Sophia

Sophia

Biography:
Sophia is a project of Peter Pettersson from Arcana. That band is known for its beautiful, heavenly music. Sophia follows a different path, making more bombastic powerful music. It combines ambient, industrial and classical music. On the first two albums “Sigillum Militum” and “Herbstwerk” Sophia has a powerful orchestral sound, with a militant atmosphere. Bombastic parts in the style of In Slaughter Natives or Turbund Sturmwerk are alternated with ambient pieces a la Raison d’Etre.

On the “Death, Dumb and Blind” single the style changed a bit, being harsher and more industrial oriented. But how tough the music may sound, on the cover of this ‘Xmas-single’ Sophia shows humour. When I saw Sophia live on stage in Belgium in 2000 the show consisted mainly of two men ruthlessy hitting metal plates, which gave their martial music an even more powerful impression. At a concert a year later though, Peter was assisted by a female companion behind keyboards, and there was no live percussion this time, the focus lay on Peter singing.

The latest Sophia cd “Spite” again brings us bombastic industrial, with heavy percussion and an orchestral wall of sound.The atmosphere is still angry, but this time no militant war sounds. The focus is now more on internal battlefields, on inner war. This album was followed by the mcd “The seduction of madness”, which brings us a frightful, obscure insight into the world of manias. Explosive drumming, decomposed trumpets and airy hymns fills this swirling vortex to the maximum.

Discography:

  • Sigillum Militum (CMI, 2000)
  • Aus der Welt 10″ (Erebus Odora, 2001)
  • Herbstwerk (CMI, 2001)
  • Death, dumb and blind 7″ (Erebus Odora, 2001)
  • Spite (CMI, 2002)
  • Seduction of Madness mcd (CMI, 2002)