7th Seal

Members

2004-2008

7th Seal was a Fargo metal band which was stylistically somewhere between British bands like Iron Maiden and thrash/speed bands like Megadeth or Testament. Initially, 7th Seal was primarily a cover band. Over time, the emphasis went toward original music.

The genesis of the band came from a collaboration between Troy, Travis, and Peter Dean of Rotten Gramma on drums. This lineup had no name, no bass player, and never played a show; but it was the root of what ultimately became 7th Seal. Pieces of 7th Seal's original material date from this time. A lineup was finally solidified in fall of 2004, when Troy and Travis got hooked up with Jim Detenancour and then Dave Stensland. Their first show was at the Eastgate on March 25th, 2005. For the next year, they opened at numerous shows. In March of 2006, they parted ways with their original drummer and got Bobby Schatz to fill the position. They played numerous shows at Rick's, Speck's, the Aquarium, Hooligan's, and the Nestor until November of 2006. At that point, they broke to record their debut album. Second drummer Bobby Schatz left in May of 2007. Chris Fritz joined in June, 2007. The first show with Chris was at the Aquarium on August 19, 2007. After doing a couple of shows with this new lineup, 7th Seal took 8 months off, prior to returning for two more shows in June, 2008. Their final show was on June 18, 2008 with the Lazerwolfs at the Nestor.

Recording "Conspiracies of Thieves" commenced on December 15th, 2006 and tracking was finished on February 4, 2007. All recording was done in their rehearsal room by Sean Murray of the Diversion Scene.

Played "Stonehenge" by Spinal Tap (complete with foam-rubber Stonehenge) and the theme for Team America, World Police at the 2006 Halloween show with Sons of Poseidon.
The vocals for the demo version of "Dusk", which spent months on the band's MySpace and was on an FM Seen sampler, were recorded in Travis' car by a stubble field south of Moorhead, because he sings so loudly it was the only place that it wouldn't bug anybody.
Troy owns Red Star Guitar.
Dave (bassist) got engaged at 7th Seal's CD Release Party on April 13, 2007
7th Seal has share the stage with the following bands: Sons of Poseidon, King of the Dead, the Diversion Scene, Lazerwolfs, Beggar's Cut, Descry, Methuselah, Vindictus, and Dropswitch among others.
The album cover for "Conspiracies of Thieves" was designed by a Czech artist named Pavel Surma. The original piece is called "Occult Rune".

Conspiracies of Thieves CD, 2007