VIXIVI



BAND NAME: VIXIVI
GENRE: Symphonic Unblack Metal, Experimental/Industrial/Black
STATUS: Split-up
LOCATION: Norway (Hønefoss)

Years active:
November 1998 - June, 2001
2002 - ????

Most of the band's music is symphonic black metal in a fairly standard 90s European style, but some (primarily "Death Circus") is far more experimental.

"I`m telling you some of my background for creating this band: I was in a period in my life where I felt like satan had taken me away from God and the love of Jesus Christ. I wanted to create a band that was against all the evil that had filled my mind at that time. I wanted to get out of this "hell", and my first lyrics where pretty much about satan`s death, and the survival for the holy people of God, taken from the Revelation in the Bible." (see Turn or Burn interview below)

According to the "Turn or Burn" interview, there were plans for Pål Dæhlen (Frosthardr, Vaakevandring) to play drums on one of VIXIVI's releases. It's currently unclear if that ended up happening.

The band name is meant to be read as a strange form of Roman numerals.
VI + X + IV + I... Thus, 6 + 10 + 4 + 1 = 21.
21 is 3x7, thus, 777.
Or when the band name is reversed,
I + VI + X + IV... Thus, 1 + 6 + 10 + 4 = 21.
Also 3x7, thus 777 again.

Last-known contacts:
tzestigmatico [AT] hotmail [DOT] com
zestigma [AT] iname [DOT] com

Lineup:
Andreas "Zestigma" Gerdén - All instruments, Vocals

Links:
Official site @ archive.org  (Freewebtown)
Official site @ archive.org (Tripod)
Possible third link? Can't get it to work, though.
Interview 1 (tripod)
Interview 2 (ziggo.nl)
Interview 3 (turn or burn)

Unofficial links:
Fan Myspace
Fan Myspace @ archive.org

Discography:



Søkende sjel (demo, March, 1999, Independent)
Format: Cassette, single-sided

The Turn or Burn interview indicates (but doesn't state outright) this was the first thing the project ever released. Total runtime is about 25 minutes. Lyrics are in Norwegian and are "pretty much [. . .] from the Bible, about satan`s death and everything around that".

The original lyrics to "Et vissent hjerte" are currently unavailable but an English translation can be seen near the bottom of this page.

1) Intro - Church Bells, instrumental
2) Et vissent hjerte
3) Mørkets fortapelse
4) Ondskap
5) Blodstrøm
6) Den siste kamp
7) Søkende sjel
8) Outro - Classic Guita
r, instrumental

(artwork
not
available)

Spiritual Modification (demo, July, 1999, Independent)
Format: Cassette

This demo, "is a tribute to God and Jesus for watching over me in my hard times. Lyrics is more worshipping of God and a thanks to Christ for saving my soul. The sound on this demo is brutal and atmospheric unblack-metal with some doom/death-metal now and then." Runtime is about 20 minutes.

The tracklist I've found online shows only 2 songs, but the Turn or Burn interview states there are 5 songs (three normal, and an intro and outro).

1) I Worship You Master
track length unknown, lyrics:
Master I extol you, your name I'm lifting high
In the darkest time you will shine
On the day when you return everyone will see
God is Lord forever, and Christ will master be

Make all evil forces
Fade away from me
In the name of Jesus
Satan cannot be!

Master of all time
Come and save my soul
Cause you I'll always worship
Since you have made me whole

Herre, du er større enn alle andre guder
Din trone står til evig tid
Herre, bevar du meg og min sjel
La alt ondt gå meg forbi

Amen


2) Black Influences
track length, lyrics unknown

(+ possibly 3 other songs?)

(artwork
not
available)

Spiritual Modification / Søkende sjel (demo/compilation, year/label unknown)
Format: Cassette

Both releases on one tape. I currently don't have any more info.

??) Intro - Church Bells
??) Et vissent hjerte
??) Mørkets fortapelse
??) Ondskap
??) Blodstrøm
??) Den siste kamp
??) Søkende sjel
??) Outro - Classic Guita
r
??) I Worship You Master
??) Black Influences

(+ possibly 3 other songs?)



Forever Eternal (demo)

Left: December, 1999, Independent, CD-R (left)
Right: year uncertain, Cassette (right)

According to contributor "Y", the artwork for the CD-R version was yellowish, but the pictures on Discogs show a bluish color.

"The style is much more symphonic and strange now, I like to say that my music has changed from regular unblack-metal into experimental dark metal symphonies." 2 songs on this demo reuse an "intro part with classic guitar" that was first used on the Spiritual Modification demo. Clean vocals were used on one song. The screaming used on this demo was apparently so intense that Zestigma "could taste blood in [his] mouth after [he] was finished screaming."

