Antestor is a Norwegian unblack metal band from Jessheim. Formed in 1989, he is one of the first unblack metal bands. Eager to start a movement of extreme Christian metal, Antestor is the only Christian metal band to have signed with Cacophonous Records, label preferably working with groups with public acquaintances with the satanist side of black metal such Dimmu Borgir, Sigh and Gehenna . The only album of Antestor produced by Cacophonous Records, The Return of the Black Death, largely demonstrated the influence of the movement unblack metal by selling 10,000 copies.
Late in the 1990s, they called their own style "sorrow metal", sorrow means "grief" in English, rather than black metal because of public affiliations between Norwegian black metal and satanism. HM Magazine says that by analyzing the progressive elements of their debut album Martyrium, Antestor can be described as ahead of their time in the Norwegian extreme metal scene.
The group has often changed training over the years. The current members are founding guitarist Lars Stokstad (Vemod), singer Ronny Hansen (Vrede), bassist Erik Normann Aanonsen, guitarist Thor Georg Buer, guitarist Robert Bordevik, drummer Jo Henning Børven and keyboardist Nickolas Main Henriksen. First singer Kjetil Molnes (Martyr) and drummer Svein Sander (Armoth) left the band around 2000 and members of a Norwegian unblack metal band affiliated with Antestor, Vaakevandring, have resumed their places. Renowned Norwegian drummer Jan Axel "Hellhammer" Blomberg has made drum tracks for Antestor's album The Forsaken in 2005 and their EP Det Tapte Liv.
In 1989, the band formed as Crush Evil in Jessheim, Norway. The founding members are Lars Stokstad, Kjetil Molnes, Øyvind Hope and Erling Jørgensen. Paul W. joins them later as a drummer. At first, their musical style was between death metal, doom metal and thrash metal. In 1991, they recorded their first demo, "The Defeat of Satan" , which consisted of three tracks and one outro. Crush Evil is a Christian group and they show it by the name of their training which means "crush the Evil" in English. For this, throughout their career, they will receive death threats from black metal extremists. The existence of the band creates a debate in the metal world. For example, Bård Faust of the Emperor group tackled the subject by discussing with Euronymous, founding member of the black metal band Mayhem, in his magazine Orcustus about the Norwegian scene: