The Third and the Mortal


The 3rd and the Mortal were a Norwegian experimental metal band, founded in the city of Trondheim, Norway, in 1990, by Rune Hoemsnes, Geir Nilssen and Trond Engum. The band started out as a melodic death metal band with singer Terje Buaas, shifting to doom metal, mixing distorted guitars and heavy drumming with clean guitars and vocals from Kari Rueslåtten. The band went on to experiment with genres such as progressive rock, jazz, ambient, folk and electronica.

History

The story of the band began in 1990, then known as Nightfall, consisting of Rune Hoemsnes, Trond Engum, Geir Nilsen and Terje Buaas. In 1992, Kari Rueslåtten replaced Buaas and, together with Finn Olav Holthe, they became The 3rd And The Mortal. The band were one of the forerunners of the atmospheric metal scene having been one of the first to have a leading female singer, they inspired bands such as The Gathering, Flowing Tears and Nightwish. Their first EP Sorrow was released in 1994 followed by the album Tears Laid in Earth in 1994. After Rueslåtten's departure in 1995 the band had Ann-Mari Edvardsen join as vocalist. With her, the band released full-length albums Painting on Glass in 1996 and explored an even more experimental sound in 1997 with In This Room.
After the departure of Edvardsen and an absence of 5 years, the band returned in 2002 with Memoirs, an album with recordings made during previous years. A new female vocalist was found in Kirsti Huke, who is present on the majority of songs, with second vocalist Andreas Elvenes backing her up on a couple of tracks. Memoirs differs from previous albums by being more electronics based. After Memoirs, the band did a small tour in Mexico City on July 19, 2002, along with eight shows in Germany and the Netherlands during September and October 2002.
In 2004, the band released EPs And Rarities. This is a compilation consisting of the Sorrow and Nightswan EPs + the b-side of the Stream single and the bonus-track from the Japanese In This Room album. In 2005, the band released their last album Project Bluebook: Decade of Endeavour, which is a compilation EP with two new studio tracks, another unreleased song performed live in 1998 and four different live versions of Mortal classics recorded on the European tour in 2002. The last known recording from the band is a track on the tribute compilation to Patrik Fitzgerald, called All Sewn Up, in 2009.

Members

Final line-up

Studio albums