Godgory was a Swedish melodic death metal/death doom metal band that was formed in 1992 by drummer Erik Andersson and vocalist Matte Andersson (unrelated). Formation and Invasion Records era Forming in 1992, Godgory started their career covering bands such as Napalm Death, Entombed, Cemetary, Unleashed, and Grave. It was not until April 1994 that they entered Unisound Studio and recorded their debut demo entitled Demo-94, consisting of original material. The band sent out the demo to labels and zines around the world and received a positive response. One label wanted to sign Godgory for a full-length CD, so the band returned to Unisound in November 1994 and, in one weekend, recorded their debut album Sea of Dreams. After recording was complete, the deal with the label fell through; the band was left with a recorded album and no label to release it. The band sent the completed tape to labels in search of a new record deal. Eventually, the German label Invasion Records was found to release Sea of Dreams; they were impressed enough by the recording to sign the band to release a second CD as well. Sea of Dreams finally saw release in January 1996, over a year after the recording session. The debut album received very good reviews in magazines around the world and sold around 5,000 copies. Emboldened by this success, Godgory returned to Unisound in October 1996 to record the follow-up album Shadow's Dance. The band had added Thomas Heder on keyboards, and, in contrast to the "live" recording style used on Sea of Dreams, spent three weeks recording each instrument separately. Upon release, Shadow's Dance received very good reviews and ended up on the 7th place on the Rockhards Dynamite list. In the end, Shadow's Dance sold around 10,000 copies. New line-up and Nuclear Blast era After Godgory had recorded Shadow's Dance, Erik and Matte decided to let go of three members: Mikael Dahlqvist (guitars), Fredric Danielsson (bass), and Thomas Heder (keyboards). The three members were involved with the progressive metal band World of Silence and had given priority to that band, while Erik and Matte wanted members who could devote all of their energy to Godgory. Around this time, rhythm guitarist Stefan Grundel (formerly Olsson) left Godgory to concentrate on his education. With just two remaining members, the band was in search of another record deal. Godgory had heard that Nuclear Blast were