At this time, Jake was playing with a death-metal band called "Vapid" who had an incredibly talented drummer called Gustav. Since Jake and Freddy already knew him, and also knew that he would do a great job behind the drums, Gustav was asked to be the drummer of the band. Even though it wasn´t really his bag, he accepted since he thought it would be a fun thing to do.Another guitarist was also necessary so another friend called Erik,(also a member of "Vapid" ) was asked to be a part of the band. He also accepted.The guys were also searching for a bassist but they couldn´t find any so the only solution was for Freddy to take the bass as well. He had never played this instrument before, only the guitar, but after a few rehersals, this turned out quite well anyway.
From the beginning, the idea was for Nostradameus to play just for fun, and was only going to participate in two rock-competitions in their home town. But in one of theese competitions, there was a man in the jury called Magnus Lundbäck, who immediately fell in love with the music of Nostradameus. He also was the chief of a label called Gain productions, and when the gig was over, he asked the very surprised guys if they had a demo. Since they didn't, he offered them to use his studio to record one, and after a few weeks of songwriting and other preparations ( Nostradameus only had one original song at this time ), they entered the studio on the 5-6 of December -98. The result was a real killer and the guys were really satisfied with it so on the 7th, the demo was sent away, but only to five labels, all german. The answer came two weeks later, from AFM-records who offered a contract at once and after some discussion, Nostradameus decided to sign with the label and did so in April -99.
During the spring and summer -99, the band was busy with writing and preparing new songs for the forthcoming album and in November -99, Nostradameus entered the studio again to record what was going to be the "Words of Nostradameus" album. The result of this recording turned out to be so good that the label decided to use the Finnvox studio in Helsinki to do the final mix of the album. This was, once again, a dream coming true to the band and even though they had to wait for about five months for a time in Finnvox ( it´s very hard to get a time with Mikko Karmila in this studio ) they decided that it was absolutely worth it. And it really was! The final product became so much better than the guys ever would have dreamed of.
Unfortunately, at this point of time, another problem had come up. Both Gustav and Erik had deciced to leave the band. They felt that it took too much time. Well, there was not so much to say about it. After all the band was just supposed to be "a fun thing" from the beginning and was now on its way to become something much bigger than that. So, without any hard feelings, Freddy and Jake started to search for some new members during the summer 2000. The first one they got in contact with was Michael Åberg. A very talented guitarist who played together with Magnus Rosén (Hammerfall) and Michael von Knorring (ex. Yngwie Malmsteen) in a cover band called M.M.M. Freddy just happened to be to be at the pub where they were playing one night and asked Michael if he´d like to try as the guitarist of Nostradameus once they had a new drummer. He said yes an the guys decided to stay in touch. Shortly after, Jake saw a note on the wall in a musicstore in Gothenburg about a hardrock/metal drummer who was looking for a band. So he wrote down the number and later on that evening, after having shared a couple of beers with Freddy, they decided to call this guy, Jesse. He seemed very enthusiastic and a few weeks later, the four guys started to reherse on the material. It turned out quite OK and since they both fitted so good as persons in the band, Jake and Freddy decided to take them in as permanent members in the autumn 2000. At this point of time it was decided that they had to get a bassist in the band also. It was no problem for Freddy to do both the bass and the vocals in the studio but it never was such a good idea when playing live shows. Jesse then came with the idea to contact an old friend of his, Thomas, who had a lot of experience from other bands where he´d played the bass. So they tried him and after the first gig with the new line-up, on November 15, Thomas was also a permanent member of the band.
In January -01 the band, now consisting of 5 members, started to concentrate on some new material for an upcoming second release. All the materiel was already written since Freddy and Jake have had plenty of time during the spring and summer -00 while the band didn´t have any more members. So the recording of the second cd, "The prophet of evil"-album was sceduled already for May the same year. So in the beginning of that month, the guys once again entered "Gain production"´s studio.Once the recording was done, it was again time to visit Mr. Karmila in "Finnvox" and as usual, he did a great job so the "Prophet..."-album was released in August -01. Less than a year after the debut.The new album received quite good reviews, eventhough they were not excellent...
But despite this fact, the guys finally got the opportunity to hit the roads for the first time for a major european tour as an opener for their labelmates Edguy. The only problem was that Jesse at this point of time, due to personal reasons, decided to leave the band. So a new drummer once again had to be recruited. Thomas came up with an idea of a friend of his that might be worth testing. This guy was Esko Salow and he, already from the start, made a tremendously stong impression on the rest of the band, so after the gig in Wacken, he was also a permanent member of the band. The tour lasted from the 2nd of November to the 8th of December and was a huge succes for all the parties involved. The ticketsales and the reactions of the audience was way much better than anyone dared to hope for before it started.
