OPHIDIAN FOREST started up in December 2006 as a Croatian/
Dutch/US black metal collaboration of three individuals in
order to create "chaotic Pagan black metal" by means of
exchanging recordings over the net and by regular mail
since they live thousands of miles away from each other.
In fact, none have ever met each other in person,
and without the current ease of global communication
it's far less likely that this project would have been
possible before the times of fast DSL connections.

Guitarist/bassist Zaragil lives in Croatia, drummer Otrebor
lives in San Francisco, and vocalist/keyboardist/lyricist
Amalgamoth is from the Netherlands.

So far, Ophidian Forest recorded 3 albums and material for
two split releases with other bands.

The main theme for the debut album "REDBAD" was the most
glorious time of the Frisian kingdom around the start of
the 8th century CE, led by the brave king Redbad (680-719).
His last-minute rejection of getting baptized in favour
of joining his Pagan ancestors in what the Christians call
Hell has become a legend of its own and is in our day still
commemorated by some people (The Pagan calendar mentions
"Rey Redbad" Day, on August 9th).
King Redbad dared to stay true to his Pagan roots and his
ancestors and made Frisia an important counterforce in
Western Europe. In the centuries after king Redbad, the
Christians destroyed or altered nearly everything that
reminds us of Pagan Frisia, but they never managed to erase
the legend from collective memory.
Apart from the Redbad theme the lyrics on our albums are also
inspired by Nature, Norse mythology, European history
and Pagan mysticism.