简介：Falconer is a Swedish power metal band from Mjölby, formed in 1999. Founded by the former guitarist of Mithotyn, Stefan Weinerhall. Falconer carry on many of the traditions set by Weinerhall's previous band and play a style of power metal that utilises folk instrumentation and melody to create a more medieval sound.\n \nWhen the band Mithotyn dissolved in 1999, Stefan went on to what would later become Falconer, with the same kind of melodies and epic lyrics. But now the mind was set on a clear vocalist. After a while a demo was recorded and Mathias Blad was found to do the vocals as a session member.\n \nThis demo was sent to different labels throughout Europe and after some time there were several contracts to choose between. Since the demo was recorded with a drum machine, Stefan realised that he had to get an actual drummer if there would be an album recording in the future. Karsten Larsson (also ex-Mithotyn) wasn't difficult to convince in joining Falconer. Mathias was also enthusiastic to join the band on a more permanent basis as his former appearance in the band had resulted in an overwhelming response from fans and finally resulted in a record deal with Metal Blade Records.\n \nFinally in November 2000, the band entered the Los Angered Recording (now Sonic Train Studios) with Andy LaRocque and Jacob Hansen behind the knobs. It was a three-week session for one hour of music, leading to a tight schedule. The band was very satisfied with the result in this cosy studio outside of Gothenburg, Sweden.\n \nThe album that was entitled Falconer was released in March in Europe and May in the United States. The response to the album was better than the band had expected, it got very high ratings in most reviews. At the release of the album, the band did not have any plans whatsoever to promote it live, which is why the small line-up worked out.\n \nWith this success came wishes from fans to see the band on stage. After considering the idea, the decision was made to hire additional staff to fill in on stage after their next album. As the summer and fall went by, the band rehearsed more material for the upcoming album. The music was similar in style, but had progressed since its years of infancy. It seemed that the new album would be heavier than the first.\n \nOne year exactly after the last studio visit they returned to Los Angered. Nine tracks and one bonus track were recorded and mixed during the 24 days. The first album had lacked distribution in Japan, but was overcome when Soundholic signed to license the new album and give the Japanese audience a cheaper alternative than an imported album. The new piece called Chapters From a Vale Forlorn was released on 7 February in Japan and on 11 March in Europe and in the US.\n \nLine-up changes\nThe band found Anders Johansson, not the HammerFall drummer but the guitarist in Swedish band Vrävarna to handle the second guitar live and Peder Johansson to handle the bass live. The band played at Wacken, at the Rock Machina, and the Bang Your Head Festival during the summer. That was a big start for a band who hadn't played live at all before.\n \nAfter this, more and more proposals and offers for live gigs and tours appeared. At this time, Falconer realized that they would have to continue to cancel tours and gigs in the future. Having seen Mathias' schedule for the next year, they realized that he would not have much time for anything else than his main occupation: theatre and musicals.\n \nSo if the rest of the band wanted to take the offers they got, they had to get a new vocalist, although they knew that much of the interest in the band was brought just because of Mathias' original voice.