Belphegor (band)

Belphegor
Belphegor performing live at Rock the Lake festival in Finkenstein am Faaker See, Austria in September 2007.
Background information
Also known as	Betrayer
Origin	Salzburg, Austria
Genres	Blackened death metal
Years active	1991–present
Labels	Napalm, Nuclear Blast
Website	www.belphegor.at
Members	Helmuth Serpenth
Past members	Sigurd Hagenauer Maxx Chris Marius "Reverend Mausna" Klausner Bartholomäus "Barth" Resch Florian "Torturer" Klein Nefastus

Belphegor is a blackened death metal band from Salzburg, Austria. They originally formed in 1991 under the name Betrayer before changing their name in 1993. They are named after the demon Belphegor.

Belphegor was founded as Betrayer in 1991 by vocalist and bassist Maxx, guitarists Helmuth and Sigurd, and drummer Chris. The band released their first demo Kruzifixion in April 1991, and Unborn Blood later on. After adopting the name Belphegor in 1993, they released another demo, Bloodbath in Paradise on Maxi-CD format. At somepoint before or after the release of this demo, Maxx departed from the band, resulting in Helmuth assuming his role as both vocalist and guitarist of Belphegor since. In between 1993 and 1996 session member A-X performed bass, after which bassist Mario "Marius" Klausner joined the band as a full-time member.

The band was briefly signed to Perverted Taste Records, the label on which the demo Obscure and Deep was released in 1994. This release featured a cover of the Black Sabbath song Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Their first album, The Last Supper, was released by Lethal Records in January 1995. At this time the band's logo was also redesigned to include two inverted crosses surrounded by blood.

The band's second album Blutsabbath was released in October 1997, featuring Man (of Mastic Scum) on session drums. This was followed by an eighteen date tour of Europe in April and May 1998 with Behemoth and Ancient. The band's debut album The Last Supper was rereleased in 1999 and came clad in all new artwork and featured an additional six extra tracks from the Obscure And Deep EP.

The following year, the third album Necrodaemon Terrorsathan was released by Last Episode (nowadays known as Black Attakk), where Man again performed session drums. The band eventually left Last Episode and later denounced them as a "rip-off label". In January 2001, Belphegor headlined a few shows at outdoor venues at 'Fuck The Commerce IV', 'With Full Force VIII' and 'Hell On Earth' in Germany with support from Dunkelgrafen and Dawn of Dreams. In 2002, Belphegor played at the Summerbreeze, Brutal Assault and Morbide Festspiele prior to further German gigs in December. It was also around then when Belphegor first recruited drummer Torturer (Mor Dagor) and bassist Barth. After releasing their live album Infernal Live Orgasm on their own label Phallelujah Productions, they signed with Napalm Records.