Dissection was a well-known Swedish black metal band formed in 1989 by guitarist and vocalist Jon Nödtveidt.

In 1988, a thrash metal band by the name of Siren's Yell was formed in the Swedish town of Strömstad. Its members were Jon Nödtveidt, Ole Öhman, Peter Palmdahl, and Mattias Johansson. The group recorded a single demo before breaking up in 1989. Nödveidt and Öhman continued on to play in the band Rabbit's Carrot, in which they claim to have never felt quite at home (especially Nödveidt). Nödveidt was leaning more and more towards death metal and other forms of dark extreme music. Dissection was officially formed in the autumn of 1989 by Nödveidt, who had since left Rabbit's Carrot. Dissection's line-up, however, was not complete until early the next year.

In 1990, Dissection played their first live show with death metal act Entombed. In the same year, they also recorded and released their first demo, The Grief Prophecy. It contained three songs and featured illustrations by the artist known as Necrolord, who has since created nearly all of Dissection's album art. A special edition of The Grief Prophecy was later released in memory of Dead, the former vocalist for the notorious Norwegian black metal group Mayhem, who committed suicide in 1991. The special release featured album art drawn by Dead himself. Dissection also played a live show in his honor, at which they performed the Mayhem song "Freezing Moon". The Grief Prophecy was soon spread through the underground, and the French record label Corpsegrinder Records offered Dissection a deal to record an EP. Later that year, Dissection accepted the deal and recorded Into Infinite Obscurity. The band continued to tour.

In 1992, Dissection began work on their first full-length album, The Somberlain. Because of coordination problems between members, the entire band moved to Göteborg, Sweden (where they shared a rehearsal space with At The Gates) in the summer of 1993. The album was finished and released the following December. It was formally dedicated to Euronymous, the then-guitarist of Mayhem, who had been murdered earlier that year.

During November of 1994, Dissection signed a record deal with the well-known German label Nuclear Blast. In 1995, the band's second full-length album, called Storm Of The Light's Bane, was released. The following year, Dissection also released a short EP entitled Where Dead Angels Lie. It was compiled from previous rare and import releases, and contained only cover songs and demo tracks.

In 1997, Jon Nödtveidt was convicted for helping to murder a 38-year old man in Göteborg. He was released in autumn of 2004. Since then, Nödtveidt formed a new line-up for Dissection and recorded one 2-track EP entitled Maha Kali.

Dissection went through a musical transformation since Jon Nödtveidt was released from prison. Though their style was more of a black/death metal combination on their first two full-length releases, the new material released by Dissection has been in the melodic style of death metal.

After playing a short tour in 2006, Dissection decided to split up. Their final show was played on June 24, 2006 in Stockholm, Sweden. As Jon explained in a June 24 interview, "with Reinkaos we have reached the ending chapter. Dissection's work is done and this is our legacy."

Jon Nödtveidt committed suicide on the 16th of August 2006.



There is also the canadian thrash/speed metal band who released one album in 1988.