Even though the band existed for years as Sadist, starting somewhere in 1987, they released nothing under that name. Around the transformation from Sadist to Vassago, Pepa Andersson and Micke Backelin were also working on Lord Belial, who quickly gained more fame with albums like ‘Kiss the Goat (Sic Transit Gloria Mundi)’ (1995) and ‘Enter the Moonlight Gate’ (1997), keeping Vassago more in the background.
Still, Vassago was the outlet for what Pepa and Micke couldn’t put into Lord Belial: more full-speed Black Metal and less melody. More like their own version of Black Witchery and Blasphemy, if you will.
In 1999, the famous No Fashion Records released this debut album, after their first signs of life, the demo ‘Nattflykt’ (1995) and the split called ‘Hail War! , (1996) together with Antichrist. It wasn’t smooth sailing because the growth of Lord Belial pushed Vassago aside more and more when it came to time and attention.
Although Micke and Pepa were the core of Vassago, they had already burned through several drummers until they met an individual affectionately named Sadistic Sodomizer, bringing Vassago back to life. With a few session musicians added, ‘Knights from Hell’, was recorded together with Andy LaRocque as producer. It resulted in a powerful debut, almost Bestial Black Metal with occasional Death Metal parts and screaming solos, something that fans of Impaled Nazarene will appeal.
If my memory doesn’t fail me, there were advertisements in several print magazines back then, yet ‘Knights from Hell’, and Vassago in general, remained a bit of a neglected child at the time, compared with the exposure.
Without any follow-up at that time, Vassago dissolved once again to be buried for almost 20 years. The year 2020 was the year of the resurrection…
