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:	post by the_reverend at 2017-02-14 15:38:18

I think Tony was in his very best shape around this time, and he made new lyrics every week. He was working really hard to fine-tune them into perfection. When recording, i did everything i could to bring out the very best of him in his vocal performances. Sometimes we did hundreds of takes just to get it right, but as close as we were to each other he didn't have any problems when i was extensively pushing him to new limits. He actually thanked me afterwards and said he never thought he could sound like this. My personal opinion is that the 8th Sin recordings were by far the best he ever did; his super-theatrical expression revealed the meaning of his deep lyrics, which most people never understood. The stories were never what you read through the words, and always had a double-edged meaning with a story behind the obvious.

In 2006 the objective was to complete and release the third album but when people left the band and we had to start all over by finding new ones, Tony started to lose his interest. He didn’t finish all lyrics and vocal recordings to all available songs so the third album wasn’t completed even though i had material enough for a full album. Tony told me in early 2007 that he will travel around the world again and didn’t know when or if he would ever come back. The rest of us had to pick up the pieces and disband what was left of 8th Sin. Around the same time i joined Pain and later that year Johan also joined. Tonys musical interest slowly faded away and we found ourselves on different journeys again for a few years. Eventually he came back to Sweden again, but with no intentions of creating new music. His past were still chasing him to some extent and it clearly annoyed him that some people were making stupid comparisons like Abruptum to 8th Sin. He felt like he wasn’t allowed to develop musically without being judged upon what he did 10-15 years earlier.

Next and final chapter about our common journey started in 2010 and could be summed up as the trip down the memory lane combined with the objective to ”make things right as it was supposed to be”.
It started when he asked me to re-master the Ophthalamia album ”Dominion”, as (according to him) the original release from 1998 was made without his approval during his travels. This also gave him the chance to use the cover that was originally intended for the album as well as adding a few bonus tracks. Once again he came over to my place with a plastic bag with old tapes he found in his basement. Dominion was then released in 2011. Then i came up with the idea to bring the old Vondur stuff to life again. This became a really fun project where we were laughing together again like in the old days. As i had all original masters from the first album i could make a completely new mix in 2010 from something that was recorded in 1995. We also added a re-master of the second album to the works, and once again he came to me with his plastic bag with old tapes to add bonus tracks. I started to see a funny pattern. This album was named ”No Compromise” and included everything that exists with Vondur, and was released in 2011. Next idea was to do the same with all old Brejn Dedd recordings from 1988-1991, something that he kept very close to his heart and really wanted to do. I think the reason was that he had very good memories from the time we created those recordings. I worked on this project and were almost finished when another idea came up that took our attention. I digged out the recordings from 2006 originally made for the third 8th Sin album that never saw the light of day back then. We agreed that it was time to release it posthumously even though 8th Sin didn't exist anymore. He thought it was a real shame if the world would never hear what he thought was the best album so far, and maybe most important, his idea was always that the 8th Sin story was a trilogy. The song ”The eight sins” were made in three parts as it was supposed to be the final song on each of the three albums. We just had to finish the third album, no matter what. He really liked the songs and it felt like he had a closer relation to them than anything else from the past. As all vocal tracks for all finished songs were already recorded in 2006, we didn’t have to do it again. Tony came over to my place regularly to listen to my mixing progress instead, always with a smile on his face. We agreed in an early stage that we will not try to finish songs that were not fully finished in 2006, as he didn't want to make any new lyrics or vocals. He thought he couldn't do it anymore and hadn’t been singing for five years. But we added a song that wasn’t there originally; the song ”Cosmogenesis” that also became the title track. As usual i had made the music and he made the lyrics, but this was different in so many ways. First of all, it was more like a poem, but he also performed it like a speech. But the real unique move was when he wanted to do it in Swedish. The Swedish language added a personal touch in a way the audience had never experienced before. This became his last recording ever, recorded in my home studio Sept 28th 2012 with nine different takes. Very few in comparison. We then released Cosmogenesis late 2012 – the final release he was ever involved in. The circle was closed and the trilogy complete.

In 2013 we decided to re-master and release the Ophthalamia album ”To Elishia” again. He wanted me to do what could be done to improve the sound from the original release. I finished the production and made the master ready to go, and at the same time Tony worked on the new cover artwork and sleeve notes before it could be released. For some reason, it was never finished and the album never came out.

Fast forward to January 2017, i met Tony briefly on Sunday the 22nd and he hugged me really hard when i was leaving. It was not the usual hug; he wouldn’t let go and i saw something in his eyes that i hadn’t seen before, like a communication without words. I don’t know what this was all about, but it was different from every other hug i got from him the past 29 years. Today i know that was our final IRL meeting. Four days later we had our last communication on messenger, discussing some old album memories we shared, like Piledriver ”Stay Ugly”, Wehrmacht ”Beermacht”, and Infernal Majesty ”None shall defy”. About two weeks later he was gone.

Tony was a unique character, and held a deep philosophic view on life nowhere near anyone else i’ve met. He was like a brother to me for almost 30 years. We wrote songs together, played together, he slept on my couch in his teens, we were camping together, we were fishing together, played chess together, painted our house together, partying together, i even tried to teach him how to drive a car. Well, that never worked out well though. We experienced so much together and had a big influence on each others lives. He will always live in my heart forever. I know that he now finally got his sought-after peace. Sleep tight brother, darkness it shall be.

//Michael Bohlin, February 2017"

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