Runtime is about 27 minutes.

1) The Weaker Part

2) Dawn of Time
4:32, lyrics:
Through the struggle of earthly life
Towards the dawn of time
Longing for that day to come
Waiting on the Holy One

Until that day, You I'll serve
Until that time, never loose my fate in You
When Your return is here
All creatures will bow for You

Dawn of time, when You race
You will judge, all evil from all good
Oh God, must You show us one day
What is the right and eternal way?

Sighting the rise of Son
It will be the dawn of time
Longing for that day to come
Waiting on the Holy One


3) Not to Eternal Remain
2:11, lyrics unknown

4) Forever Eternal

5) No Forgiveness

6) Humility

7) In the End...



VIXIVI in Split with Unevil Hopes (Split, December, 1999, Independent)
Format: Cassette

As the name implies, a split with Unevil Hopes.

Side A has VIXIVI's songs (which are taken from the "Forever Eternal" demo). Side B has Unevil Hopes' songs.

A1) VIXIVI - The Weaker Part
A2) VIXIVI - Dawn of Time 4:32
A3) VIXIVI - Not to Eternal Remain 2:11
A4) VIXIVI - Forever, Eternal
A5) VIXIVI - No Forgiveness
A6) VIXIVI - Humility
A7) VIXIVI - In the End...

(artwork
not
available)

Forever Eternal (album, UNRELEASED)

Planned to be released as an album on Terathrone Productions in spring, 2000. Never released.
I don't currently know if the tracklist was going to be different at all, or if it was going to be the exact same as the demo version.

(artwork
not
available)

Annexus (demo, UNRELEASED)

Recorded spring-summer of 2000. Unreleased because Zestigma was unsatisfied with the recordings.
Tracklist was never given. Mentioned [here].

(artwork
not
available)

title unknown (split, UNRELEASED)

Planned split with Subiaco Foothills. Sean confirmed this split was never released.

(artwork
not
available)

Velsignet (NOT SURE IF RELEASED)
Format unknown

Mentioned [here]. Not mentioned anywhere else on either of his websites. Apparently had a cover, but it wasn't saved on archive.org. No more info is currently known.


Sweet Kiss and Faraway Dreams (demo, January, 2001, Independent)
Format: CD-R
link expired

I would definitely consider this an album, but Zestigma himself said it was "released as a demo". So...?

Note, for track 15, a word is highlighted in orange. According to the person who sent these lyrics to me (THANK YOU!), the background image in the lyric booklet renders that particular word illegible. They think it may be "reast" (a misspelling of the word "rest"), but aren't sure.

1) Sorrow
4:58, lyrics unknown

2) Skygge
1:56, lyrics:
Skygge av onde, sorte makter
Vik ifra mitt åsyns tanker
Har forstummet mine tunger
Hvorfor ser jeg ingenting?
Kom med Din renhet
Skremt til døden av den onde
Vil for alltid vike fra


3) You Are
2:37, lyrics:
Jesus You are my Lord and saviour
Jesus You are my refuge and my shelter
Jesus You are my love, my creator
Jesus You are my strength when I'm weak
Jesus You are my eternal hope
Jesus You are always there for me
Thank You


4) For evig
4:55, lyrics:
Jeg er blitt forvirret
Atmosfæren - kald og mørk
Dystre toner slår
Mitt hjerte søker
Etter fylde
Alt mørket svinner bort
Hver eneste skygge skal forsvinne
Intet mørke skal leve i meg
Vik bort
Jeg er svak, ta tak i meg
Grip min arm, før meg hjem
Hvordan skal jeg finne veien tilbake
Jeg vil være hos Deg for evig
Jeg lar meg lede
Av onde tanker
Måtte de vike fra meg i denne stund
I Ditt navn
Be en bønn for meg


5) Suffer
1:36, lyrics:
I look onto the crimson moon
A blackened sky, thunder of night
Your soul is judged by The Almighty
You shall forever suffer


6) Haunt
00:30, lyrics:
The evil one is always on haunt for getting his claws on some human flesh and bone.
Your soul he is taking with him down.
Don't let him get a hold on your thoughts or your heart - your spirit should be free!


