tapes leaving the Rising headquarters (aka the Svensson family house!) by the bus loads. Rising also tried to get gigs abroad, escpecially at the prestigious Marquee club in London, as a gig there seemed like an express way to the stars and guaranteed road to the top of success!. Rising did obtain some level of fame and fortune, but not as big as they had anticipated, aspired and worked for. A major record deal fell through at the last minute, leaving the band both inspired and disappointed. Fanzines from all over the world featured Rising and kept the momentum going and the boys hard at work. Writing new material, rehearsing and recorded was the focus throughout that first half of the 1980's. Playing live was always fun and Rising even got to perform abrouad when they visited Copenhagen for a one off gig.

The hard work ever the years however took a toll on the five guys and cracks began to appear. Paul the singer was let go and never replaced though several singers were tried and tested both live and in the studio. Peter the bassplayer was sacked and later reinstalled again. Disagreements over direction musically made Lars and Magnus quit the band in 1985. New people came on board and a new kind of Rising continued down a different avenue until Urban Svensson died in 1992 putting a stop to the band as he had been a driving musical force all along. The passion that produced these recordings has kept glowing through the years and an interest in Rising has made this record possible. It is with grreat pride and loving care that we present the album 'Inside the Universe' by Rising - Lars Berger

Info from Janne Starks Encyclopedia
Started out as a NWOBHM-influenced band on the first single, recorded a bunch of average metal demos before they recorded a full-length albuum with producer Göran Elmquist at the helm. He was however so disappointed with the mix that he refused to have his name on it. The album was never even released, only two songs appeared on the 'Grampian Heights' single, which was very poppy. The members on the first single were Magnus and Urban Svensson, Peter Andersson, Paul Utter and Lars Berger. In 1994 Urban, who was Andreas and Magnus brother, died of cancer. Urban, Andreas was ex-Remo, while Lars was in Gooseflesh and Electric Earth.