Feigning to be what one is not is something Renaissance man Peter Tдgtgren can never be accused of. A living embodiment of music (who has also appeared in three films and written music for one), Tдgtgren has been a central and active figure in the extreme metal movement for over a decade. With a list of Abyss Studio production credits (Dimmu Borgir, Immortal, Marduk) linking him to some of the most groundbreaking albums of recent times and rightfully hailed by Alternative Press as “the Rick Rubin of Scandinavian metal,” the restless genius of Peter Tдgtgren can be equally measured by the vast list of his own musical output. A well-known insomniac workaholic who lives life at a relentless pace, the vice of Tдgtgren’s work ethic has proven to be virtuous for the underground scene. 2005’s Virus boasts a lethal combination of reptilian vocals, powerful percussion, grandiose atmospherics, and symphonic requiems, truly revisiting all previous parts of the HYPOCRISY catalogue. Once Virus infects you with its beautifully brutal and painstakingly produced music, a worldwide pandemic is inevitable.
After closing the door on his band Seditious following their 3- and 5-song Life Of Pain demos, guitarist Tдgtgren formed HYPOCRISY in Sweden as a quintet in the early ‘90s after having briefly lived in Florida in the late ‘80s – and occasionally drumming for Malevolent Creation. The inaugural line-up included Masse Broberg on vocals, Mikael Hedlund on bass, Jonas Osterberg on guitar, and Lars Szцke on drums. This first incarnation released Penetralia in 1992 (with its heavy Morbid Angel, Deicide, and Entombed influences), but it was 1993’s Obsculum Obscenum when the metal underground took notice of the purity of HYPOCRISY’s old-school death metal approach combined with the unbridled fury of the burgeoning black metal genre. 1994’s Inferior Devotees five-song EP showcased the Tдgtgren / Hedlund / Szцke line-up that most would come to associate with HYPOCRISY, though equally notable was Tдgtgren’s permanent switch to lead vocals. The Fourth Dimension, 1994’s full-length studio album, showcased Tдgtgren’s vocal range and also introduced keyboards, melodies, and slower tempos into HYPOCRISY’s musical cartography.
With 1996’s excellently produced Abducted, Tдgtgren began to share his lifelong childhood fascination that would become his modus operandi: themes & lyrics about extraterrestrials. Introducing “Roswell 47” (a song destined for set list immortality) and securing an infinite amount of future writing material, HYPOCRISY continued to prioritize moods over strict adherence to any one musical genre, and therefore pursued a legacy of sonic alchemy that could be death, black, thrash, and even gothic at any given moment. The dirtier sound of 1997’s The Final Chapter reached a wider audience with its fluid elements; however, rumors circulated that the album title was broadcasting the band’s dissolution. Clearly, the strains of writing and producing HYPOCRISY’s music and lacking the time to further develop his own electronic/industrial side-project with clean vocals (Pain) led Tдgtgren to choose between HYPOCRISY’s career and Abyss Studios’ continued existence. Swayed by worldwide fan pleas and weary from the unrelenting requests to produce records for other bands, his decision was made easier by a contagious desire to experience a Swedish summer outside the confines of a studio control room, to tour more (and perform half-naked!), and use Abyss Studios solely to record his own bands, as well as a few select bands.