Abruptum

Abruptum was a Swedish black metal band known for pushing the boundaries of the genre into dark ambient and noise territories. Formed in the late 1980s by IT (also known as Tony Särkkä), the band focused on creating extreme, chaotic soundscapes designed to evoke pure evil and suffering. Early on, they gained notoriety for their unconventional and disturbing approach to music, often abandoning traditional song structures entirely in favor of improvisational horror-themed compositions.

Their early releases, like Obscuritatem Advoco Amplectère Me and Evil Genius, featured long, improvised tracks filled with tortured screams, distortion, and eerie atmospheric elements. Abruptum was closely associated with the early Norwegian black metal scene and had ties to bands like Mayhem, with frontman Euronymous reportedly championing them as the "audible essence of pure black evil." After IT left the project in the mid-1990s, the band continued under the direction of Evil (Morgan Håkansson of Marduk), evolving further into dark ambient territory before eventually disbanding.