Sebastian Komor

Sebastian Komor was born in Zabrze, Poland, in 1976 and moved to Norway in 1981, where he would remain for over twenty years.[2] He first acquired a keyboard in his late teens and released his first music demo in 1992.[3] Throughout the mid-to late-90s, Komor created music in Fredrikstad, where an EBM/industrial scene was flourishing under the influence of local bands such as Apoptygma Berzerk. Komor recorded and toured under various band names during that time, starting with Melt and continuing with Area51, Sector9 (which he also used as a remixer alias[4]), and Moonitor. Fellow Fredrikstad musician Andy LaPlegua played keyboards for early Sector9 and Melt shows, and it was this collaboration that led to the formation of Icon of Coil in 1997,[3] with the roles reversed – LaPlegua as primary creative member and Komor came in as a full member during the production of the first single "Shallow Nation". Icon of Coil released their debut single, Shallow Nation, in 2000, at which point Komor became a full-fledged member of the band. Komor and LaPlegua went on to release three full-length albums as IoC: Serenity Is the Devil (2000), The Soul is in the Software (2002), and Machines Are Us (2004). Icon of Coil garnered a fair amount of popularity within the scene, having their albums distributed worldwide and playing a variety of large festivals.[5] During this same time period, Komor and Richard Bjørklund formed the synthpop/EBM band Monofader and released the album Frost in 2004.[6] Sebastian also did drum, sampling and synth programming on an EP titled Fenris for an industrial black metal band called Helheim (note: not the Norwegian black/Viking metal band Helheim).[7][8]

In 2004, however, Komor relocated to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and activity within Icon of Coil and Monofader has been sparse since, with the geographical distance between Komor and his band mates being cited as a roadblock to completing significant amounts of additional music. Komor has stated that newer Monofader material exists, with a speculative title of Everything Changes but the Sea, but that the project is not a priority right now.[5]

In 2005 Komor started Zombie Girl with Renee Cooper. They released an EP in 2006 and a full album in 2007 through Alfa Matrix and Metropolis. Komor was also signed to electronic rock label FiXT in 2008 for his solo hard techno/trance/industrial project Squarehead.[9] Two advance Squarehead singles featuring guest vocals[5] were released in 2008 and 2009 with a full-length album, Voltage Controlled Body Music,[10] released in March 2010. Sebastian's long time work-in-progress Moonitor, which he describes as techno/tribal,[10] has now also been signed to FiXT and released an album titled To the Past From the Future in the Present.[11] It appears that both Squarehead and Moonitor were one-off projects with no additional albums currently planned, as Komor has stated that he is now fully focused on another of his oldest projects, Melt.[12] Komor has released production music geared towards film, television, and video game soundtracks through FiXT's sister company Position Music. Yet another active side project of Seb's is Komor Kommando, his dark techno/EBM/aggrotech club-oriented DJ alias. One EP has thus far been released on Alfa Matrix, with a full-length album imminent.[12] Additional solo work has been released through Rasputin Records under his real name.

The aforementioned Melt, now rejuvenated after years of being kept on hold by commitments to Icon of Coil,[7] was initially to see an EP called Parasites released in early 2009,[11][13] but is still a work in progress, with Seb stating "I just dont want to hurry a release, this is a very personal album, and I just feel it needs to feel right and complete before its ready to be unleashed".[12] Though the name has carried over from work done as early as 1994, all of the current songs being worked on are brand new.[11]

Sebastian does production work as Xenomorph Productions. He produced the album Hearts for Bullets by Ayria in 2008. Komor mastered the Depeche Mode tribute album Alfa Matrix Re:Covered in 2009, which included two covers by Komor Kommando.[14] That same year he also mastered fellow Canadian electro-industrial act iVardensphere's debut album Scatterface.[15] In February 2010 Komor released a collection of over 400 audio samples from his studio, some from his released projects and some unused.[16] A second volume followed in June of that same year.

Komor is also a visual artist, and designs the artwork for his own releases.[2]

• Sebastian Komor on Myspace