Ophthalamia

Ophthalamia was a Swedish black metal/doom metal band formed in Stockholm in 1989. The band released three studio albums before splitting up in 1998. Members of the band included guitarist IT (Tony Särkkä), guitarist and bassist Night (Emil Nödtveidt), drummer Bone (Ole Öhman) and vocalist Shadow (Jon Nödtveidt).

== History == Ophthalamia was formed in 1989 by singer All (Jim Berger) and guitarist IT (Tony Särkkä), both members of the bands Abruptum and Vondur. The band was named Ophthalamia after a fantasy-world created by IT, with its own geography, creatures, language and a demon woman Goddess called Elishia. A majority of the band's songs are connected in some way to this fantasy-world. The band's debut album, A Journey in Darkness, was released in 1994. Ophthalamia sophomore album, Via Dolorosa, was released in 1995. In 1997, the band's first compilation album, To Elishia, was released. The following year, both a re-recorded version of the band's debut album titled A Long Journey and their third studio album, Dominion, were released. In contrast to prior albums which had fantasy-inspired songs, the lyrics on the latter album was inspired by Macbeth. Ophthalamia split up in 1998. Former vocalist Shadow (Jon Nödtveidt) died by suicide in 2006. Founder and guitarist IT died in 2017. A compilation album titled II Elishia II was released in 2019.