Antestor is one of Norway's earliest unblack metal groups. In early years t… Read Full Bio ↴Antestor is one of Norway's earliest unblack metal groups. In early years they played a raw form of death metal with the stylistic touches of Black Metal and Christian lyrics. Now Antestor plays melodic black metal with philosophical lyrics about faith and death. They started their career during the start of Norway's "second wave of Black Metal", which led to them receiving much criticism from these bands, Mayhem in particular.

Antestor is the only Christian band to have an album released by Cacophonous Records, which also released records by bands such as Dimmu Borgir, Sigh and Blood Storm, and was actually dropped from Cacophonous Records after the label discovered that Antestor held Christian beliefs.

Antestor (Latin for "call to witness" or "testify") formed in 1990 in Norway under the name "Crush Evil". They released two demos early in their career, and in 1994 they recorded their debut album, Martyrium, although not released until 2000. They dubbed the style of their early work as "sorrow metal" rather than misapply the tag "black metal".
The band is vocally Christian and over the course of their career have received serious death threats because of this. Euronymous, the guitarist of the seminal black metal band Mayhem, once said, "The Militants of Norwegian black metal will force this band to split up." That never happened: Antestor was never forced to split apart and in an almost ironic twist of fate, the reputive Norwegian extreme metal drummer Jan Axel Blomberg (better known as Hellhammer, the drummer for Mayhem) was Antestor's session drummer on their latest two releases The Forsaken and Det Tapte Liv EP.

Their first demo was called The Defeat Of Satan. and contained three songs and an outro. The demo was originally released under their original band name "Crush Evil".

Then came Despair, a self-released demo, which was released under the band name Antestor. The demo starts with an intro and ends with a cover of an old Norwegian hymn, called Jesus, Jesus, Ver Du Hjå Meg ("Jesus, Jesus, Be With Me").

Martyrium was their first full-length album, but was not actually released in 1994 due to problems with their record label. However tape copies circulated in up to fifth generation copies and their audience grew fast. Antestor did not release a full-length album until 1998, when they released The Return of the Black Death on Cacaphonous Records.

The Return of the Black Death was actually dropped from Cacophonous Records after the label discovered that Antestor held Christian beliefs. Because of this, there are not many pressings of the album, and it is now rare. It is still sold at some internet-based Christian underground music stores.

However, The Return of the Black Death was well-received by both Christian and non-Christian black metal fans. Antestor was soon signed by Endtime Productions, a metal record label that also helped start the career of Extol. In 2000, Endtime released Martyrium.

Over the next several years, the band remained somewhat quiet; they did not release any more albums until 2003, when they re-released their two earliest demos on one CD, titling it The Defeat of Satan. By then, they had replaced several of their members as well. Their original vocalist, Martyr, left the band, as did several others. Fortunately for Antestor, the breakup of another Christian metal band in Norway, Vaakevandring, led to several former Vaakevandring members joining Antestor. Namely, Ronny Hansen, adopting the new moniker Vrede, became Antestor's new vocalist, and Morten Sigmund Mageroy (known in Antestor as Sygmoon) stepped in as the new keyboardist. Ann-Mari Edvardsen joined the band as a female vocalist. The drummer, Svein Sander (in Antestor, Armoth), left the band during this time also, and Antestor would not find a new full-time drummer for several more years.

In 2004, Antestor released their first set of new songs since The Return of the Black Death, in an EP called Det Tapte Liv ("The Lost Life"). Det Tapte Liv concentrated less on the black metal aspects of Antestor's style and more on instrumental songs. However, it did show that the band was preparing for their 2005 full-length, The Forsaken. Hellhammer played all drums on both of these releases, with new drummer Tony Kirkemo joining the band later in 2005 as live session drummer. His participation on the recording session caused some controversy among metal press and black metal fans. In an interview with the Russian metal site Metal Library on January 7, 2007, Blomberg says "To be honest, it [playing for Antestor] was a big 'f--- off!' to them all [Mayhem colleagues and record company]. I will repeat again that I decide what I do and I play not only in black metal groups." The band also asked Hellhammer to play live for them, but Blomberg refused. It was not a question about their beliefs, as Hellhammer explains: "In my opinion, black metal today is just music. I will tell you that neither I nor other members of Mayhem never really were against religion or something else. We are primarily interested in music." Ronny Hansen commented on Blomberg's appearance:
“ First of all Jan Axel "Hellhammer" is a total professional. He started up together with the secular scene and worse (laughs) but he doesn't care if it's secular or Christian. He knew from the start what Antestor stands for. And maybe if we get the chance, we are more than willing to use him again. Cause his drumming is outstanding. I think that he is the very best drummer in the scene and we are just very lucky to have borrowed his brilliance.

