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The very beginning of Ancestral Legacy can be traced as far back as the last days of 1995 when Eddie Risdal and Kjell-Ivar Aarli, two buddies who shared the interest in metal, got the idea to start a band. They had heard a lot of new and inspiring music over the years, and bands like Dissection, Ulver, In Flames & Unanimated where the main inspiration, and they named the band Permafrost. The first songs were written early 1996, but there was'n too much progression in the band until their friend Øyvind Rosseland joined the band as a synthist in late 1998, around the time the band changed the name to Ancestral Legacy. The sound changed naturally from guitar-driven to more synth-based songwriting, inspired by Dimmu Borgir, Covenant and Cradle of Filth. The first demo was cut in spring/summer 2000 when some decent recording equipment was obtained. Some of the older songs were included together with the fresh material. 2001 saw a participation on a Norwegian underground sample-CD with bands like 1349 and Lunaris. Early 2002 the second demo "Emptiness" was finished, with five new tracks and some re-recordings. Shortly after the release Rosseland left the band, and later the same year also Aarli left after being involved in a car accident, and the damages restrained his playing abilities.

Eddie Risdal was now the only remaining member of the band, and used the opportunity to change the musical style by using songs he had written parallel to Ancestral Legacy, and that actually were intended for a solo project. This was more or less the "easy way out" instead of trying to recruit a new synthist and keep the old style, as keyboard players dedicated to metal are hard to find in a small town like Arendal. The new songs were more influenced by his favourite bands at this time; Opeth, Lacuna Coil, Novembre, Katatonia, Rapture and The Gathering to name a few.

First member in the 'new' Ancestral Legacy was drummer Børre Iversen who played in a band next door to where the rehearsal room was. Soon after Børre's bandmate Tor Arvid Larsen joined the band as an extra guitarist, and Elin Anita Omholt, who played in the rock band Miasma Paradox with Risdal, joined as a vocalist. The free spot as a bassist was filled by Atle Johansen, aka Anton Dead, and this completed the new line-up early in 2003.

Just around these days the third demo, "Of magic illusions", was recorded. It consisted of one piano intro and seven songs in the new style, once again recorded and mixed on own equipment. Not long after the release, in April 2003 the band had it's first concert ever, and in December Ancestral Legacy played at the "Kjellerrock 03" festival in Kristiansand, Norway, where the band won the first prize in a contest among the almost 25 bands participating. The prize was free studio time at Lynor studios, where the promo "Goodbye Reality" was recorded in March 2004. Thanks to a guy that didn't do his work it lasted until September the same year before it got mastered.

In November 2004 the shooting of the band's first music video, for the track "Crash of silence" from the "Goodbye Reality"-promo, took place during three days on various locations in the region, among others in some old church ruins and an old house that is supposed to be haunted.

In February 2005 "by:Larm" included Ancestral Legacy in the line-up, and the band was favoured by no less than concerts in two nights in a row. "by:Larm" is concidered the largest festival/showcase arrangement in Norway, and this year it featured among others Theatre of Tragedy, Mortiis, Arcturus, Mayhem and Gehenna on the bill.

In 2007 the band started recordings for the first proper album, and since everything was done by the band there were no time limits, thus things wasn't finished until January 2008, when 14 songs were brought over to Mølla studios to be mixed and mastered by Knut Magne Valle. The results are an EP with the name "Trapped Within The Words", which contains 5 tracks of new and older songs, released in April.

Ancestral Legacy will be releasing their debut album "Nightmare Diaries" very soon so stay tuned!