The Sins of Thy Beloved

Biography

The group came together in November 1996 when Glenn Morten Nordbø, Arild Christensen, and Stig Johansen started it. They first used the name Purgatory but later picked something less common. Anita Auglend and Ola Aarrestad joined soon after, and the first demo All Alone was cut in early 1997. Anders Thue and Ingfrid Stensland came on board before the second demo Silent Pain was recorded in January 1998. Pete Johansen played violin on that demo but only became an official member when the debut full-length Lake of Sorrow was made later that year. Chronicles of Chaos gave that album a nine out of ten. A European tour followed, and then the second album Perpetual Desolation came out in 2000. During the next tour, Auglend, Thue, and Stensland got tired of traveling and left in 2001. A live recording was issued on CD and VHS that year but had limited distribution, making it rare. After those three departed, the band went quiet. Pete Johansen later moved on to play violin for Tristania and Sirenia. Unconfirmed rumors in 2007 suggested Auglend had come back, but a blog interview with Johansen later revealed the band had actually broken up in 2002. In 2013, Thue and Stig Johansen started the band Savn with Midnattsol singer Carmen Elise Espenæs. In 2016, Arild Christensen formed Rainarea with Nelly Khosrovyan.