7) Take Me
3:29, lyrics:
Come and save my soul
Let me be Yours forever
Fill me up with Your strength
Let me forever serve You
I give You my life
Form it after Your desires
Let me live a life for You
In You, together with You, oh God
You see my most sinful desires
I confess them for You now
I ask You please to forgive them all
So I fully can serve Your name
Take me
Save me
Use me


8) Creation
3:30, instrumental

9) Silence
1:02, instrumental

10) Through the Landscape of Death
4:29, lyrics:
Walking through the landscape of death
Bringing forth the Spirit of God
In his name I can do anything
Save the lost ones from eternal suffering


11) Perfect Version of Man
2:14, lyrics:
Had to suffer
The perfect offer
Perfect version of man
Saviour of my soul


12) Open Your Heart
3:47, lyrics:
Open your heart
Let Him fill your needs
Call on His name
Let Him show you love


13) Frozen Spirit
3:35, lyrics:
Frozen, soon dead, lost, without hope
Crushed heart, bound to evil, never been free
Open your heart, let the master in
Set your spirit free, melt away the snow


14) Renew Me
3:39, lyrics:
Give me Your love, renew my heart and spirit
Cleanse away my mistakes, let it be crucified
All my doubt, prove to me - You are reality
Take away all my sin, renew my thoughts and will
Let me die with You, let me die for You
Give me strength to suffer for You, 'cause You suffered for me
In this time of need for love
I give my life to You
And I'll forevermore
Trust in You, that You will give me Your renewal


15) Sweet Kiss, and Far Away Dreams
2:53, lyrics:
You surrender to the presence of false
With the creeping claw eating you from within
Retain in the shadow of swine
Your track - the false, wrong way
With your point of mind, you surrender to your enemy
These thoughts, deep in your heart so cold
They convince yourself to understand
That you are the right stone on the construction
So your own eyes can see the false as truth
I tell - there is no such thing
For I have been renewed
Was lost in darkness, as an unknowed dusted piece
I replaced my loneliness with sweet kiss and faraway dreams
I was longing and my eyes they opened
I was no longer all alone
As I saw the light flashed in front of me
Embraced me with love, of truth and rea*
Teared apart by the world you swallow
And the world will swallow you


16) Infest
1:05 (screams, no lyrics)

17) Når mørket kommer
7:33, lyrics:
Når mørket kommer
Skal jeg være klar
Jeg skal befale det
Å vike ifra meg
La alle onde makter
Nå vike i ditt navn
Sving ditt sverd å drep
Ånder som vil prøve seg på meg
Jeg er ikke redd
For Du er med meg
Hvilken kraft kan vel overvinne
Den kraft i Deg jeg har
Nå er tiden, dette er tiden
For å bringe verden inn i lyset
Se de vandrer, lysets barn
For å hente sjeler hjem
Med Herrens sverd, fremad
Mørket skal trampes ned
Verdens dager er snart talte
La ingen sjeler gå fortapt


18) This Endless Pain
3:21, lyrics:
Evil surrounds me
Darkness fills me inside
Nothing seems to matter
I will go down under
I've lost my self-control
Something else is in charge
I can see nothing
Where is something to hold onto?
Break out!
From this endless pain
Seek the source of pure love
Let it fill you up
Oh, take me Lord
Let me be Your child
I want to forever be with You


19) Come You Spirits
3:14, lyrics:
Come you spirits of light
Let's worship the master of times
Glorify Him over the world
Let His name fill all the heavens
Lift your voices to the sky
And see the grace of Him
Who sits on his Father's right hand
Jesus, ruler over everything!
Let your tongues tell over the world
Of Him who set you free
The only one who is worthy
All praises to Him shall be


20) Receive
2:51, lyrics:
If you are from nothing and will end up as nothing
Where is the reason for you to live?
God created you to fellowship with Him
But you have fallen away from Him
How deep He wishes to give you love?
He gave His Son for you!
Will you receive Me now when I took all your guilt and died for you?
You don't believe, but it is true
Will you give Me your life
And live in heaven for eternity?
You cannot see, I set you free
Jesus gave His life
So you can live with Him
Together with Him in heaven
Embraced by the Father with love
Set an end to this meaningless time
And get a new life with God
Through the blood of Christ
The true reason of you is there


(artwork
not
available)

Sweet Kiss and Far Away Dreams - E.E. (demo, 16 April, 2001, Independent)
Format: CD, limited 30 copies
link expired

"E.E." stands for "Exclusive Edition". Includes a bonus track ("Evaporate") and alternate "special" versions of tracks 14 and 15.

See above for the lyrics to the "normal" songs on this!

