Nucleus Torn was founded in 1997 as a one-man band by Fredy Schnyder, a versatile musician playing a variety of instruments including acoustic and electric guitars, the piano, recorders, the hammered dulcimer, the bouzouki, percussions, the oud, and others. Two years later, Schnyder was joined in 2004 the band's second EP Krähenkönigin was released by the Swiss producer Kunsthall, following a two-track demo release titled Submission. In fact, Krähenkönigin had been recorded in 1998 by Fredy Schnyder alone, but it was not released until 2004 --- and even then the release was limited to 300 copies. Fredy Schnyder himself explains this delay in the production/release of Krähenkönigin by the fact that the material had originally been composed by him in "pieces for solo classical guitar" and without access to studio recording equipment. Stylistically, Krähenkönigin is a solo classical guitar album, with the tracks sharing the same general motif and almost comprising a single piece of music. The acoustic guitar themes would be further developed by the band in their later albums, but none of them any longer pertain to the "purely classical" genre as does Krähenkönigin. The three EPs were later remastered and re-released by the band on their compilation albumTravellers. In 2006, Nucleus Torn released their first full album Nihil; this was also their first release with the German label Prophecy Productions. The official information on the album mentions that it was the result of "roughly three years of labour". This album deviates in its musical style from the band's previous releases: if the EPs can be attributed to the folk rock, neoclassical or neofolk genres, Nihil features a decidedly broader stylistic pattern, bringing the band into the scene of progressive rock and extreme metal. The band's founding member Fredy Schnyder explains this change in the playing style by the desire to blend different genres to convey more emotions:
With ‘Nihil’, we want to cover a broad array of emotions, and for that, we use different styles of music. Apart from that, we wish to prove that different styles of music need not be mutually exclusive at all, if there is an adequate emotional framework for integrating various sounds.
Nihil is the first part of an album trilogy that was projected by the band. In 2008, the second part of the trilogy was released as a CD under the title Knell. The third and final part of the trilogy entitled Andromeda Awaiting was released by the same label in November, 2010. The official description of this album is as follows:
With every new album, Nucleus Torn open new vistas of sound inthe realm of avant-garde rock music. Fredy Schnyder, multi-instrumentalist and founder of this ambitious project from Switzerland, plays up to twenty electric and acoustic instruments and ventures radical musical innovations. Following "Nihil" and "Knell", "Andromeda Awaiting" provides the disillusioned, yet conciliatory completion of a conceptional trilogy. As on the two precursors, Nucleus Torn are creating a new sonic realm on "Andromeda Awaiting." This acoustic and ethereal production blends elements of Progressive Rock with influences from Early Music and Impressionism as well as Folk and Jazz. Unique musical and compositional abilities are reflected in a pioneering synthesis of various stylistic elements often deemed incompatible. With "Andromeda Awaiting", Nucleus Torn release the most daring and ambitious album of their career to date --- they have reinvented themselves and their music for the third time in a row.
Andromeda Awaiting received some high ratings from a number of international musical magazines, including 5/5 points by METAL OBS, 9/10 points by METALGLORY.DE, 6.5/7 points by METALNEWS.DE, 8/10 points by IMPERIUMI.NET. In December 2011, the band released a new album called Golden Age. Fredy Schnyder himself sees the new album as a "prequel to the trilogy" comprised by "Nihil", "Knell" and "Andromeda Awaiting".
Discography
For further information on the history of the releases, see the .