Since things, to this point, had gone quite fast (2 albums released in just 12 months) the guys felt a bit worried when the tour started since they almost didn´t have any new ideas for the future. But propably because of the very inspiring atmosphere, with the reactions of the fans during the gigs, the creativity was on top when they returned back home so in less than 2 months, enough material for a 3rd album was written. So in February -02, the guys once again hit the rehearsing room to prepare and arrange the new material.
The recording of what was going to be "The third prophecy"-album started in the summertime -02. This time, the guys decided to use a different studio than on the previous albums. First of all to get some new impressions, but also since the new materiel was a bit different, quite much more raw and heavy, than the previous ones. The recording was made in the KEG-house studio, situated on one of the islands outside Gothenburg, almost "at home" for Freddy and Jake. It was done in a very harmonic atmosphere and most of the time was used finding the right feeling in the recordings, something the guys didn´t put that much attention to on the previous albums when the main goal was to make tecnically perfect performances on each instrument. The result, however, was something quite extraordinary.
In September, the album was mixed, not in Finnvox this time, but in Studio Fredman in Gothenburg by Fredrik Nordström. The main reason was to acheive a little bit "rawer" sound, more a la "Heavy-metal" compared to the ordinary "perfect, but a bit soft"-sound that´s quite common in the Power-metal scene today. Of course, Fredrik sure didn´t disappoint anyone.
Since Nostradameus had some really nice experiences from the european tour with Edguy, the longing for another tour to promote the new album now grew stronger every day, and in the late autumn -02 the guys finally got the confirmation for another journey across Europe. This time together with HammerFall and their labelmates Masterplan...
The Reaper's Image
Nostradameus Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
They're telling emotion with draws and colours.
I see in my eye lids they're staring at me.
Eyes filled with hatred that's piercing my skin.
Was the tale right, it will show.
Gaze into the mirror and you will know.
Fallen angle with no face.
Forged by a man, with an own soul.
The mirror of death looks so strange.
Don't go too close, don't go near,
You will lose all you have
Because the reaper's still inside.
Drawn to the miror, drawn by its grace.
Enchanting reflections are calling my name.
God, I am curious, let's take a peak.
I'm drowning in endless eternity.
Was the tale right...
Forged by a man...
Fading, slowly away...
Caught by the man with no face.
Trapped in eternal flames...
Caught in, deep down in hell.
The myth of the mirror revealed to be true.
When looking too close, he is coming for you.
Slowly appearing, from nowhere he came.
And right there it was, The Reaper's Image.
Was the tale right...
Forged by a man...
The lyrics to Nostradameus's song The Reaper's Image tell the story of someone gazing at paintings along a narrow hall, but feeling uneasy due to the emotions and hatred emanating from them. They then gaze into a mirror, which is said to have been forged by a man with their own soul. The mirror is said to be the mirror of death, and the lyrics warn the listener not to go too close to it, as they will lose all that they have. Despite the warning, the person is drawn to the mirror by its grace and calls from within, leading them to drown in an endless eternity. Eventually, they are caught by the man with no face and trapped in eternal flames, deep down in hell.
Line by Line Meaning
Gazing at the paintings along the narrow hall.
Looking at the paintings hung on the narrow walls.
They're telling emotion with draws and colours.
The drawings and colors depict emotions.
I see in my eye lids they're staring at me.
I close my eyes and feel the paintings staring at me.
Eyes filled with hatred that's piercing my skin.
The eyes in the paintings seem to hate and pierce me.
Was the tale right, it will show.
The truth will reveal itself.
Gaze into the mirror and you will know.
You will know the truth by looking at the mirror.
Fallen angle with no face.
A faceless fallen angel.
Is the keeper of hell's entrance.
The guardian of the entrance to hell.
Forged by a man, with an own soul.
Created by a man with his own soul.
The mirror of death looks so strange.
The death mirror looks unusual.
Don't go too close, don't go near,
Do not get too close.
You will lose all you have
You will lose everything you possess.
Because the reaper's still inside.
Because the reaper is concealed within.
Drawn to the miror, drawn by its grace.
Drawn to the mirror by its elegance.
Enchanting reflections are calling my name.
The charming reflections are calling me closer.
God, I am curious, let's take a peak.
I am curious, let's take a look.
I'm drowning in endless eternity.
I am lost in an endless existence.
Fading, slowly away...
Slowly fading away.
Caught by the man with no face.
Trapped by the faceless man.
Trapped in eternal flames...
Caught in eternal fire.
Caught in, deep down in hell.
Trapped deep in hell.
The myth of the mirror revealed to be true.
The myth of the mirror is now revealed to be true.
When looking too close, he is coming for you.
When you get too close, he will come for you.
Slowly appearing, from nowhere he came.
Slowly appearing, he came out of nowhere.
And right there it was, The Reaper's Image.
And there it was, The Reaper's Image.
Was the tale right...
Was the story true...
Forged by a man...
Created by a man...
Contributed by Chloe Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.