1) Sorrow 4:58
2) Skygge 1:56
3) You Are 2:37
4) For evig 4:55
5) Suffer 1:36
6) Haunt 00:30
7) Take Me 3:29
8) Creation
3:30
9) Silence 1:02
10) Through the Landscape of Death 4:29
11) Perfect Version of Man 2:14
12) Open Your Heart 3:47
13) Frozen Spirit 3:35
14) Renew Me (SPECIAL VERSION)
15) Sweet Kiss, and Far Away Dreams (SPECIAL VERSION)
16) Infest 1:05
17) Når mørket kommer 7:33
18) This Endless Pain 3:21
19) Come You Spirits 3:14
20) Receive 2:51
21) Evaporate (track length unknown) (BONUS)

(artwork
not
available)

title unknown (UNRELEASED)

 From the band's bio:
"Many have later asked for some new material from this band [...] In light of this there was a full orchestral disc recorded in 2002, which was supposed to be the official latest disc from VIXIVI. Noone has ever seen or heard anything from these recordings, and only the future will show if it will ever be available."


Death Circus (album)

14 October, 2003 - 4 June, 2004, Independent, CD, promo, limited edition
13 October, 2005, Independent, Digital, official website

On the download page, there is no link for "For the Sun Shall Fall". HOWEVER, ALL OTHER SONGS CAN STILL BE DOWNLOADED. Open each song in a new tab. Let archive.org redirect the page (should take a couple seconds), then you should get a prompt to save each song file.

Also, regarding "For the Sun Shall Fall", there's no URL on archive.org for the song. The song IDs just go from "My Dear" (135792) right to "Scream" (135802). So presumably, this song was never actually released?

About the CD version, there apparently was one after all. On the download page, it says, "Zines, radios, stores, labels and distributors. Proove your existence and ask for the Death Circus promo." The only thing is, I don't know when this promo was made (Metal Archives says 14 October, 2003, but I don't know), how many copies were made, if "For the Sun Shall Fall" was on that promo, etc... However, it was available on the first version of the page, saved 4 June 2004. So sometime between 14 October, 2003 when the new site went live, and then.

Zestigma is variously credited on the page as Zestigma VIX ("songs and lyrics", "effects and industrial works"), The Zestigmatic Orchestra ("strings"), and Zestigma IVI (mixing).

"This is a disc of experiments, rather than an straight forward album." [sic]

NOTE ABOUT THE TRACKLIST: In the file tags, a few of the songs have alternate song titles listed. The reason for this is currently unknown. These alternate titles are:
2) War of the Spirit; 4) Blossom; 6) Dream

1) Vixivisich Igmazest 00:40
2) Spirits 3:15
3) In Memorian 00:34
4) Scars of All 2:28
5) Winds 00:41
6) Your Eyes 1:31
7) My Dear 2:14
8) For the Sun Shall Fall
9) Scream 00:46
10) Child 3:42
11) Igmazestich Ivixiv 00:46


+ OFFICIAL ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS +
- "Et vissent hjerte"
The black forests is filled with darkness
Hate and anxiety fills it`s ground
The master of darkness will the sorrow bring
With his hands filled with blood

Our Master of life, will use his wisdom
Rule shall he that`s without fear
Satan has fear of the Master of light
And the darkness will forever be conquered

Satans demons must fade away from the light
The light is not the devil worthy
Our Lord of mercy will forever give...
...Satan`s men a withered heart

Doomed is Satan and his servants
To eternal death in the fire of hell
Forever they will suffer, and their brain will feel
That the death is theirs, the eternal pain

- the Norwegian part from "I Worship You Master"
Lord, You are greater then all other Gods
Your throne, it stands forever
Lord, save you me and my soul
Let all no evil enter me



__________________________________________________
IncompletePage, CouldUseBetterImages, UncertainInfo, SimilarTo
INFO:
Way too much stuff to mention. If you have anything, let me know. Thanks!
IMAGES:
Most of the images here could use better versions.


Similar to: [SECULAR] Diabolical Masquerade, Baxaxaxa, Dimmu Borgir, My Infinite Kingdom, Oracle of Fire, The Downspiral to Hell, Troll (Innlandet, Nor), [CHRISTIAN] Kastimonia, Antestor, Geistkrieg, (add more later)

4 comments:

Y said...

Great job man, I use to be sick for this project years ago. I remember cover art of "Forever, eternal" was yellow-ish. Here is full booklet of split with unevil hopes https://ibb.co/JFD7Wjf. I ill send you one interview from Turn or Burn zine laten, I need to find it. Have you tried to ask this guy for covers? http://exact3.tripod.com/christian_metal_demo_list.html He's suppose to has some VIXIVI stuff.

Y said...

And here is current Andreas Gerden (ex-Hansen, ex-Zestigma) website http://andreasgerden.com/

Nocturnal Iridescence said...

Hello. I see you commented on several pages. Thank you!! :) It's funny you mention "being sick" for this project -- I am sick right now!

I'm very tired (coughing, etc) but when I feel better, I will go through ALL of your comments, and update the pages you commented on. Thank you again!! :)

Y said...

You're welcome.