Erik Brødreskift

Erik Brødreskift
Background information
Birth name	Erik Brødreskift
Also known as	Grim
Born	December 23, 1969 Bergen, Norway
Died	October 4, 1999 (aged 29)
Genres	Black metal
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Drums
Associated acts	Immortal, Borknagar, Gorgoroth

Erik Brødreskift (aka Grim) (December 23, 1969 – October 4, 1999) was a Norwegian drummer, who played in several black metal bands during his career. He committed suicide by taking an overdose of drugs.^[1]

Life and Career

Erik was born in Bergen, Norway on December 23rd of the year 1969. In 1987 through 1988, he joined the band Hell Awaits. The band was inspired by Slayer and had a gig at the Kronstadt-Festival in 1988 in Bergen, the members were Yngve Eide (vocals), Finn Solemdal (guitars), Dag Nesbø (bass) and Erik Brødreskift (drums). The band broke up and Erik moved on to the Death/Thrash metal band Emptor. Their music was mainly inspired by the American band Sadus. Erik played drums on the demo, which was released in 1988. He used his birth name for his appearance in Emptor and Hell Awaits.

After leaving Emptor in 1989, he took the stage name "Grim" and joined Immortal on the drums in 1993 right after they had recorded the Pure Holocaust album. He appeared on the cover and despite not playing on the album, was still credited. He played with Immortal two tours: “Fuck Christ” Tour and “Sons of the Northern Darkness” Tour, afterwards in 1994, Abbath and Demonaz decided that Erik had to leave the band, because he wasn't useful for the band's later career. In 1995, Grim was a founding member of the band "Borknagar" and played on the band's first three albums. In 1996 and 1997, he recorded the two albums "The Last Tormentor" and "Under The Spell" by Gorgoroth.

Grim also played session drums on the never officially released album “Nocturno Inferno” in 1996. In 1997, he quit Gorgoroth and in 1998 he also left Borknagar, both due to personal reasons.

Death

He committed suicide on the 4th October 1999. Grim was manic depressive and had tried to kill himself several times, before finally succeeding with a sleeping-pill overdose. His funeral was held in Møllendal Church Cemetery (Hordaland County) in Bergen. However, it is said that this was unrelated to his departure from Immortal, even if there was a rumor, that Grim could never deal with that and became more depressed.

As a tribute, Nargaroth wrote the song "Erik May You Rape The Angels" for him, and The annual Hole in the Sky Metal Festival took place by Erik Brødreskift's memory and organized by his memory fund. The album “Incipit Satan” by Gorgoroth is also dedicated to Grim.

References

1. The Official Heavy Metal Book of Lists. Backbeat. 2009. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-87930-983-1.

External links

• Erik Brødreskift discography at MusicBrainz
• Erik Brødreskift at Find a Grave