Elvira Madigan

Not a band, not a woman, but a one-man performing, recording, art-designing, and album-releasing (on his very own Northlore label) operation, Elvira Madigan is the work of Stockholm, Sweden's Marcus Hammarström, formerly the vocalist for Andalucia and bassist with Ethonicide. Gradually conceived during his stint with the aforementioned acts, Elvira Madigan became a reality in the year 2000 with the release of the conceptual Black Arts debut and its next-year follow-up, Witches — Salem (1692 vs. 2001). The music displayed a symphonic/progressive/black metal blend reminiscent, yet more eclectic even, than Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth. It would take four relatively silent years for Hammarström to revisit Elvira Madigan, however, and when he did, it was with an album of covers called Angelis Deamonae — Wiccan Aftermath, containing radical reinventions of songs by everyone from the Scorpions to Maurice Jarre to Chris de Burgh (!!!) to a pair of themes from the Final Fantasy video game.