\n \nIn November 2002, they found Kristoffer Göbel, also the vocalist in the band Destiny. At the same time, the live musicians joined the band permanently. During the spring the band wrote and rehearsed new material.\n \nFinally the month of May came, and during five weeks, Falconer returned to Los Angered to record The Sceptre of Deception. According to the band, the album is a mix between the two previous albums, but with some more unexpected turns in the music. This was also a concept album about a happening in their own motherland; a story of greed, betrayal, and lust for power. A lot of guest appearances were added to the album this time, too. It was released on 6 October 2003.\n \nFollowing the release of the album, internal difficulties brought on by problems with scheduling rehearsals arose within the band and both Anders and Peder Johansson were removed from the line-up. They were eventually replaced with Jimmy Hedlund and Magnus Linhardt, respectively. With this new line-up in place, Falconer recorded Grime vs. Grandeur, a record that departed quite significantly from their established sound - the folk melodies, themes, and lyrics were mostly replaced with more traditional heavy metal arrangements. The album received a generally muted response from fans as the band were seen to have lost their somewhat unique identity.\n \nReturn to the roots\nIn November 2005, Kristoffer Göbel announced via the Falconer forum that he had been fired and it was soon confirmed that Mathias Blad had been re-hired to complete the return to the traditional Falconer sound the band was striving for. Recordings took place over the course of 2006, and a new album entitled Northwind was released in September of that year.\n \nThe album Among Beggars And Thieves was released in September 2008. The album is heavier than their previous work, Northwind.\n \nThe bands newest album is entitled Armod and was released on June 3, 2011. The album's songs are all in Swedish.\n \n"The album is embracing the Swedish folk music to a greater extent than before making it sound slightly more down to earth. The music spans from acoustic songs with cello, flute and fiddle to songs with blast beats and really heavy riffing." 基本内容：Falconer <br/> 乐队介绍：<br/> Mithotyn在1999年解散之后Stefan把原先Mithotyn式的旋律和史诗般的歌词继承了下来并带到了现在的Falconer，而且Falconer的嗓音却比以前更为清澈。Falconer成立不久后乐队发行了一张小样，乐队还找到Mathias Blad做录制唱片期间的主唱。<br/> 这张小样随后被送到了欧洲各唱片公司，Falconer也收到了许多公司的合约。在录制小样期间乐队用的是一个鼓机，因此Stefan意识到如果将来要继续做唱片的话乐队一定需要找到一个真正的鼓手，而前Mithotyn的鼓手Kartsen Larsson毫无疑问地成为有力人选并加入了Falconer，而Mathias由于先前出色的表演赢得了听众一致的掌声，也让乐队得到了Metal Blade的发片合同，而他本人也相当乐意加入Falconer成为乐队固定的一员，于是Falconer便这样形成了自己的阵容班底。<br/> 2000年11月乐队去了Los Angered录音棚，还有Andy LaRocque和Jacob Hansen的客串助阵。乐队一个小时的音乐做了三个星期，因此Falconer的进度相当紧，但乐队对这哥德堡外舒适的录音室里做出来的效果还是极其满意的。<br/> 这张专辑起名为“Falconer”，3月发行于欧洲，在美国发行于5月份。对这张专辑的反映比乐队原先预料的还要好，许多乐评文章对“Falconer”都做出了相当高的评价。专辑发行后Falconer没有任何演出宣传活动，这也是作为一个小乐队使然。但由于专辑给乐队带来的成功让乐迷们极其希望能有看一场Falconer现场表演的机会，乐队对此也做出了回答——完成下一张专辑后Falconer将聘请一些临时乐手扩大阵容以举行演出活动。经过一个夏天一个秋天的时间，乐队合作排练出了更多作品，为下一张专辑做好了充分的准备。新作品继承了上一张专辑的音乐风格，当然在此基础上Falconer还做了一定的发挥，新专辑的声音也将会比前一张来得更为激烈。继Falconer上次从录音棚里出来发行专辑后的整整一年，乐队又再次返回Los Angered，并在24天里完成了9首单曲加1首附加曲的录制和混音工作。<br/> Falconer第一张专辑没有在日本发行，这次专辑发行解决了这个问题，Soundholic与乐队签下了合同并给日本歌迷发行比进口版本更为便宜实惠的日版。这张新专辑名为“Chapters from a vale forlorn”，在日本发行于2月7日，欧美发行于3月11日。<br/> 随后乐队找到了Anders Johansson做现场吉他手，Peder Johansson做现场贝斯手，并在夏季出席了Wacken和Rockmachina and Bang your head音乐节演出。这是Falconer这支从未做过任何演出的乐队迈出的一大步，此后乐队便开始收到更多的演出以及巡演要求。<br/> 但在这个时候Falconer意识到他们将来可能要取消一些表演和旅行演出，因为乐队成员看到Mathias第二年的安排后他们觉得Mathias除了自己的主业——剧院乐手外已经不怎么有时间花在其他工作上了。所以如果Falconer要想接下如此众多的演出邀请的话，乐队必须要找到一个新的合适的主唱——虽然这极其不利于乐队，因为再也听不到Mathias原来的歌声了。<br/> 2002年11月Falconer找到了Gobel，他曾在Destiny里做主唱，同时以前两位临时乐手Anders和Peder也相继加入了乐队成为Falconer固定一员。同年春季乐队创作并排练了新的作品，准备作为第三张专辑——名为“Sceptre of deception”，并在最近的03年5月录制完成。