Gothminister was formed by Bjorn Alexander Brem in 1999. Gothminister released the debutalbum; Gothic Electronic Anthems in 2003 and got fantastic critics in both national and international press. The album reached top 3 on the Dutch clublists. Metal Hammer UK headlines read "the undead are reborn". Gothminister has had several successful clubsingles in the top 15 in Germany, like "Angel" and "Devil".
Gothminister played all the big German Festivals like WGT, Dark Storm Festival, three years in a row invited to the M'Era Luna Festival, and performing for more than 10,000 people at the Schattenreich Festival at Arena in Oberhausen together with bands like Oomph!, In Extremo and Within Temptation.
The second album, Empire of Dark Salvation took Gothminister to a totally new level. In Norway Gothminister became historic by being the very first gothic industrial band to be sponsored by Rikskonsertene to do a nightliner tour in the biggest cities. Support on the tour were Tristania. Even Bylarm (Norwegian Popcomm) organized a dark rock/gothic event in connection with the release.
In Europe, Gothminister did more than 100 shows in over 20 countries to promote Empire of Dark Salvation, touring with bands like Lacuna Coil, Theatre of Tragedy and Mortiis. The smash hit "Monsters" reached number 11 on the German Alternative Charts, and big success also overseas lead to Gothministers first US headliner tour, taking on New York to Hollywood.
In 2008 the third album Happiness In Darkness was released. It contained the monster-hit "Dusk Till Dawn" which hit the highest charts positions yet, number 1 in the US alternative charts and number 7 in the German alternative charts. The video for the mighty "Darkside" has had a great success on Youtube with more than 600,000 plays. Gothminister celebrated the success by performing Norway's highest rock concert on "Romsdalshorn" on 1550 meters above Trollveggen in the beautiful Norwegian mountains, something no band had ever done before. The concert was transferred wireless to a big screen at the festival area several kilometers away and the Norwegian national news also covered the event, which was unique.
In 2011 the fourth album Anima Inferna placed Gothminister further towards the metal scene than ever before. The album was produced by US-soundwizard Neil Kernon (Judas Priest, Nile) and the album surpassed even the most optimistic expectations. Killer tracks as "Stonehenge", "Liar" or "Juggernaut" once again shows Gothminister's brutal power. Dynamic, energetic, dramatic – and beware of those divine, crying and weeping choirs and impressive orchestral parts!
2013 is the year that the world has ended according to many prophecies. But after the world goes under, the dead will rise from their graves and walk the earth! "There will be a resurrection of the dead, of the righteous, and of the evil"!
UTOPIA is Gothminister's fifth studio album and the most spectacular so far. It is a concept album, including both studio recorded tracks and also a horror concert film with a running time of more than 1 hour and 15 minutes + bonus material.
The concept of UTOPIA is inspired by Bjørn Alexander Brem's life and nightmares – the combination of being a lawyer in daytime and Gothminister at night drives him eventually insane – it becomes impossible for him to separate reality from imagination. The other Gothminister members Chris Dead (drummer), Icarus (guitars) and Turbo Natas (guitars) also take part in this nightmarish world filled with undead walkers, witches, werewolves and monsters.
The amazing new liveshow is something you have never ever seen before. We dare to claim it is beyond anything for example shockrockers like Alice Cooper or Marilyn Manson has done before...
Fast foreward to 2014 and Gothminister will be performing at the inaugural Alt-Fest!