Axel Feller

Escapetor welcomes guitarist Axel Feller. Axel joined Escapetor a couple of weeks ago and immediately started rehearsing with us in our studio. Axel brings 18 years of guitar-playing and a kick-ass heavy metal attitude to the band.

Axel has played in various bands in Germany; Brain Damage, Stromkreis, Bonanzaz. After having moved to Norway Axel spent the resent years focused on composing and recording demos of his songs and awaiting the right opportunity to join a band. Axel’s recordings can be heard on his MySpace page.

Escapetor are rehearsing with Axel to get him up to speed on our songs from Moments (2005) and Misanthropia (2009) for the gigs at Chevy´s on May 7th and Helgåråkken June 19th. Beyond those two events, we assume start working on the material we have prepared for Escapetor´s planned release late 2010. We wish Axel welcome on the team, and wish both him and us the best of luck for an exiting time to come.

Escapetor will shortly announce a new member to the band. Since Ole Egeli´s departure during the fall of 2009, the need for a second guitarist has been apparent, even though Escapetor kept on playing live-shows with Ragnars guitar alone. Finally the right candidate got our attention. This is a serious and talented guitarist with excellent guitar skills, live-experience and a strong sense for composing and arranging rock music with emphasis on metal. Escapetor will announce the poor dude properly in person in April when new promo-shots are available.

The decision to take on another musician in the band will slightly affect our plans for the new record. Until further notice the planned recording sessions for May 2010 will be delayed to get our new guy a chance to participate on the recordings and on arranging the new material. This will probably postpone the release-date of the record as well. Regarding live performances we expect to be ready for the stage by mid-May. The next live-performance will be Helgåråkken June 19.

Until next time, stay tuned!

Escapetor.com has had some downtime due to maintenance. The new simplified layout reflects the need for a web solution that are easier to update & maintain. Previous content will be added in,.. slowly…

Thanx, Pyro! “Promising new norwegian metal” was the verdict we got for “Suffocate”, the opening track on Misanthropia. The playlist is available right here.

PRESS-RELEASE: After 18 months of song-writing, line-up changes and a new creative direction, Escapetor is proud to announce the release of “Misanthropia”, a 5-track self-produced/self-financed CD.

Escapetor was originally established in 1999 by Ragnar Nord-Varhaug and Leif-Ove Haugstad as metal-band. A total of 5 CD’s was released between 1999 and 2005 with various changes to the line-up. Mats-Henning Reppen joined Escapetor in 2007 on vocals. Escapetor immediately started writing new songs and record a number of demo tracks. In May 2008 Ole Egeli joined on lead-guitar (previously k[nine], Imprint, Gehenna) and Henning Jansen joined the band as bassist.

Escapetor rehearsed the new material and performed the songs live a couple of times in 2008. In December 2008 Escapetor recorded the 5 tracks over 8 weeks, finalizing recordings in January 2009. The recording took place at Studio Valhalla (http://www.studiovalhalla.com) with producer/tech. Ragnar Nord-Varhaug.

“Misanthropia” reflects a slight change of Escapetor shape, form and content. The core element of old-school thrash metal is retained whilst elements of progressive and more melodic metal are thrown into the mix to defend Escapetor as a band with a future and an attitude that will continue to build a bigger audience.

The songs on “Misanthropia” was created and written as a joint effort by the band members during rehearsals in the studio and the lyrics are written with no common theme or topic in mind. Still, the songs ended up in the same sphere of a ‘fuck-the-world’ attitude where suffering, misery and despair as a common theme. The title “Misanthropia” was chosen to reflect a state of dislike, distrust, and hatred of human character and antisocial behaviour.

The official release of “Misanthropia” is celebrated with a concert at Tribute in Sandnes, held on Saturday April 18th 2009. All 5 tracks of the CD are available for online listening on MySpace, Spotify, WIMP, iTunes, eMusic etc