Some of the members still play in Vaakevandring, who played a reunion gig 2007 together with Antestor at the Endtime Festival. Rumors that Antestor announced their disbandment at the March 31, 2007 Endtime Festival turned out to be false, they only stated that they're going on a hiatus in order to recruit some new members.

In 2009 Ronny Hansen announced that Antestor were looking for new members. By the middle of 2010 they had a band together who were writing songs and beginning to prepare for gigging once more.

Battlefield
Antestor Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

We Are God's Servants
Armed For War
Our Lives Are Sacrified
To Die For The Lord

Mountains Are Shaking
We're Marching Ahead
God Uses His Servants

To Help The Mislead

Rejoice In The Lord
Through Him We'll Fight
We'll Get Our Reward
When The Time Is Right

/: The Lord Is Our Master
O Lord Make Us Win
The Lord Is Our Master
Our strength is from within :/

God's Word - Our Sword
The Faith - Our Shield
In God's People
Truth Is Revealed

Lift Up His Name
The Battle Has Begun
Listen You Mortal
Obey, No Use To Run

The Almighty Is Here
Calling Your Name

We Are God's Servants
Armed For War
Our Lives Are Sacrified
To Die For The Lord

Mountains Are Shaking
We're Marching Ahead
God Uses His Servants
To Help The Mislead

Rejoice In The Lord
Through Him We'll Fight
We'll Get Our Reward
When The Time Is Right

/: The Lord Is Our Master
O Lord Make Us Win

The Lord Is Our Master
Our strength is from within :/

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Antestor's "Battlefield" describe a scene of a holy war where the soldiers fighting are God's servants, armed for battle with their lives already sacrificed to die for the Lord. The soldiers are marching ahead with complete trust in their Lord, and their goal is to rescue those who are misled.

The verses suggest that mountains are shaking, and God's servants are the backbone in this battlefield. The chorus highlights and affirms the faith of the soldiers, suggesting that they are confident because the Lord is their master, and all their strength is from Him. The purpose of the battle is not only to win a battle but to rejoice in the Lord, fight for Him, and get their reward when the right time comes.

The song inspires us to be soldiers of God, highlighting that God's Word is the sword that we fight with, and our shield is faith. The lyrics encourage us to lift His name, for the battle has already begun, and to listen to the Almighty, acknowledging that there is no use running away from Him, for He calls our name.

In summary, the lyrics of "Battlefield" by Antestor are an exhortation to trust in the Lord and to fight for Him. They remind us that we are God's servants, ready to be used to help the misled.

Line by Line Meaning

We Are God's Servants
We are believers in God, dedicated to serving Him.

Armed For War
We are prepared to fight against evil and sin.

Our Lives Are Sacrified
We are willing to give up our lives for our faith and for the Lord.

To Die For The Lord
We are willing to die for our faith and the Lord's cause.

Mountains Are Shaking
This struggle against evil is so significant that even the earth itself trembles.

We're Marching Ahead
We're boldly moving forward towards spreading the Lord's message.

God Uses His Servants
God works through us to help those who have lost their way.

To Help The Mislead
We aim to assist those who have strayed from the path of righteousness.

Rejoice In The Lord
We find joy and strength in our faith in God.

Through Him We'll Fight
We will persevere in our struggles against evil with the help of God.

We'll Get Our Reward
Our efforts in fighting for God and righteousness will be rewarded at the right time.

When The Time Is Right
We will receive our reward in God's own time.

The Lord Is Our Master
God is our leader and we follow His teachings and commands.

O Lord Make Us Win
We pray for God to grant us victory in our fight against sin and darkness.

Our strength is from within
Our strength comes from faith in God and His power.

God's Word - Our Sword
We use God's teachings as a tool in our fight against evil and injustice.

The Faith - Our Shield
Our belief and trust in God provides us with protection and support against the attacks of the enemy.

In God's People
God's true followers share the same values, beliefs, and faith.

Truth Is Revealed
Through God's teachings, the true essence of life, morality, and faith is uncovered.

Lift Up His Name
We exalt God's name and give Him the praise and honor He deserves in all our work.

The Battle Has Begun
Our fight started and we have begun the struggle against sin and evil.

Listen You Mortal
Pay attention and take heed, you mere human beings.

Obey, No Use To Run
There is no escape from the consequences of evil and sin except to follow God's teachings and commands.

The Almighty Is Here
God is present and will work in our favor as we fight for His cause.